In this week’s instalment of the BETTER Farm Beef programme’s challenge reviews, we take a look at the grass growth challenge. At this stage, most drystock farmers are probably familiar with Teagasc calculations, which show that every extra tonne of grass dry matter (DM) per hectare utilised on drystock farms is worth €105 to the farmer.

But how many are seriously trying to grow more grass and cash-in on this financial benefit?

It is startling that there are over 75,000 beef farms in the country yet there are only 571 drystock farmers actively measuring on PastureBase

For a start, how can you grow more grass if you don’t know how much you are growing in the first place? It is startling that there are over 75,000 beef farms in the country yet there are only 571 drystock farmers actively measuring on PastureBase and only 92 of those measure more than 20 times per year.

These farmers are pulling ahead. In 2018, those measuring farms grew just over 9t DM/ha for the year. In reality, the average drystock farm in the country grows 5-6tDM/ha. The target is double that.

Grass challenge

The grass growth challenge was a mandatory challenge for all 23 of the BETTER Farm Beef programme participants.

The objective was to drive performance from grassland, culminating in the production of an extra 2t of grass DM per hectare by the end of the programme, relative to the first year of the programme.

From that increased growth, the aim was to extend the grazing season by two weeks in the spring and by two weeks in the back-end to reduce feed costs and drive cheap animal performance, weather permitting of course. Here, we take a look at the effect this challenge has had on farms in Kildare and Cork.

Over the last three years, there have been some standout performers, other than the two case studies shown.

Tommy Holmes, the county Mayo man who is currently in the running for Beef Grassland Farmer of the Year, grew over 15t DM/ha in 2017, over 14t DM/ha in 2018 and will exceed 14t DM/ha in 2019 too. Further north, the Grieves in Donegal have had a meteoric rise, from growing just over 5t DM/ha in year one of the programme to closing off 2019 with a grand total of 13.77t DM/ha for the year. Other honourable mentions go to the Breens in Wexford, Gareth McCormack in Co Cavan and organic farmer Ken Gill in Offaly.

Ricky Milligan

Co Kildare

Ricky Milligan is farming 64ha of free-draining land in Robertstown, Co Kildare. He runs a herd of 40 suckler cows, taking all progeny to steer and heifer beef. To supplement output, Hereford-cross dairy calves are also purchased and reared on the farm. The last couple of years in the programme have really highlighted Ricky’s attention to grassland management.

“To be fair, prior to the programme, myself and my father would have always been paddocking up the home farm. I was happy enough with the amount of grass that we were growing.”

By the end of the first year of the programme in 2017, Ricky had grown 8.51t DM/ha of grass which wasn’t a bad start. Fast-forward to 2019 and Ricky has exceeded the 2t target, growing 10.8t DM/ha. Crossing that magic 10t DM/ha figure certainly screams progress.

“We are growing more grass now. This autumn for example, I was able to cut back on one, if not two rounds of fertiliser because I had a good bank put up.” But he continued to point out that “the really big difference I have seen since joining the programme is the quality of grass and the way we are utilising it”.

“I always knew I shouldn’t have been, but when grass got strong, I used to strip graze it. I never had the confidence to skip paddocks and take them out for silage.

Thankfully, that has all changed for the better now and, in 2019, Ricky took 2.9t DM/ha of surplus fodder off his grazing block.That is a double edged weapon, because the grass he is left with is better quality.

“I’m going in to better quality, more lush covers now and that makes a big difference to beef bullocks and heifers in their second grazing season. This year I’m seeing carcases 15kg or 20kg heavier than two years ago.” He concluded: “if you want to control your grass, you have to measure it. At the very least, walk your farm every week.”

Ger McSweeney

Co Cork

Ger McSweeney is farming 40ha – 14ha owned and 26ha rented – of heavy-type ground outside Millstreet in Cork. Despite joining the programme later than the rest of the group, he quickly climbed close to the top of the rankings in terms of grass growth. But even before he was a participant in the programme, it was having an effect on his farm.

“I had been going to a few of the BETTER Farm walks and, looking at those farms, I started thinking about my own system and how it could be more efficient.”

Very quickly, Ger set about improving the grass growing potential of his farm, helped by the formation of a beef grazing discussion group in the area, which was facilitated by Ger’s local Teagasc B&T advisor Ellen Standish and co-advisor Aisling Molloy.

“At one of the group meetings we talked about measuring grass. In 2017, I started off using a sward stick at home and at the start of 2018 I brought in a plate meter. Now I know where grass is and where it isn’t.”

Another key factor in grass management at the start of the programme was the implementation of a paddock system. It was extremely simple and cheap - just temporary fencing stakes and white poly-wire.

Paddocks were drawn up using a farm map, with sizes ranging between 0.8-1ac. The beauty about using the temporary infrastructure is the opportunity it provides to alter paddock sizes as stock numbers increase. By the end of 2018, Ger had grown just under 8tDM/ha on average across the farm.

But as we take a look at this year’s cumulative grass growth, Ger’s grassland management has taken another huge step in the right direction. For the year, he grew an average of 12.19t DM/ha across the farm – 8.2t of grazed grass and 4t of silage.

That’s an extra 4t DM/ha throughout the course of the year – on a 40ha farm, that’s 160t DM. Reclaiming some of his land across the road, reseeding under-performing paddocks and rectifying soil fertility have been key to the monumental improvement in the last 24 months.

By growing more grass, Ger has been able to carry the herd, which was hovering around the 20-cow mark, to just under 40 cows.