The accelerated grass growth rates experienced over the last fortnight has meant that almost 16 acres of surplus grazing has been earmarked for baling on the Thrive demonstration farm this week.

The reason for doing this is to maintain grazing quality ahead of stock over the next few weeks.

Grazing too high of swards will result in poorer liveweight gains at pasture and also will lead to a slower grazing rotation, meaning that the next paddocks in the rotation will be gone too strong by the time cattle get to them if the surplus is not removed in the form of bales.

Weighing cattle

The yearling cattle have been at grass since 1 March, so they are now more than 10 weeks at pasture.

This is a perfect time to assess performance over the first few months outdoors, when growth rates are often at their highest of the entire year.

A full breakdown of weighing performance will be available in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal, where we will compare growth rates by breed and see how the bullocks and heifers have performed at grass after a strong winter performance in the shed.