Friday, 3 June 2022 | 13.3°C Dublin

I nvestment in fencing should easily pay for itself with improved sward quality — leading to increased daily liveweight gain — and a more targeted fertiliser programme

Showing the way forward: Shane Keaveney on his farm outside Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon. Photo: Brian Farrell

Olivia Hynes on her farm

Over the last number of years, my primary focus has been on improving and building my suckler herd and my sheep flock.

M y next big area for improvement is grassland management. I was always conscious of this but the massive increase in fertiliser and meal prices have really put a premium on growing more cheap grass and utilising it better.

Last month I attended a farm walk on Shane Keaveney’s farm in Ballinlough and I was very impressed by the simple grazing infrastructure there.

I could see the advantages of a rotational paddock system in controlling and utilising grass.

Managing grass is not easy, as growth can vary so much, and having a proper grazing infrastructure will allow more days at grass, provide easier management of grass at times of peak growth and make grazing less weather-dependent.

Having enough grass in spring has always been a challenge here because I don’t have the infrastructure to close up in late autumn and ensure I have grass preserved in spring.

A paddock system for me would essentially mean:

■ Improved sward quality hence increasing daily liveweight gain;

■ More control on grazing management;

■ I could take out surplus grass, resulting in top-quality silage during the peak grazing season;

■ It would allow for creep grazing with calves/lambs later in season;

■ I could have a more targeted fertiliser programme.

So after, the visit to Shane’s I decided to put in more permanent paddocks on the home farm here in Jamestown. This is an easier farm to divide as it is mainly for the suckler herd.

So I put in an extra 12 paddocks using the long-life, treated stakes at €5/each and a single strand of high-tensile wire. I have my own post-driver and completed the job with some family labour, which as a significant cost saving. The paddocks are 2ha in size and I can easily sub-divide with a reel and some pigtails if needed.

The outfarm is Kilcash is mainly used for sheep so will require more expensive sheep fencing.

I sat down with my local Teagasc adviser Brian Daly and we mapped out 900m of sheep fencing with nine gateways and applied for the 40pc Tams grant.

Hopefully, I will get the approval by the end of the year and the plan is to complete this work in summer 2023.

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There is one very large field in Kilcash which needs a permanent fence to divide it, so I will complete that 500m in the next few weeks without the Tams grant.

The rising input prices put pressure on cashflow but investing in grazing infrastructure will reap rewards in terms of growing and utilising more grass.

I am told that utilising an extra ton of dry matter /ha/year of grass will reward at least €106/ha. So it will be money well spent in the long term.

While the home farm is perfect for P & K at index 3 , Kilcash is low, at index 1. I will need to start using compounds like 18.6.12 or 10.10.20 rather than the straight nitrogen-type ones here and aim to build these indices into the future.

I have also picked out some paddocks for the incorporation of clover next year. These fields are weed-free and are at index 3 for P & K. It is too late for this year but will definitely try some next year.

In the last month I have started measuring grass with my plate-meter on a weekly basis. The grass covers are inputted into Pasturebase Ireland (PBI).

Olivia Hynes on her farm

It is something I never thought I would do but other farmers in the Future Beef programme convinced me that it is vital if you want to get better at managing grass.

I have a long way to go to get fully comfortable with using Pasturebase but I am making progress and Eoghan Callaghan, Teagasc and the Future Beef team are giving me great support.

Essentially, Pasturebase is a tool that helps me make decisions about managing grass — it takes the guessing out of it.

It tells me the growth rate and the demand of the farm per week and the number of days ahead. For example, if the days ahead are increasing per week, I should be taking out paddocks as surplus bales and I can select what paddocks to remove on PBI.

I am willing to make every effort that will potentially save money into the future.

Olivia Hynes farms at Jamestown, Four Roads, Co Roscommon Advisors: Brian Daly, Gabriel Trayers

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