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The average growth rate for the last week was 80kg DM/ha. The forecast for the weekend is for temperatures in the low to mid-twenties with rain in some areas.
The mix of warm and wet weather is expected to see growth rates in most counties to continue on an upward trend.
The dry weather has been a great opportunity to get silage done on a lot of farms.
Wet weather in May meant many had to delay cutting for a number of weeks which meant crops were heavy but this will have had an effect on quality.
Good-quality silage
Cold weather: Grass growth is still not where it needs to be, but an improvement in growing conditions is forecast for the next seven days.
Some farmers I have spoken to this week have gone back in with silage to suckler cows to slow down the rotation to allow grass supplies pick up again.
Others have in with meal to store cattle to do the same thing.
Grass dry matters are very high and beef cattle are settled at grass so there is no cause for panic yet.
When growth does pick up, things will change very quickly and it’s important to be ready for the surge in growth when it does come.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Cows have been tail painted as an aid to monitor activity. This will be an important aid throughout the breeding season.
Breeding is due to commence on Newford Farm on Wednesday 21 April and 100% AI will be used again in 2021.
The farm has recently finalised its sire selection for this season and details of sires selected can be found in Table 1.
A number of sires return to the team in 2021, with Fiston and Hideal used the most in 2020.
Selection criteria
There is no bias among breeds, with sires selected following an analysis of sires available carried out by Michael Fagan of Teagasc.