Why is grass is turning yellow this year?
Some farmers around the country may have noticed a yellow hue across fields and paddocks in the last number of weeks.
Agriland spoke to Teagasc Grass10 specialist John Maher to find out why this may be.
He said: "It's a disease called yellow rust.
"There were a number of contributing factors, but over my lifetime, this is getting worse and worse.
"It's probably somewhat related to climate change I would say, so you had the perfect storm this year.
The specialist explained how conditions contributed to the issue.
"You had the right time of year, you had the right weather, and then you also had the right phase of grass growth," Maher said.
"And what I mean by that is simple - you're gone from the reproductive stage into the vegetative phase."
According to Maher, yellow rust normally doesn't occur on grass that is in the reproductive phase, but that could change over time.
The Teagasc specialist highlighted the particularly strong role weather has played in the prevalence of the disease this year.
He said: "I think 2019 was the only year was there wasn't a level of drought in the UK, especially in the south.
"So when you get drought, you get low growth and the carbon and nitrogen balance changes - you've a vegetative stage of grass, and you've the right weather pattern, then this disease will get a grip on the grass.
"That's why you get this yellowing of grass or orange on your boots, or orange on the animals or yellow.
Maher noted that many tillage farmers will already be very familiar with yellow rust.
"Yellow rust is a disease of cereals, it's just become more prevalent on grass over-time," he said.
"It normally starts in the coastal regions - like the first place I always bump into it is east Cork, west Cork, Kerry, coastal regions and then it starts spreading up the country."
Maher advised that the best thing farmers can do is graze off infected paddocks and fields.
"Once the paddock is grazed off, then an application of fertiliser, slurry, watery slurry, or material from the collecting yard (soiled water) can be applied to increase nitrogen levels", he explained.
Maher stressed that this is to put nutrients back into the plant to get new grass tillers, which will bring the plant back to its former health.
When asked what an organic farmer can to do to combat the problem, he said: "They have access to watery slurry, to collecting yard material.
"You're putting nutrients back in. However, after a drought there's always a spike in growth because the water arrives in the rainfall, the nutrients will be released again and the grass will probably grow itself out of it again."
