Plans made in Sligo

Teagasc/Aurivo Focus Farmer, Jason Coulter has his grass plan made for the first half of 2026. He has a keen interest in pasture management and has been measuring grass for years. John McCabe of Teagasc caught up with Jason on his farm on the Co. Sligo coast for a Q & A session.

Table 1: Facts about the farm

First grass walk of the year?

“I walked every field on the 4^th of February before calving gets busy. There is an opening cover of 981kg DM/ha.”

What decisions did you make during the walk?

“I picked which fields will be grazed first and, importantly, I’ve picked which fields to leave until March.

“I decided I won’t spread any slurry onto the platform until after grazing. I don’t want to taint grass because I want to do everything in my power to hit residuals over the first 2-3 rounds of grazing. My silage ground also needs slurry the most because of the high offtakes.

“I picked which field I will reseed.”

How often will you walk the farm over the next two months?

“I’ll do another cover around the middle of February and one around the start of March. From the 10^th of March, I’ll do one every week, although I will walk a few fields most days to see where the cows are going.
“Last year, I did a cover around the 10^th of March and made a plan with my advisor (Spring budget) which told me I had to pull up the handbrake if I wanted to feed my cows on a rising plane of nutrition (full grass) in late March and early April. If I didn’t do that, I would have been feeding silage and lots of meal to offset the silage.”

What is your fertiliser and slurry plan?

“20 units of protected urea around the 10^th of Feb on all grazing ground except low N clover paddocks which will get watery slurry.

“Slurry will go onto some paddocks as they are grazed in February, but most of the slurry is being saved for growing silage crops.”

What is your grazing plan?

“To graze 750-1200kg DM/ha covers to start. To graze the heaviest covers off between the start of March and St. Patrick’s Day if I can. To graze every day. To have enough grass in late March to take silage out of the diet.

“I want to get really good quality grass for the first half of 2026 so I won’t graze anything above 1100-1200kg DM/ha for the first few weeks so that cows get trained into grazing low and I’ve the best chance of cleaning out swards which will help second and third round clean outs.

“I am not worried about grazing at night in February as I will easily get 25-30% grazed by the end of the first week of March by grazing every day. I’ve learned from the Teagasc research that if I need to feed silage to milking cows, that I should do it before St Patrick’s Day and try to have full grass from then on.

“My milking platform stocking rate is 3.3 LU/ha which means I will be feeding some silage or zero grazed grass. I have 9 or 10 acres of ryegrass on standby on one of my silage fields that can be zero-grazed into the cows if and when it is needed. I have 77.6% DMD/14% crude protein silage for feeding at night for the first month or 6 weeks.”

Figure 1: Target pre-grazing yields on Jason Coulter’s farm

Tell us more about your reseeding plan and why you have it planned so early?

“I have it planned early so that I can graze that paddock or two on a wet day and not worry about it, and so that I can graze it in early April again so that I can spray it 10-14 days later in mid-April. Weather permitting, this will allow me to cultivate it three weeks later in early May. This will mean I’ll have it back by mid-June – all going to plan – which I find gives a lift to litres and protein percentage, and it’s good for getting grass and clover established.

“I had a look back at my grass growth curve for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 on the Grass Summary page on PastureBase and worked out that I can sustain a stocking rate of about 3.5LU/ha in May and June. 67kg DM/ha growth on average divided by a 19kg grass allocation/ cow = 3.5 cows/ha. 126 cows divided by 3.5 = 36ha. My platform is 38.2 ha. I can close 2.2 ha (5.4ac) for reseeding comfortably without driving extra supplementation.

“When I’m spraying post emergence on the fresh reseed at a cover of 600kg DM, I’ll leave the sprayer on the tractor and spray glyphosate on another field for reseeding in the summer. I want to hedge my bets rather than doing it all at once.

For more on the Teagasc/Aurivo Programme, visit here.

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