The good weather over the past few weeks along with the odd day of rain here and there has seen grass growth rates improve drastically right across the country.

On most farms, the lambing season is finished; therefore, now is the time to focus on grassland management and making the most of what grass supplies are currently available.

Flocks that lambed down in March will be heading into or will have started their second rotation. Therefore, at five-to-seven weeks post-lambing, the demand by the ewe and her lambs for grass will be high, so it is important that they can have access to good-quality grass at this stage.

Looking back at grass growth rates two weeks ago, PastureBase Ireland figures were showing 23kg DM/ha in Ulster, 28kg DM/ha in Connacht, 31kg DM/ha in Leinster and 32kg DM/ha in Munster.

Fast forward to now, growth rates – in some places – have doubled. Looking at the figures now, Pasturebase Ireland data is showing 48kg DM/ha in Ulster, 48kg DM/ha in Connacht, 49kg DM/ha in Leinster and 50kg DM/ha in Munster.

A grazing plan should be drawn up in order to manage what grass is on the farm and to ensure that supplies don’t spiral out of control.

Therefore, as the lambing season comes to an end, it is best practice to group up ewes and their lambs into large batches.

The idea of this is to clean out paddocks, especially those that have been grazed for the first time this spring, in order to get rid of any dead material that may have been present.

It is best to graze out paddocks to a residual of between 3.5cm to 4.0cm to ensure leafy regrowths for ewes and their lambs to graze during the next rotation.

When paddocks are grazed out, it is important to come in straight away and apply fertiliser to ensure grass covers of well over 1,000kg DM/ha – or a grass height of between 7cm and 9cm – are there the next time ewes and lambs graze these paddocks.

If ewes and lambs are going to be moved into large fields, it is a good idea to split the field through the use of temporary fencing in order to ensure good cleanouts.

However, if the plan is to split fields, it is important to not overstock and make sure that a ewe’s demand for grass is satisfied.

Grass measuring will help determine what fields should be grazed next and help farmers to manage their grass more efficiently. 

For farmers that don’t grass measure, it is still worth your while walking fields to see what grass supplies are like.

It is important to note that at this stage, lambs will be consuming a good proportion of grass; therefore, it is important that they have access to good-quality grass, whether this is through creep grazing or by keeping the residency period in fields short so that they are getting access to leafy grass as much as possible.

Moreover, the improvement in grass growth lately will have seen farmers cut back or stop supplementing concentrates. However, concentrate supplementation should continue in cases where ewes are in poor condition.