Ground in the northwest is arguably in a better state than it was a month ago, with nearly all soils now trafficable.

The issue with this is that the application window for chemical N is closed, while when it was open in August ground was unable to be travelled on.

This has caused a pinch in growth and grass supplies in the west and northern quarters of the country for some, while in the east and south, the lack of rainfall meant that soil was under moisture stress and growth was impaired, with heavy supplementation having to go in to stock to try and hold cover.

The above result is that farm covers are sitting on average at 800kg DM/ha for drystock farms, With a pre grazing yield of 1,350kg DM/ha.

Even for lowly stocked farms, we should be looking at a farm cover of 1,000kg DM/ha at this point, with pre grazing yields of twice this.

The result is that the rotation will be shorter than planned, and while recovery on these lower covers will be quicker, there will likely be a tightness of grass that will force stock inside sooner than intended, even if grazing conditions are still good.

What to do

There are some options available if you find yourself in a pinch for grass.

Stock can be offloaded in the live ring, where there is buoyant trade for all types of stock at the minute. Forward stores can be supplemented at grass with concentrates, or housed and given a short, sharp finish period.

Beef farmers

Ger McSweeney – Milstreet, Co Cork

Grass is nearly growing as good now as during the summer. We got rain there three weeks ago and steady showers since have kicked grass forward.

Cows with bull calves at foot are being strip-grazed, with the cows with heifers grazing three-day paddocks. All calves are forward grazing and eating concentrates. Clean-outs are excellent.

Bull calves were hit with coccidiosis and aren’t where they should be weight-wise, so I will hold them on the cows a little longer, with a planned weaning date around mid-October.

Heifer calves will hopefully stay on cows until late October. Cows for culling have already been weaned. Store heifers housed in early August should be fit for the factory in the next two weeks or so.

System Suckler to beef

Soil Type Variable

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 918

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 38

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 33

Stephen Frend – Newford Farm, Co Roscommon

Third-cut silage is in now, with a yield of 4.5 bales/acre after six weeks growth across both the grass and red clover swards. This is the second cut taken off the red clover sown in May.

Weaning is also complete. We tried the nose paddles on 20 cows and calves, and with the way the weather came, I was able to lock cows in to a bare paddock while calves grazed ahead, with minimal stress on either.

A bunch of 20 younger cows have been pulled off and given some better grass, while the remaining cows are following yearlings and weanlings. There are 16 bullocks weighing over 600kg that are receiving 5kg of meal at grass, with 25 heifers housed the last three weeks also receiving the same.

System Suckler to beef

Soil Type Free draining

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 1,015

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 24

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 46

William Treacy – Hackballscross, Co Louth

The farm is in a quieter period now. I’ve spent this week prepping one of our sheds ahead of housing, getting troughs and gutters fixed up and such.

A bunch of forward store heifers will be housed in the coming days, with the hope being to get half of these away by Christmas. Cull cows will join them as well.

Growth is solid and ground conditions are excellent, though the cooler weather will likely see growth drop a little. We would like a small drop of rain, but the issue always is that it never knows when to stop.

The hope would be that rain would kick on growth a little as well, and with ground being as dry as it is we should be able to graze away without issue.

System Suckler to beef

Soil Type Free draining

Farm cover (kg/DM/ha) 998

Growth (kg/DM/ha/day) 63

Demand (kg/DM/ha/day) 49