14 June 2025

Maintaining grass quality

With the right approach to grazing management, and by following mid-season grazing targets, high-quality leafy grass can be maintained throughout the season.

The key objective over the coming weeks on dairy farms will be to maintain an adequate supply of high-quality grass ahead of the herd.

To achieve this, the following mid-season targets are necessary to follow:

• Target rotation length: 18-20 days,
• Pre-grazing yield: 1,400kg DM/ha,
• Average farm cover: 650-700kg DM/ha,
• Farm cover per cow: 160-180kg DM/cow,
• Post-grazing height: 4cm.

It is very important to keep a focus on grass quality now. Grass quality in June can be poor due to increased stem content, which will decrease digestibility. Grass stem is also difficult for cows to graze. Therefore, the energy intake of the cow will decrease, and performance will reduce.

With the right approach to grazing management, and using the above midseason grazing targets, high-quality leafy grass can be maintained throughout the season provided rainfall amounts are adequate.

Weekly Grass10 tips

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice as some farms are coming into surplus grass and he has a grazing update from John Phelan, Co. Waterford.

Listen in below:

Clover

In the summer, where sward clover content is greater than 20%, nitrogen (N) fertiliser application can be reduced. If you have paddocks with high levels of clover, consider reducing N input by applying soiled water to these paddocks.

Dr. Áine Murray shares key messages on maintaining white clover in grassland swards in the below video:

Read key advice on nitrogen application strategies for grass-white clover swards here.

The above article was adapted for use on Teagasc Daily from ‘Current grassland management priorities’ first published in the Teagasc Dairy Advisory newsletter for June (PDF) and edited by Dr. Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer.