Double, if not treble, the volume of rain in the west and northwest in the last 10 days compared with the south and east of the country has made grazing very difficult. A delay in harvesting any remaining grass silage is also reducing winter feed quality and slowing the return of these paddocks to grazing. In other parts of the country, slightly reduced growth rates are more of an issue due to slightly colder temperatures.

Heavy rain in the west on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week has not helped the situation. On a positive note, there is little or no rain predicted for the west from Thursday to Saturday this week, and next week is also looking more positive.

Many drystock and dairy farmers have been waiting to cut silage or harvest surplus grass for the last two weeks, but fields are not getting a chance to dry out between heavy deluges of rain.

While the tillage farmers in the east and the south of the country have what could be best described as ‘‘a stop-start’’ harvest, at least they have had a chance during the dry days in between the rain to do some harvesting. In the west, there has been rain most days with much higher volumes. While July temperatures are lower than average for the time of year, it is the extra volume of rain that is causing the problems for the majority of farmers. Growth rates have not been as good with the lower temperatures, but there is still plenty of grass on most farms. However, some heavy farms in Tyrone, Fermanagh, Mayo and Sligo are short in grass as paddocks are waterlogged and grass is turning a shade of yellow rather than green.

Couple this extra rain with heavier soils in the west and northwest and you start to have problems very quickly. Rain on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week has forced some farmers to house stock (milking cows and heavier cattle) as they have run out of dry land for grazing and surplus grass or silage is not yet harvested.

Remaining silage

If land got a chance to soak and dry out, then grazing could resume quickly and allow remaining silage to be harvested. But, for the moment, it is good practice to take stock off ground and hopefully let this late July/early August rain pass over for drier weather.

In Figure 1, we have selected rainfall records for the last 10 days for six Met Éireann weather recording stations to show the real difference in rainfall volumes and the number of dry days in the east and south relative to the west and northwest. The met station in Claremorris, Co Mayo, has recorded over 59.6mm of rain in the last 10 days, while the met stations in the east of the country range from 22mm to 35mm for the last 10 days, excluding rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The following is a combination of messages and advice for all livestock farmers to help manage the heavy rainfall, especially on the heavier soils in the west and northwest of the country.

  • House stock before allowing them poach or damage paddocks. Poached paddocks will grow very little over the coming months, so stand stock off or house them if they are doing a lot of field damage.
  • Harvest the remaining silage at the first opportunity. If this means switching to round-baled silage rather than pit silage, then make it happen. Any further delay will reduce the quality of the silage crop and delay any buildup of autumn grass to extend the grazing rotation.
  • Don’t graze heavy covers in wet weather. Try and hold out of them as long as you can and graze them when the weather picks up. Forcing animals into heavy covers will only serve to make them walk more and more. Operate a strip wire and limit the damage. Remember to protect what’s ahead.
  • There is little point in leaving heavy bulls (16 to 18 months) outside if grazing conditions are very wet.
  • Select heavier cattle closer to finish for indoor finishing (six weeks of meal feeding), which will help to lessen the stocking rate outside and split/reduce the housing requirement).
  • Target the right animals with meal and it will bring forward the slaughter date. Don’t overfatten traditional cattle.
  • Creep-graze calves ahead of the suckler cows, if necessary. If grass is tight, it might be worthwhile to feed hay or silage to cows while letting the calves graze ahead into the next paddock/field.
  • Consider weaning strong calves to allow you tighten up suckler cows.
  • Dry, autumn-calving milking cows within six to eight weeks from calving are better off inside, instead of walking the ditches in the rain.
  • House dairy weanlings and in-calf heifers also if they are on the milking block. Prioritise the available grass for milking cows.

    • Apply fertiliser to help boost growth rates

    With some dry spells forecast in the coming days, there is an ideal chance to apply fertiliser. In many cases, drystock farmers that were running low stocking rates and had little fertiliser applied since June.

    While good growth rates persisted until a week or two ago, not having fertiliser out has resulted in these farmers seeing grass covers disappear quickly. The reducing grass availability has been further compounded by the delayed harvest of second-cut silage, delaying the grazing of the aftergrass by one to two weeks.

    Once there is no heavy rain promised for at least two days, applying fertiliser is essential to boost grass growth. Where ground conditions are wet, target applications on dry areas first. Spreading fertiliser on small areas now will have an effect in one to two weeks’ time. Fertiliser type and application rates will depend on soil test results and the stocking rate. Most farmers are applying 20 to 30 units N/acre when the opportunity exists.