Grass growth is expected to remain steady for the coming days as we enter now in to October and the days begin to shorten.
Over the last number of weeks there has been improvements in grass growth in many parts of the country.
With the latest update showing that growth is expected to remain steady for the coming days on the majority of farms.
Although the growth is welcomed it is unlikely to remain for much longer, as we enter into October the days will become shorter and growth will drop.
Grass growth
Current grass growth rates, based on figures from PastureBase Ireland, are 47kg of dry matter (DM)/ha in Leinster; 48kg of DM/ha in Munster; 49kg of DM/ha in Connacht; and 46kg of DM/ha in Ulster.
The predicated growth rates are 49kg of DM/ha for Leinster; 47kg of DM/ha for Munster; 42kg of DM/ha for Connacht; and 47kg of DM/ha for Ulster.
The predicated growth for the coming week is very much similar to what current growth rates on farm are.
Grazing
It has been a reasonable number of weeks on the vast majority of farms, with an improve growth seen since the arrival of rain.
The good growth rates has meant that many farms are now growing more than what demand is and they can remove silage from cows diets.
But this should only be done if there is enough grass ahead of cows.
Many farms in the next week or so will be entering the final rotation, with a goal of grazing 60% of the farm in October.
The final 40% of the farm should be grazed in November and then the cows should be housed.
Farms achieve this by building average farm cover (AFC), but due to poor growth rate many farms now have lower then normal average farm cover.
Instead you should aim for this goal, but once all the paddocks have been grazed cows need to be housed.
Grazing condition in general remain quite good, but some western counties experienced heavy rain which may have affected conditions.