Grass disappearing fast on Athleague Sheep Farm

'Low dry matter in grass means they are flying through covers and grass is disappearing. I’ll be another two weeks outside at a push. Ewes will be housed then until lambing on 1st March' - Shane Moore, Athleague, Co Roscommon.
Shane Moore is farming near Athleague in Co Roscommon. Here he give an update on the current grassland management and soil fertility on the farm.
The feature image above was taken at the farm walk on Shane's farm in early October
Autumn Grazing Management
I aimed to have 60% grazed by now but by the end of this week I’ll be 75-80% grazed. These paddocks are closed and won’t be grazed again now because this grass is too valuable for next spring. Some of the first paddocks closed have 7-8cm (1000-1200 Kg DM/ha) back on them.
There’s 50 lambs left to finish over the next 2-3 weeks, and the last of them were housed this week. 180 ewes went to the ram plus 35 of the strongest ewe lambs that were housed with the ewes. I’ll have 20 dry hoggets left out on rough grazing. Cattle are in a week now.
Ewes are in great body condition as grass quality this autumn was very good. There might be an opportunity to reduce meal coming up to lambing, I’ll see at the time. I don’t mind housing ewes and feeding them, it sets me up great for the spring time.
Diet: 1.8 KgDM Grass per ewe
Pre-Grazing Yield: 1800 KgDM/ha
Average Farm Cover (AFC): 619 KgDM/ha
Days Ahead: 26 days ahead
Growth: 19 KgDM/ha/day
Demand: 24 KgDM/ha/day
Annual Tonnage YTD: 14.5 T DM/ha - 8 grazings/cuts per paddock
Soil Fertility Improvement on Farm
Soil samples were done last winter for fertiliser planning. I spread 1T per acre of lime on some paddocks I cut early for 1st cut silage in May. I plan on getting lime out at next dry opportunity on some other paddocks.
I reseeded 3 acres this year with a grass-clover mix. It has lots of clover now and I’d like to maintain this next year. I’m grazing this now with ewe lambs to keep light to the base over the winter.
Shane is a participant in the Teagasc Signpost Programme and last year was a finalist in the Drystock category of the Grassland Farmer of the Year competition.