Spring Grassland Management at Teagasc Grange

Edward O'Riordan, Teagasc gives an update on the grass situation at the Teagasc Beef Research Centre in Grange, Co. Meath. Edward explains that it is timely to have a look at our grassland management and also management of our stock.
By now all the silage area that could be grazed has been grazed, it has received its slurry and nitrogen, in the form of protected urea, based on the soil test results. The silage ground will be then ready for cutting at the end of May.
The grazing area is about half the farm and is stocked at 2.5 tonnes liveweight/Ha - that means that on a daily basis each Ha of ground needs to supply 50kg of dry matter per Ha/day - the actual demand that the herd has. They will not have the growth rate until late April/ early May but they will have enough grass until then due to covers of roughly 1,000kg DM/Ha.