In early May, growth rates should be pushing upwards on 70kg to 80kg DM/ha/day. Around the country, grass growth is currently struggling to realise half of this. So, what can be done to slow up grazing rotations and try to maximise grass growth?

Cooler daytime temperatures and some heavy frost overnight will reduce the length of the growing day. On some farms, average farm covers will have been reduced due to frost damage and wind burn.

But while daily temperatures are unseasonably low, ground conditions are, by and large, relatively good as there have not been prolonged periods of rainfall to make soils difficult to manage when carrying cattle.

Warm weather is forecast towards the end of the week and will help grass supplies meet stock demand.

1. Weaning autumn cows

Calves born last August and September should be weaned by now. This suckler cow will be eight months into a lactation and unlikely to be producing a significant volume of milk. Some farmers chose to wean these cows in late May or early June as a method of controlling body condition and to reduce calving difficulties.

With the current weather, there will be a high risk of these cows developing tetany. The suckling action from the calf, low grass covers, low temperatures at night and low grass dry matter will put the cow under stress, which increases the chance of tetany striking.

Weaning autumn-calving cows will reduce their grazing intake by 10kg to 20kg of grass (freshweight) per day, depending on the size of cow and sward quality. These cows can be housed on straw for a week to dry off properly, which will ease grazing further, or tightened up in stocking rate and put on to a dry field with low covers.

Cows that calved in October to early November can also be weaned. These calves, once weighing 250-300kg, may be better off weaned if the milk yield of dams is low and cows are competing with calves for very tight grass supplies.

2. Offering concentrates to calves

There is little benefit in offering 1kg to 2kg concentrates to a suckler cow that has calved six to seven months just to support milk production if you are offering the calf 1kg to 2kg of concentrates also. Feeding meals at this level to such a cow will do little to increase milk production.

Instead, it is much more economical to feed the additional meal directly to the calf. Wean the cow to reduce her grazing demand and increase the rate of meal feeding to the calf by 1kg to 2kg depending on grass supplies. Feeding the extra meal directly to the calf will give a greater growth rate response.

At a ration price of €240/t, 1kg of meal costs €0.24. Taking a sale value of €2.40/kg for a weanling, weaning these calves and offering 4kg/day to a bull weanling and 3kg/day to a heifer weanling will cost €0.96/day and €0.72/day respectively. The extra 1kg should hopefully return 0.25kg liveweight per day, which is worth €0.60 at the outlined sale value.

Once grass growth increases and there is greater grazing availability, you can ease back on feeding levels if you think animals are starting to show fat.

Every 1kg of meal fed to the weanling will cut down their grass intake by 5kg to 7kg depending on their size and grass quality. Rations do not have to be overly high in protein (a simple 14% to 15% protein ration will suffice) as the grass consumed will be 20% to 22% crude protein.

You may need to include straights such as citrus pulp or sugar beet pulp to improve palatability and get animals to start eating meals at grass. Feeding meals in portable troughs or on top of clean grass will reduce sward damage.

3. Forward-graze calves

Where calves are too young to be weaned (late winter or early spring born), allowing them access to graze ahead of cows means they have access to the best-quality grass.

If your grazing platform is well set up, you can use creep gates to let calves into the next paddock in the morning and only returning to suckle the cow in the evening. To do this, you will need good fencing, preferably with a mains fencer.

To keep the cow settled at the start, it is important that calves are only allowed into the next paddock and the cow can see and smell her calf through the wire. This method will still work in the same field by using two strands of electric polythene wire. You will need to raise the wire at one end of the fence to let calves creep under. Meals can be offered to calves once they are ahead of cows. Use the cows to clean out paddocks tight behind calves.

4. Reduce grazing area

This might seem like you will be adding to the problem when you are tight for grass, but grazing cows in a smaller area will reduce the amount of wasted, rejected, trampled or soiled grass. Rather than trying to get three days out of a three-acre paddock, can you split the paddock in half to give two paddocks of 1.5 acres.

Cows will be forced to clean paddocks out properly before moving on to the next paddock. It will take a few days to get cows settled into the routine and during this time they will roar and congregate at gateways when you come to herd every day.

Use temporary electric fencing to control the paddock size and place the wire to make best use of water troughs.

5. Rotationally graze paddocks/use a back fence

It takes grass to grow grass. Rotationally grazing paddocks will give better grass utilisation and allow paddocks to rest and build covers. When fertiliser has been applied, this resting of paddocks will give 14 to 20 days for fresh grass cover to accumulate before cattle are back in grazing again.

Use a back fence: Using a back fence will be time consuming but it will protect grazed areas from being over-grazed. Once grazed, grass will start to regrow around three days later. These new grass shoots will be highly palatable to cattle and they will actively seek to graze these shoots if permitted. To prevent cattle from grazing off regrowth, use a single strand of temporary wire to keep cattle off the grazed areas.

6. Increase fertiliser use

There is little point in increasing fertiliser rates if you do not protect regrowth. With grazing rotations down to 10 to 15 days on many farms, spreading fertiliser after every rotation will increase grass growth and grass covers provided they are rested between grazing.

In short rotations under 15 days, spread 15 to 20 units of nitrogen after grazing. On longer rotations, spread 25 to 30 units/acre of nitrogen. If you have soils that are low in P and K, use a compound fertiliser to stimulate growth. Avoid spreading slurry on grazing ground when grass is tight as it will lead to a problem with grass palatability.

7. Offer silage or hay

Offering a bale of silage to cows will slow up grazing rotations but can damage ground in the area around a ring feeder.

Therefore, if possible put the feeder on to a sacrifice area like a headland near a gate as this will be less productive in terms of grass yield, or ideally on a hardcore laneway. One round bale of silage will feed 15 cows per day if you exclude grazing intake.

8. Sell stores

Despite the difficult spring, the mart trade is relatively buoyant at present.

A select group of well-developed weanlings that are in excess of 400kg liveweight and with good muscling could be offered for sale in the mart or to specialist finishers to ease grazing pressure. Do a few simple budgets before selling. Use a realistic price and weight and calculate income from selling now compared with the cost of grazing and selling in autumn.

9. Cull unproductive cows

Autumn-calving cows that have been weaned and are not in-calf could be offloaded now if they are carrying flesh.

If they are under-fleshed for finishing, they may be better off sold through the mart to specialist finishers. Alternatively, you could house these thinner cows and feed ad-lib meals for 30 to 40 days. This will depend on a number of factors such as cull cow price, having an agreement with your factory and meal prices. Again, do a few simple budgets before starting to feed cows indoors.

10. Split your silage ground

On farms with grazing rotations of 10 to 15 days, closing ground for silage will not be an option at present. Instead, silage ground will be needed to offer additional grazing.But, as mentioned earlier, when the weather does improve, grass growth will quickly surpass grazing demand and start to create a surplus.

You can hedge your bets on silage ground. Closing half, or a good part, of the silage ground now will allow you to take an early cut of high-quality bales if you run an autumn-calving herd or you have finishing cattle. The other half of the silage ground can be closed at a later date and cut in late June or closed and cut as part of a big second cut in mid-July along with the ground harvested in early June.

Alternatively, you could split the fertiliser rates you normally sow on your silage ground for first cut. For example, if you normally apply 70 to 80 units of nitrogen for first cut, sowing 25 to 30 units/acre of nitrogen now means you can keep grazing the silage ground for another fortnight. If the weather improves and grass supplies start to increase, you can close off the silage ground and top up with another 50 to 60 units/acre of nitrogen before harvesting in mid June.