The benefit of getting the basics right were plain for all to see at the open day at sheep grassland farmer of the year winner Tomas O’Leary’s farm near Beaufort, Co Kerry, last week.

A beef and sheep farmer, Tomas farms in two locations. For ease of management, he takes silage from the smaller home farm and the stock graze for most of the year on the larger holding near Beaufort.

The home farm is located at Headford and consists of a 24ha (60ac) block that lies on very heavy soils and is marginal in nature (adjusted to 16.2ha or 40 acres grazing). Sixteen miles west on the other side of Killarney is the main grazing platform, which is a 36.4ha (90ac) outfarm at Beaufort.

In 2017, Tomas grew 13.5t/ha. After a challenging spring and six weeks with no grass growth at the height of last summer’s drought, he grew 4t/ha less in 2018.

A focus has been placed on getting soil fertility right. Regular soil sampling and lime applications when required have enabled Tomas to get high grass yields.

The first step to boost grass growth is by addressing soil fertility deficits.

Some of the sheep from grassland farmer of the year Tomas O’Leary’s flock of Belclare and Suffolk ewes.

While soil potassium levels at index 3 and index 4 were sufficient, an issue with soil phosphorus remains. This may be linked to soil type.

While there are issues in trying to raise the P index, Teagasc B&T adviser Kevin O’Sullivan said: “Tomas in a good year can have high grass yields. Low P doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor in producing grass, so it’s not a priority.”

A fertiliser plan is in place with targeted use of cattle slurry and compound fertilisers to soils low in phosphorus.

Over half the farm will get slurry through the year. Tomas would like to use more, but it’s not economical to draw the slurry from the home farm to the grazing block.

In 2017, 56% of the farm needed lime to get the pH to optimum levels.

Tomas said: “I put out 2t of lime per acre initially and there was 1t/acre spread this year due to soil test results.”

A beef and sheep farmer, Tomas has run different cattle systems on the farm over the last number of years and since last autumn, the cattle enterprise consists of contract-rearing dairy heifers to complement his mid-season flock of 230 mature Belclare and Suffolk ewes. Alongside the main flock are 80 ewe lambs, which are managed separately.

Sheep grassland farmer of the year winner, Tomas O’Leary talks through his grass measuring techniques at a farm walk on his farm.

After an average litter size for the mature flock of 2.2 lambs/ewe at lambing, Tomas is on target to rear two lambs/ewe. To achieve this, he artificially rears and cross-fosters triplet lambs.

Lambing began on 1 March, with ewe lambs lambing two weeks later. All the ewes are lambed at the home farm and brought back to Fossa with their lambs.

Tomas set up the farm to allow rotational mixed grazing of heifers and sheep. He now has 18 paddocks with an average size of 1.7ha.

The benefit of having this many well-fenced paddocks allows each grazing group to graze a paddock for two to three days in rotation over six divisions.

With most paddocks having water points at either end, they can be further subdivided during periods of high grass growth. This enables Tomas to comfortably run a stocking rate of 12 ewes/ha. A well-fenced and maintained central roadway also allows ease of management.

Tomas O'Leary has been contract-rearing dairy heifers on his farm at Beaufort near Killarney in Co Kerry.

Normally, Tomas practices mixed grazing of cattle and sheep and runs three separate grazing groups on the farm. Due to the AI programme for the heifers this year, he kept them separate, which means he had four grazing groups. The intention is to mix them once the breeding season is complete.

Measuring

Tomas measures grass on a weekly basis, explaining that the process from measuring to inputting growth rates on Pasturebase takes about an hour. He was very complimentary of the Pasturebase app, which allowed him to input the data on his phone while out in the field. Last year, he completed 30 grass measuring walks.

Decision-making

This enables him to make informed decisions in advance of a deficit or surplus of grass.

Giving an example of how valuable he found Pasturebase, Tomas told the farmers present of a decision he made on the back of results he had inputted on one of his grass measuring walks. Unsure whether to take out surplus grass from the heifer group, he let the figures decide.

Tomas O'Leary has been contract-rearing dairy heifers on his farm at Beaufort near Killarney in Co Kerry.

“My brain was telling me that the grass wasn’t there on the farm to cut but Pasturebase was telling me it was.

“It was a leap of faith for me to take out one of the paddocks, because if the grass didn’t grow, I would have been caught in 10 days, but I went with Pasturebase.

“I took it out and I have 60 bales in the yard without any adverse effect on the cattle. They’re probably better because what came back was young leafy grass.”

Growth

Currently, grass growth is running around 66kg DM/ha, which is marginally under the demand.

With weaning planned for this week, Tomas should be left with a surplus of grass. The intention is to make silage bales if this becomes the case.

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