Grass 10 Featured Farm: Caroline O' Sullivan, Teagasc Curtins

Caroline O'Sullivan, Farm Manager in Teagasc Curtins Farm, Fermoy, Co. Cork, gives an update on how the spring is going so far in this week’s edition of the Grass 10 Newsletter.

About 40% of the cows are calved and cows are grazing day and night at the minute due to the super grazing conditions.

Farm details:

• Enterprise: 150 cows;
• Stocking rate: 2.7 cows/ha;
• Soil type: free-draining.

First rotation grazing management

We have about 40% of the cows calved here so far. An intense start with a lot of heifers calving to sexed semen, but it has calmed down now.

Ground conditions are excellent. Cows are out day and night full time at the minute. They are being offered about 10kg of grass and 4kg of concentrate. Graze outs are ok, but there is a lot of heifers only getting tuned into grazing yet. We have about 5% of the platform grazed, so it is early days.

• Pre-Grazing Yield: 1,100kg DM/ha;
• Method of grazing: full time;
• Next paddocks to graze: 700-1,100kg DM/ha to get paddocks cleaned out well and to train heifers to grazing;
• Average Farm Cover (AFC): 800kg DM/ha;
• Growth: 3kg DM/ha/day;
• Diet: 10-12kg grass and 4kg meal as long as the weather allows us for in February.

Click here to subscribe to the weekly Grass 10 newsletter.