The weather has been rather cool and dry over the last few weeks, since the storm that ravaged every 1950s hayshed. Ground conditions are therefore relatively decent for the time of year, enough to get some slurry out and get tanks lowered for those who have yet to go out with a tankerful of brown gold. With good-quality slurry valued at €28/ 1,000 gallons, it’s not something that should be thrown out for the sake of it. However, grass growth is set to increase in the next week, indicating a lift in soil temperatures, so getting some out while ground is trafficable would be no bad idea. Like our beef farmer Willie Treacy below, there are some fence repairs that need to be done before stock gets turned out. It’s often paddocks around the yard that have trees in them and are most affected, so prioritise the tidy up on these to get some early calving cows or some yearlings out.

William Treacy, Hackballscross, Co Louth,/ch>

Calving has just started in the last 10 days or so, and thankfully all has gone well so far. Our stock bulls are well proven. I’d be thinking of trying to get some of these out to paddocks around the yard, but we are still cleaning up and repairing fences that were storm-damaged; hopefully we will get this sorted soon. Slurry is also on the mind, and some tanks will be mixed and spread later in the week. Ground is just that little bit soft now, as we have had bits of rain over the last week. Protected urea was purchased, but we won’t be in a panic to spread it.

System: Suckler to beef

Soil type: Free draining

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha): 822

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day): 7

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day): N/A

Niall O’Meara, Killimor, Co Galway

All stock has been out by day since last Friday 7 February and are in by night. This includes the autumn-calving cows, their calves and any heifers on the farm. Ground conditions are very good for the time of year, with minimal damage done. I’m grazing off paddocks now with the hope of getting some slurry out on them to kick things off again, but with ground still not that warm, I will be conservative enough with slurry, injecting 1,500 gallons/acre. This will ease pressure on slurry storage for me. Cattle had been grazing a paddock/day at 600-700kg covers. With cattle now going in to 1,300kg-1,400kg covers, I will try and get a second grazing from paddocks, as opposed to splitting them. The autumn calves have grazed five paddocks over the winter.

System: Suckler to weanling

Soil type: Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha): 580

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day): N/A

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day): N/A