The mix of good, warm and at times wet weather is leading to strong growth rates across the country – which will help to keep good grass in front of stock and hopefully offer farmers the chance to take out surplus grass as bales.
On sheep farms, giving lambs access to the best quality grass on the farm is needed to maximise performance.
At this stage of the year, some farms may be thinking of weaning lambs and moving them onto good grass, while others may be making best use of a creep gate to keep lambs grazing ahead of ewes, again, making sure they have the best pick of the grass on the farm.
If keeping ewes and lambs together, it is best to keep the residency period in fields/paddocks short (3-4 days), so that they aren’t grazing poor-quality, lower covers.
According to Teagasc, grass intake in March-born lambs will be 1-1.2kg dry matter (DM) per day around this time of the season, so it’s vital we keep good-quality grass in front of them.
The aim at this stage of the season, is to be striving for a pre-grazing yield of 1,250-1,500kg DM/ha or 7-9cm, and grazing down to a residual of 4.5cm.
Where farms have witnessed a burst in grass growth and are struggling to keep on top of grass, it would be best to look at taking these paddocks/fields out as bales.
With so many breaks in the weather, contractors have been under severe pressure of late to get first-cuts saved before the weather broke, so giving your local contractor a couple of days’ notice would be best – so that they can keep you in mind and maybe get to you when a small window opens, up to take out the few acres for bales.
Taking out surplus grass as bales will allow you to store high-quality forage in the yard for next winter, as well as helping to maintain grass quality on the farm.
Remember, it is important to target areas cut for bales with compound fertilisers or slurry where available, to replenish nutrient off-take.