The 2023 grazing season has just gotten underway in earnest on the Co. Monaghan dairy farm of Declan McKenna.
He farms at Doogary, near Tydavnet in the north of the county.
Declan milks 70 spring-calving dairy cows with the dairying operation managed in tandem with a poultry enterprise.
Making best use of grazed grass has always been a priority for the farm.
The cows are currently averaging 6,000L at 4.4% butterfat and 3.4% protein. The milk is supplied to Lakeland Dairies.
Grass measuring in Monaghan
Measuring grass regularly and effectively has long been a priority objective for Declan McKenna.
But spreading his time over two enterprises meant that other priorities might well have taken precedence at certain times of the year.
However, all that changed when he signed up to a grass measuring service at the start of the 2022 grazing season.
“It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. With the dairying and poultry enterprises I could never have managed to get these results myself without the use of the Farm Relief.
“My paddocks are measured accurately 30 times throughout the grazing season. The information gathered is transferred in real time to an app that has been downloaded onto my phone and a tablet device that is kept at the house.
“But it’s not just the figures. I also receive a series of recommendations on how best to manage the grass that is available across all the paddocks. As a result I am in control of the grass, not the other way round.”
Grass growth
Declan believes that the grass measuring service will be of even more value to him this year.
He explained: “There has been no grass growth of note across the farm up to this point. The cows are only getting out now. This means there will an explosion of growth over the next few weeks, all of which will have to be carefully managed.
“With the use of the grass measuring service, I was able to work out that the paddocks averaged 11.1t of grass dry matter [DM] per hectare [ha] last year.
“It was the first time that I had ever been able to work out this figure so accurately.
“I was pleasantly surprised to find out how much grass the farm can actually grow. It is also a good point from which to build for the future.”
Farm Relief’s Christopher Moffitt was a recent visitor to the McKenna farm and said: “The new service takes the stress out of grass measuring for farmers. It entails swards being assessed on 30 occasions throughout the grazing season.
“The information gathered is sent back to the farmer with the use of grass budgeting software. This includes the accurate assessment of the grass available for grazing on a real-time basis.
“The software also calculates grass demand, daily grass growth, grazing days ahead and average farm cover.”
Regular measuring lets farmers know when and how they can react to a constantly changing grass supply situation on the farm.