Many farmers throughout the country have been out rolling land in recent weeks, however the practice is viewed by others as the wrong option in terms of grassland management.

One person who strongly disagrees with rolling of grassland is Cathal McAleer a grassland consultant working with individual farmers and facilitating discussion groups throughout Ireland.

He says one of the core principals of good grassland management is to get as much air into the soil as possible.

“With rolling you’re compacting the top 3-4 inches of the soil. Which is the most important part of the soil structure.

“It leads to to compression, then compaction.”

McAleer has heard that some might say if a paddock is very badly damaged due to poaching rolling might be necessary.

However he would say in this instance farmers are better off power harrowing and reseeding.

“Rolling the land causes further sub soil compaction,” he said.

So why do people do it?

From McAleer’s view point, in terms of established grassland, the only benefit he sees is that ‘you’ll feel really good doing it’.

“From my point of view its completely aesthetic, your field will look really tidy.

“Guys that are really good at it can really do a nice job and leave the field looking like Croke Park or Old Trafford.”

However, McAleer says in terms of grass growth and utilisation, it will only hamper it.

Reseeding 

According to McAleer, reseeding is the only context where rolling makes sense.

“It often is vital to the process of preparing the seedbed and dealing with stones.”