Grassland
The autumn calves were let out to grass by day, but have since been housed due to weather conditions. When the ground allows, they will be let out again and given access to a new paddock near the yard.
As all calved spring cows and yearling heifers are grazing full time, there is a significant grass demand on the farm. Eamon and Donnchadh will be batching up cows as soon as ground conditions allow, to help graze paddocks faster and allow sufficient time for re-growth until the second rotation.
Spreading 20 units of protected urea across the farm on dry, fertile, perennial ryegrass fields will be a priority to boost grass growth on the farm as soon as weather conditions allow.
The grass on the farm was measured on 14th of February, and the farm had an average farm cover of 1107 kg DM/ha, with a growth of 10 kg DM/ha since the previous measurement on 31st January.
Eamon and Donnchadh are using the spring rotation planner on Pasturebase to help monitor their spring grazing targets to ensure that they do not run out of grass, but also to allow sufficient time for re-growths on paddocks before the second rotation starts. Their target is to graze ~4 ha per week and at present they are meeting this target. However as there are cows spread across a few paddocks on the farm, it makes it more challenging to assess this until they are grouped together. By recording grazing dates on Pasturebase Ireland as stock are moved from a paddock and measuring regularly, it is an excellent way of monitoring their progress.