For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher explains how walking the farm will allow you to assess what your grass supply is (AFC).

If you are below target AFC <650kg DM/ha:

-       Reduce demand on the farm to lift AFC to 650kg DM/ha. This may require grazing additional land (silage ground, replacement heifer area)

-       Increase feed supplementation (ration, silage)

-       Remove surplus animals

-       Hold rotation length using these options to ensure growth isn’t further hampered

Walk the farm more frequently as grass growth and grazing conditions can and will change fast.

There is also huge variation in fertiliser and slurry applied to date across the country owing to ground conditions and grass covers.  A focus should be put on getting nutrients where possible to ensure production is on track for the year ahead

Meanwhile, the featured farmer is Declan Flynn from Kilmallock, Co. Limerick.

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:
https://bit.ly/Grass10-14thApril

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