With growth rates of grass ‘exploding’ across the country, John Maher joins Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss key management tools to manage grass.

John discusses the favourable weather conditions that farmers have experienced since St Patricks Day and explains that farmers must continue to walk their farms regularly.  The 2nd round should commence once the first three paddocks grazed during the spring hit a cover of 1,200/1,300 kg DM/ha.

Some farmers will have to skip some paddocks from the first rotation and John suggests that there are a number of options: make bales immediately, make bales in early May or make pit silage as part of the 1st cut.

He also suggests farmers who adjusted their spring rotation planner around the 1st March with a target date to end the 1st round on 20th April, need to re-address their own situation and pull this back by at least five days to 15th April.

For more information:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/grassland/grass10/grass10-newsletter/