John Maher, Manager of the Teagasc Grass10 Programme joins Stuart Childs to discuss the grass growing year of 2024 and what we can learn from it for 2025.

John discusses several elements that people can control to help drive grass growth on their farms.  Getting the basics right is what makes the difference. Soil fertility has always been important but it is more important still where nitrogen is reduced as has been the case in the last number of years.

Grazing infrastructure to get grass to cows but not damage ground, was a significant issue for farmers in 2024. This doesn’t have to be elaborate, it may just be a few extra gaps into paddocks.

John went on to say that a big challenge for farmers to address in 2025 is replenishing feed reserves. While the extended autumn in 2024 has helped, people need to plan to increase feed stocks in anticipation of the weather challenges that are becoming more frequent. 

This means farmers need to do a root and branch review of their farming system and establish how they will deal with one of these weather challenges when it comes again. This means looking at how to increase grass growth on the farm, is the stocking rate appropriate, a plan for quality silage etc.

Finally, John outlines the fertiliser plan for early 2025 and how it is important to get nitrogen out in the form of either slurry or chemical nitrogen early to get growth going. It’s only a low rate application and it should only be spread in appropriate conditions but it needs to be spread if the weather is right to stimulate growth.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com