Excellent grazing infrastructure will allow more days at grass, provide easier management of grass at times of peak growth and make grazing less weather dependent. In order to achieve 10 grazings/paddock/year grazing infrastructure must be improved on most farms. This involves mapping out the farm, creating a rotational paddock system, ensuring all paddocks have access to water, and creating access to paddocks through roadways. It may also involve drainage works on some soil types to get the most from the land as well as using temporary electric fencing.
Infrastructure Month – July 2026
Throughout July, the Teagasc Grass 10 team are showcasing practical grazing infrastructure improvements that can increase grass utilisation and improve animal performance. Each week during Infrastructure Month focuses on a different aspect of grazing infrastructure, featuring farmer case studies, expert advice, videos and supporting articles.
Tommie Devine, a dairy farmer from Roscommon, explains how adding a tunnel to his grazing infrastructure will improve access to paddocks and help increase days at grass for his herd.
Michael McGuigan’s experience of using creep gates
Michael McGuigan, suckler farmer, Co. Meath, discusses how creep gates for calves gives them access to high quality grass.
Paul Maher discusses water supply during dry weather
Paul Maher discusses the importance of farm water supply on farm, especially in warm weather.
Paul Maher on 12-hour vs 36-hour grazing allocations
Paul Maher, Teagasc Moorepark provides advice on choosing the right paddock size and 12-hour vs 24-hour vs 36-hour grazing paddocks. 12-hour allocations increase the competition within the herd and first lactation animals are impacted. 36 hour allocations have been shown to improve milk production and body condition score in first lactation animals on farm.
Grass utilised can be increased on farms by either increasing the amount of grass grown and/or improving the utilisation rate. By having the right grazing infrastructure in place will increase grass utilisation which will be influenced further through grazing management of the paddock system.
The start of the grazing season is an excellent time to review grazing infrastructure on your farm. Focus on the positives and negatives from last year on certain fields. Hence a plan can be developed based on farm size, stocking rate and long term goals of the farm.
What benefits are there in setting up a paddock system?
Improves sward quality hence increasing daily live weight gain
Gives more control on grazing management
Allows for taking out surplus grass resulting in top quality silage during the peak grazing season
Allows for creep grazing with calves/lambs later in season
In this episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, John Maher discusses how to reduce demand on the farm and manage nutrient applications during periods of reduced grass growth. Pat Tuohy also joins the podcast for a discussion on land drainage, followed by a Q&A session. Listen to the episode:
A well-designed roadway can have a big impact on pasture utilisation. In this video, William Dennehy shares how installing a spur roadway has helped improve cow access to grass, reduce feed costs, and support better overall farm performance.
Laurence Sexton outlines the benefits of having a back latch
Laurence Sexton, dairy farmer milking 400 cows, installed a back latch on his farm 15 years ago and it’s been an invaluable part of his grazing system ever since. Used twice a day, it helps cows cover long walking distances and the farm’s steep hills at their own pace, making cow movement calmer and more efficient.
Grazing Infrastructure Guides
All the information you need to improve the grazing infrastructure on your farm is in the guides below including; paddock layout, roadways, fencing, electric fencers, water systems and more. Know someone that might benefit from this? Share it, or let them know where to find it!
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