AFBI and CAFRE reflect on another grazing season

The 2009 grazing season provided many challenges, especially during the months of July and August. However, the welcome improvement in weather conditions during September and October allowed many farmers to finish the season with excellent ground and grazing conditions. Now that livestock on most farms are housed for the winter, it is good to reflect on the 2009 grass growing season as recorded by GrassCheck,  the Agri-Search and DARD funded project. Grass growth was measured at six sites during 2009, namely Antrim, Hillsborough, Loughgall, Portaferry, Fintona and Aghadowey.

The 2009 growing season got off to a slow start, with the below average growth rates on five of the sites in March a reflection of the cold wet conditions encountered. Grass growth remained below average at the majority of the sites during April. Monthly rainfall during April and May at AFBI, Crossnacreevy was 17 percent and 45 percent above the long term average, respectively.

Peak growth in mid-May was 24 percent below average at Aghadowey, Loughgall and Greenmount, and 43 percent below average at Fintona. However at the Portaferry and Hillsborough sites peak growth in mid-May was actually 15 – 20 percent above average. Although grass growth was reduced on many farms, an inability to graze full-time meant that achieving early season grazing management targets was difficult. The poor growing conditions also delayed silage harvesting, with little silage harvested during the first two weeks of May.

Grass growth rates in early June were over 90KG DM per ha per day in Portaferry and over 80KG DM per ha per day in Aghadowey. By mid-July growth rates at all sites were at or above average, with Antrim achieving over 90KG DM per ha per day. However, unsettled conditions throughout the second half of July and into August led to a gradual deterioration in grazing conditions, especially on heavier soils. At Crossnacreevy the rainfall during July was almost double the long term average, with August being 51 percent above average. This not only restricted the options for grazing, but also caused delays to the harvest of second cut silage and cereals. However, grass growth at Portaferry, Antrim and Aghadowey remained above average, while growth rates fell below average at Hillsborough, Fintona and Loughgall during late July and into early August.

Although ground conditions improved quickly during September, growth remained below average at most GrassCheck sites, with only Portaferry and Aghadowey consistently above average. Grass supplies were variable on farms at this stage, as a result of the interuptions to grazing rotations and fertiliser applications during August. Nonetheless, the excellent ground conditions provided an ideal opportunity to graze paddocks out cleanly and set up the grazing platform for next spring. The excellent spell of weather resulted in above average growth rates at all sites by mid-October, with the mild temperatures remaining a feature into late October.

There was considerable variation in annual grass production during 2009, with above average yields at Portaferry (13.3t DM per ha), Aghadowey (11.2t DM per ha) and Hillsborough (10.9t DM per ha). Fintona achieved the lowest total production at 8.2t DM per ha.

The GrassCheck project has been running for ten years and has developed considerably over this time. To ensure that GrassCheck continues to meet farmer requirements, a questionnaire was conducted by CAFRE at the Summer Feed Efficiency farm walks earlier this year. Of the responses received from the dairy farmers attending these events, 69 percent indicated that they read the GrassCheck bulletin weekly or fortnightly. The presentation of GrassCheck was rated as excellent or very good by over half the farmers, and over 40 percent of farmers indicated that they found the information provided either excellent or very good.

This positive feedback demonstrates that GrassCheck continues to meet the needs of grassland farmers.  Although the weekly bulletins have finished for another year, the winter months will allow further developments to the GrassCheck format to be finalised in readiness for the new challenges that await in spring 2010.