Spring has kicked off with excellent weather and improving ground conditions, making it an ideal time to get started on the 2025 grazing season. It’s great to see farmers taking advantage of the conditions – spreading slurry and fertiliser, and getting livestock out to grass.

A lot of dairy farmers have been able to turn cows out as they have calved, with the weather settling since storm Éowyn in late January.

Winter growth has been disappointing, with many farmers recording only 3-5kg DM/ha. As a result, a small number of farms are slightly behind target, as the excellent weather and milk price in the back end of last year made it hard to resist grazing.

It’s crucial to stay/get on track with grazing, and aim to have 30% of the farm grazed by 1 March. If you are behind target, then targeting lower covers will help you make up the ground quickly.

However, the most important point is to get the best utilisation of the grass that you have. The simplest and best way to ensure this is to have the cows going out to the paddocks with an appetite. You’ll notice when they have an appetite, the heads will go down and they will eat, as opposed to walking grass into the ground.

Finding the right balance can be challenging at the start. When feeding silage overnight, make sure it’s finished before morning milking, so the cows have a strong appetite for grazing.

The grass budget and the spring rotational planner application on PastureBase should be used in tandem to map out your spring grazing targets.

Micheal Doran, Duncormick, Co Wexford

Winter growth has been disappointing, averaging 3kg DM/ha. Some grass seems to have disappeared due to the cold and rain in late January. So far, 40% of the herd has calved and cows are grazing after milkings. We’re applying 30 units of protected urea on 90% of the platform.

Stocking Rate (cow/ha): 3

Growth Rate (kg/day): 3

Average Farm Cover (kg/ha): 907

Yield (l/cow): 22

Fat%: 5.23

Protein%: 4.14

Milk solids (kg/cow): 2.12

Concentrates: 4

Kevin Maloney, Knockanore, Co Waterford

Cows have been on once-a-day since we started to calve, but now we have them back to twice-a-day milkings. We’re just shy of 43% calved. Cows are only out by day, grazing covers of 600-700kg DM/ha and getting baled silage by night. Slurry went out on 24% of the platform at 2,000gal/ac.

Stocking Rate (cow/ha): 2.72

Growth Rate (kg/day): 5

Average Farm Cover (kg/cow): 905

Yield (l/cow): 19

Fat%: 5.4

Protein%: 4.04

Milk Solids (kg/cow): 1.85

Concentrates: 4

John Condon, Mitchelstown, Co Cork

We have 55% of the herd calved to date. There were a few cases of milk fever early in calving, but that’s cleared up. Cows are grazing during the day 700 and 950kg DM/ha covers. So far, 13% of the platform has been grazed. Only 15% got slurry; the rest will get 25 units of protected urea.

Stocking Rate (cow/ha): 2.8

Growth Rate (kg/day): 6

Average Farm Cover (kg/cow): 974

Yield (l/cow): 24

Fat%: 4.98

Protein%: 4.07

Milk Solids (kg/cow): 2.24

Concentrates: 4