The cold and wet conditions have abated for the moment at least. After what can only be described as a washout for the first 20 days in March, grazing on most farms ceased and cattle were rehoused.

With Met Éireann forecasting a significant drop in precipitation levels and a slight increase in temperatures, the opportunity to resume grazing looks close. This will of course depend on how quickly ground recovers. On dry ground, turnout should be possible before the weekend. For wet farms, it might have to be delayed by five to 10 days. By 1 March, a lot of farms had 30-40% of ground grazed. Progress since then will have been minimal. With the rough target being to have 55-65% grazed by St Patrick’s Day, I think farmers can afford to be a lot less cautious with numbers turned out now compared to back in February. I’d start off with stock that have already been out first. These will settle quicker. After this, any stock under two years of age should be hitting grass as soon as possible too.

On suckler farms, getting early-calved cows to grass should also be a priority for a number of reasons. Cows reach their peak lactation six to eight weeks after calving so matching this demand with good-quality grass is highly desirable. Furthermore, milk yield at peak lactation sets up the potential milk production for the whole lactation; a higher peak-lactation yield translates to higher yield in the time after peak lactation. Also, while cows can “milk off their back” to a certain extent provided they get adequate forage and concentrates indoors, any loss in body condition is going to lead to problems once the breeding season rolls around.

Fertilser

Changing weather conditions will also provide the opportunity to resume fertiliser and slurry spreading. Farms with a moderate-to-high stocking rate should be aiming to have 60-70 units/acre of N out and working by 1 April. All ground should also have received P and K by 1 April too, either in the form of slurry or compound fertiliser. All of this will be needed to push on grass growth. The national average growth rate is currently 15kg DM/ha/day.

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