Persistent rainfall across many parts of the country has delayed spring grazing, with reports from beef farms across the country indicating that very little grazing will be achieved pre-St. Patrick’s Day.
While dairy farmers tend to get cows out for a few hours when ground conditions allow, this is generally not as feasible for suckler and beef farms.
Unless ground conditions are in good order and cattle have adequate shelter, spring grazing will be unworkable in current weather conditions.
Beef farms in parts of the country with drier soil conditions have managed to get grazing kicked off.
The ABP Demo farm in Co. Carlow had 140 yearling dairy-beef cattle at grass as of Wednesday, March 13. The farm prioritised letting the lighter batches of cattle out to grass first and these are grazing off the drier parts of the farm presently.
Conditions
As farmers will know all too well, conditions can change quickly in March and April and if a few relatively dry days arrive, farmers may well be in a position to get at least some cattle out to grass.
Where cattle are still housed, the two biggest concerns on farms will be silage reserves and slurry storage.
Where slurry stores are filling, slurry should be spread the first chance that weather conditions allow.
If ground conditions do not allow for a tank to be used, farmers have the option of hiring a contractor with an umbilical system. Ideally, fields will have been grazed in advance of receiving a slurry application.
Where silage supplies are a concern and grazing is not an option, farmers have a number of options including purchasing in additional fodder, feeding extra concentrates to reduce silage demand or selling any surplus or additional stock.
Naturally, the easiest solution would be getting cattle out to grass so ask yourself: ‘Have I any option to get even a small number of stock out to the driest part of the farm?’
Small groups of lighter cattle can often manage when given a large area to graze and cause limited damage to fields.
Cattle other than finishing stock can be restricted to 40% of their fodder requirement by supplementing with extra concentrate, according to Teagasc, however, for this system to work, silage needs to be restricted and every animal needs to be able to eat at once.