Grass

Many farmers have reported a sharp reduction in grass growth over the last week. Growth rate was bound to slow down after almost four weeks of very high growth.

For many farmers it has dropped faster than they expected, and a good few of the farmers I was speaking to over the past week report being tight on grass.

Average farm cover should be between 160kg and 180kg per cow, or even higher on very dry farms where there is a risk of drought. Where average farm cover is much lower and where growth has stalled, farmers will need to reduce demand for grass.

They can do this by bringing in extra feed such as meal or round bales, or bringing in extra land such as paddocks that were closed for silage or have come back from silage.

The herd’s demand for grass should be back calculated fairly often to make sure it is accurate. I suspect some farmers took out too much area for silage over the last few weeks because the demand was underestimated.

We normally say that cows eat 18kg of feed per day, but as cows are now milking more, that figure could be out of date and may need to be revised upwards.

Lime

A good share of first cut silage has been taken at this stage, with more due to be cut next week weather permitting. Now is a great chance to get lime spread on silage fields that are low in pH.

The importance of correcting low pH fields cannot be overestimated – it is by far the most important part of improving soil fertility.

The advantages of spreading lime after silage is that there is no chance of it sticking to the grass. However, if spreading slurry on this land make sure to spread the slurry first before waiting a week or so to apply the lime.

Don’t use urea nitrogen on fields spread with lime for three months after it is spread. Protected urea can be used on fields spread with lime.

Fertiliser

With European cereal farmers out of the fertiliser market, there is more availability of product now than there was two months ago. Prices for some products have eased a bit in recent weeks, but where they will go in the future is hard to predict.

Some farmers have been asking questions about long term storage of fertiliser.

There is no shelf life for fertiliser, meaning the nutrients it contains will remain present indefinitely. The exception to this is protected urea, as the inhibitor has a short shelf life of six to 12 months. However, fertiliser product itself is very delicate and can be degraded very easily.

The biggest risk in Ireland is moisture, as this will cause the fertiliser granules to clump, cake and harden and make it more difficult to spread accurately.

Importantly, fertiliser doesn’t need to get wet in order to be affected by moisture. The fertiliser granules can suck in moisture from the air, so avoiding humidity is essential. Urea is particularly prone to this.

Storing fertiliser indoors in a dry and cool place is definitely better than storing outdoors. Don’t store any higher than two pallets high and keep urea separate from other products. Consider covering pallets with a tarpaulin.