GrassCheck farmers discuss how they have coped with a difficult spring
In the latest GrassCheck podcast three leading farmers discuss how they have coped with a difficult spring and their plans for grassland management over the spring peak.
The podcast features Andrew Dale, a dairy farmer from Limavady and father and son team John and William Egerton beef and sheep farmers from Rosslea, County Fermanagh.
The farmers discussed their strategies for managing what has been an exceptionally challenging spring.
This includes taking first cut silage in several batches depending on when the fields were fit to receive slurry and fertiliser and the strategic use of zero grazing, and big baling grazing ground which had got beyond grazing height.
The podcast also included contributions from David Patterson from AFBI and Robert Patterson from CAFRE. David Patterson discussed the recent GrassCheck results.
Robert Patterson outlined strategies for getting the grazing area back on track and ensuring that grass was of good quality later in the season. This might mean targeting paddocks which had previously had high post-grazing residuals for pre-mowing or taking some of these paddocks out as baled silage.
The podcast also discussed opportunities to establish clover swards either by stitching in or by doing a full reseed. This is an ideal time of year for such operations.
The GrassCheck podcast is available to listen to on all major podcast platforms as well as on the GrassCheck website: https://www.agrisearch.org/podcasts