Farmer Writes: struggling to keep ahead of the grass

I’m hoping to start cutting the 2017 silage here shortly. As it stands, I have about 45 acres of grass closed off, as it has gone too strong for the sheep to graze.

It is a far cry from this time last year when I was feeding some of my mature ewes concentrates to slow down their rotation around the farm. At present, only the lactating hoggets are receiving meal.

In some ways, they don’t need this as they have a great supply of grass in front of them and are in good condition, but I worry that if I don’t feed them, am I going to diminish their ability to feed their lambs and also continue to grow themselves.

I am planning on reseeding 12 acres of grass this week using the Moore unidrill system. I find this works well where fields don’t need to be levelled.

It also eliminates the need for picking stones, as ground doesn’t require ploughing as the seed is stitched into the top layer of soil.

This is part of my plan to gradually reseed the underperforming fields on the farm. By monitoring the grass measures over recent years, I have the evidence to back up my own observations when travelling the fields.

Last week, all of the lambs were given a dose for nematodirus and run through the footbath.

The lambs received a drench from the white or BZ wormer group. This group of wormers is still effective against nematodirus on the farm.

The first of the lambs born were also weighed, as they are just over seven weeks of age now and weight gain up to now directly relates to the ewe’s ability to produce milk. I was very happy with their gain so far this year, as the singles, couples and multiples have averaged 395g, 334g and 321g respectively per day. It will be interesting to see if the other groups match this performance, as they are due to be weighed this week.

I am looking forward to the Irish Grassland sheep conference that is being held next week in Westmeath. There are presentations from Dr Phil Creighton on some key findings from his work in the research demonstration flock in Athenry, as well as from farmer Isaac Crilly about his farming operation which is stocked at 16 ewes/ha.

There is also a panel discussion on current markets in the morning. I look forward with a bit of luck to hearing some optimistic news on future market opportunities, as we are all well aware of the uncertainty that Brexit is having in that area at the present. This is all followed by a walk on the farm of John Bell after lunch.

I always enjoy these days and come away with a few nuggets of information, be that from the various talks and presentations or from the lively debates and discussions among the other attendees.

The sharing of expertise and knowledge has helped me immensely over the years and I am constantly meeting people whose ideas give me food for thought.