The workload on spring-calving dairy farms is building and will accelerate to reach its annual peak in the coming weeks, as the list of jobs-to-do grows mercilessly.
So the risk of important management tasks getting rescheduled or shelved is very high at this time.
And if your grassland management plans fall victim to the workload challenge, you will certainly pay a large price. Ultimately, your farm profit will be significantly reduced. Each extra day’s grazing in spring is worth in the region of €4 /cow/day.
Grazed grass is, and will continue to be, the cheapest animal feed for milk production in Ireland. Teagasc identified a grazing season of 300+days as the main key performance indicator in relation to grassland management.
By getting cows out to grass in early February, with good management, you should achieve 10 grazing rotations, and a grass utilised yield of 10t/ha/DM for 2025.
Overall, calving spread has tightened, and become closer matched to the start of the grass-growing season, with most calves being born between February 10 and March 1.
Recommended grass opening covers (1,000kg DM/ha) are significantly higher than in previous years. The Teagasc Grass-10 team report an average opening farm cover (grass cover on February 1) of 862kg DM/ha on Pasturebase Ireland (PBI)-recording dairy farms this spring.
In our experience, dairy farmers who systematically follow an autumn grazing closing plan to ensure the farm has a high opening grass cover, successfully graze through these covers to plan, regardless of weather conditions.
However, all dairy grazing blocks (even where grass covers aren’t close to target) benefit most when grazing starts in February. The proven benefit affects subsequent grass growth and quality, the cows’ health and production and the farmer’s workload and profitability. The three daily objectives of spring grazing are to:
■ Feed the cow (spring grass is a high-DM, high-energy forage);
■ Minimise poaching;
■ Manage grazing to achieve residuals of 3.5cm.
However, not all dairy farmers are maximising the potential benefit from spring grazing.
Location, weather and soil type are often mentioned by those who fear to push the boat out, and fail to get their cows to grass in February. Interestingly, long-term average rainfall figures for February and March are similar in our Ballyhaise (Co Cavan) and Moorepark (Co Cork) dairy research centres.
The rainy days will come, but then on/off grazing and well-planned (but flexible) grazing techniques can be called upon. Many farmers have this mastered, even on some very heavy or mixed soil type farms.
A simple tool that has stood the test of time (and the test of adverse conditions) is the spring rotation planner – a simple plan or guide to help you set your first rotation grazing target, and ensure you reach it.
Ideally, you should achieve a grazing target of:
■ First third grazed by the end of Feb/first week of March;
■ Second third grazed by March 20;
■ Third (final) third grazed by April 5-10.
If you are do grass measuring and budgeting, you can also use the PBI online grass programme’s Spring Budgeting planner to build in flexibility. Adjustments to the plan can be examined to match changing circumstances of grass supply and demand with addition or subtraction of meals and/or quality silage.
Ideally, first rotation grazing should begin from early February, starting with grass covers of 700kg DM/ha to 1,000kg DM/ha.
Freshly calved cows should be let out to grass by day from four days post-calving. The decision go night and day (two bouts of grazing) should be based on the target grazing plan and the grass supply available on the farm.
To maximise grass growth rate in spring, an initial application of 16 to 20 units/ac of nitrogen (preferably a protected urea product) should be applied to trafficable paddocks.
Where dilute slurry (2,000gal/ac) has already been applied, then the growth requirement has been met. Ensure you adhere to buffer zones, and rainfall warnings in advance of spreading.
The Teagasc KT and Grass 10 team are running 30 or more spring grazing events in February and March.
Tom Murphy, is a Teagasc business and technology dairy advisor based in Galway/Clare
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