Managing mid-season grass quality

Teagasc Grass10 Programme Manager, John Maher, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss managing mid-season grass quality.  John outlines the significance of getting grass quality right with 40% of the milk being produced in May, June and July. He talks about why grass management is difficult, because it doesn’t grow consistently with as much grass growing in the last 7 days of the rotation, as it does in the first 14 days. The main aim is to graze 1400 Kg DM/ha as this is the cover that optimises grass performance and cow performance and means the paddock is grazed well to facilitate good quality in subsequent rotations. There are challenges in terms of management of grass quality currently with drier than normal conditions. However, people need to try to get back into the right cover as soon as they can if rain comes. Nutrient status of paddocks is important and K is critical in water management in the plant, so some K and indeed S are important to deal with stress periods.  Rainfall should bring a surge in growth and that will have to be managed but having nutrient status in control allows for a quicker return to normal as grass can deal with the stress better when nutrient status is adequate. John finishes up by saying that it is important to walk the farm before the rain comes to know where you are at and then walk it again once the rain comes to reassess, with the objective being to get to the right pre-grazing yield of 1400 or 10cms in height as soon as possible to underpin midsummer milk production and milk price. 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