Variation in growth, ground and weather

Our grass-measuring farms have grown an average of 67kg DM/ha/day over the last week, though there is huge regional variation around this figure. Farms in Northern Ireland grew 58kg DM/ha daily, while those in the Republic grew 77kg DM/ha/day. Munster was ahead of the rest, with figures of 85kg DM ha/day being reported.

Like grass growth, the contrasts in weather patterns across the island this week are astounding. Some farmers are enjoying an Indian summer, while others are thinking of housing cows. Some farmers are telling me that the lack of rain has left ground so hard that they can’t get strip-grazing posts in, and others are moving stock on every 12 hours and reporting cases of tetany from stressed-out cows.

Graze out

If at all possible, graze grass tight this time round. It is likely that it’ll be harder to do so later in the year when we hit these fields again. However, with the weekend set to be a wet one, avoid damaging the sod for the sake of chasing a residual.

The target for this point in the year is to have 25-28 grazing days ahead of stock. On a farm stocked at 2 LU/ha, that’s an average farm cover of around 840kg DM/ha. Remember that the closed period for fertiliser spreading is looming. There will still be good responses to nitrogen at this point.

James Strain

Co Donegal

Farming system Suckler to weanling

Land type Heavy

Ground conditions have improved a lot here in the last fortnight. While it’s not as good as you’d like, it’s much, much better than what it was. When we took our silage two weeks ago, we were forced to leave a section of the ground out – we just couldn’t get in with the mower. In terms of grass supply, this ground (15 acres) coming back in will give me a boost. It got a dressing of slurry, but should be fit to graze in a fortnight.

The weather will dictate all, as per usual, this back end. I don’t see grass supply being an issue going forward, but grass utilisation might be. If needs be, I can house cows and take some pressure off.

We calve late in the year and nearly everything is weaned at this stage. Stock are doing well, with heifers growing at a rate of 1.15kg daily since birth and a selection of my bulls up at 1.4kg. You have to be happy with that.

Ger Dineen

Co Cork

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Medium

I have never seen anything like the grass growth we are getting at this stage in the season. The farm grew 92kg DM/ha/day this week. Average farm cover is 1,333kg DM/ha, giving me 30 days of grazing ahead of me.

I could probably afford to take a couple of paddocks out at this point, but I’m conscious that the weather forecast for the weekend is not good. Grass supply will not be an issue this autumn, but utilisation might be. The farm is mixed in terms of ground quality. If things get wet, I will have problems grazing out plots.

I scanned my breeding herd and weighed calves earlier this week. Heifers scanned well, though some of my cows were empty having been served and appeared to hold. I can’t pinpoint a reason for this, though I saw an article online on farmersjournal.ie this week about problems with empty heifers. These empty cows won’t be carried over – it’s too big a drain on farm resources.

Des and Frank Beirne

Co Longford

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Dry to heavy

There has been a big change for the worse here this week. Ground conditions are diabolical after the weekend’s rain. I’m moving stock on early to prevent any real damage to paddocks, but I’m conscious that I’m leaving lots of grass behind that might be difficult to graze again before the year is out.

At present we’re a long way from target post-grazing heights of 4cm.

In a first for the farm, we’ve had three cases of tetany in the past week. The first two cows went down in the fields in front of us and the third was gotten in the yard during a move. Thankfully, we lost none of them. We give our minerals through the water here. I reckon with grass dry matter concentrations coming back, they’re not drinking as much and that’s what hit us. I’ve added more magnesium to the mixture now and we’ll keep a tight eye on things.

After a dietary change that saw a reduction in soya bean and increases in maize meal and straw, our finishing bulls have averaged 2.3kg daily for the last month.

Tomás Murphy

Co Laois

Farming system Suckler to beef

Land type Dry

We got an inch of rain here over the weekend, which was welcome. It’ll drive grass on and I’ll be able to get the stakes into the ground for strip-grazing again.

I know the situation is very different if you drive 50-60 miles west of me, but that’s the nature of the farm and our geography. I have sent some cows and calves to an out-farm to enable me to build up grass on the home block. I’ll begin weaning in two to three weeks, removing 10 cows per week from stock groups. Creep-feeders are with cows and calves at present.

Stock are coming into the yard today. I’ll castrate, weigh and give a pour-on dose to calves. We had our herd test in mid-August and thankfully went clear. Around the same time, cows and heifers were scanned. Fourteen of the 16 heifers were pregnant, as were 60 of 63 cows – good results all round.

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