Despite the recent heavy rainfall across the country, grass growth rates are holding and slightly increasing in some areas.
Many feared that the persistent heavy rain would stunt grass growth rates, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Although, it has made grazing conditions a bit more challenging in many areas.
Grass growth
The latest figures from PastureBase Ireland show current growth rates of 56kg of dry matter (DM)/ha for Leinster, 55kg of DM/ha for Munster, 59kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 59kg of DM/ha for Ulster.
There are slight increases expected in grass growth over the coming days, but it is unlikely that there will be an major boost in growth rates as we head into autumn and grass growth naturally tails off.
The predicted growth rates are 64kg of DM/ha forecast for Leinster, 60kg of DM/ha for Munster, 54kg of DM/ha for Connacht and 54kg of DM/ha for Ulster.
Grazing
Posing more of challenge than grass growth for many is grazing conditions, with the heavy rainfall over the last few weeks making land tender in many areas.
Although those on drier land are still getting away with grazing without issues, many on heavier land types are struggling to get the balance between keeping grazed grass in the diet and avoiding causing damage.
Strip wires are going to be needed on these farms to ensure that land doesn’t become damaged and to ensure cows can remain at grass.
It is also advisable to make good use of the grazing infrastructure on the farm and ensure that you are using different entrances and exits from paddocks.
We are also now at a point in the year whereby farmers need to start looking at building average farm cover (AFC).
There are a number of ways of doing this, but what really needs to be done is reducing the stocking rate on the milking platform.
This allows for AFC to build on the milking platform and ensures that grass is available for autumn grazing.