The benefits and return on investment from reseeding

Head of Grassland Science Michael O’Donovan and Grassland PhD researcher Tomas Tubritt are this week's guests on the Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the topic of reseeding. Firstly, Michael talks through the benefits of reseeding, primarily transforming swards from partial perennial ryegrass swards to 100% perennial ryegrass swards leading to higher levels of grass production, improved quality and graze outs while renewed swards will also respond greater to fertiliser.  Michael explains that reseeding costs €750/ha which is a significant investment but also the return on investment is recouped in 18th months. Furthermore, he explains the first 11 months are crucial to the success of reseeded swards. Tomas sets a target of 8% of the farm annually which means each paddock should be grazed every 14/15 years. Tomas explains that the new varieties being introduced to the Pasture Profit Index will out-compete older varieties. In order to identify paddocks for reseeding, Michael explains that ideally farmers will make an informed decision based on grass measurement and knowledge of poorest performing paddocks but where these records are unavailable farmers should be filling in the Teagasc Grass 10 Grazing Charts which identifies the number of grazings, the paddock that achieves the least grazings need to be reseeded. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2017/Reseeding-booklet.pdf