Lower stocked farms are back in balance, from a grass supply perspective, according to Teagasc. However only 45-50% of farms stocked over 3.0LU/ha are on target.
Farms behind target are being advised not to remove surplus bales. Efforts should be made to reduce demand by increasing the area for grazing or remove surplus stock.
Increasing supplement feeding has a lower benefit.
Farms with a lot of surplus grass should reduce meal and/or remove bales now, if high growth rates are anticipated.
Grass walks to monitor AFC
In addition, average farm covers (AFC) should be brought back to around 100kg dry matter [DM]/ha ahead of target. Farms stocked around 2.5-3.0LU/ha should begin building grass in the next week.
Teagasc advisors are strongly recommending that farmers keep walking their grassland areas on a weekly basis in order to monitor AFC against targets.
Rotation length should now be at 25 days for farms stocked at 3.0+ LU/ha.
Significantly, this is not rotation length between grazing events. Rather, it is the rotation length based on the area utilised per day. In other words, a 25ha block should be grazed at a rate of 1ha/day.
This figure should be extended to 30 days by early September, i.e. 0.8ha/day.
Fertiliser
According to Teagasc advisors, every effort should be made to get fertiliser nitrogen (N) out onto grazing paddocks before September 15.
Despite the 30% increase in prices recorded over recent months, such an approach will deliver a tangible dividend.
A recent multi-site trial, completed by Teagasc scientists working at Johnstown Castle, Co. Wexford, looked at the response to chemical fertiliser in the autumn.
Every kg of N applied gave a response of 27kg in August, 19kg in September and 10kg in October.
Nitrogen will be the key driver of grass growth over the coming days and weeks as soils wet up. And it really is a case of getting N out, where required, sooner rather than later.
With autumn grass worth 11c/kg, 1kg of chemical fertiliser spread in early August (costing €1/kg) will grow €2.97 worth of grass (11c/kg x 27kg grass DM response).