Grazing 2022

Grass to kick, sheep working through paddocks for last 2 months been a big help.

Big burst of growth the last week again.

Hopefully a few dry weeks In January and get the heaviest grazed.

Passed a few bunches of cattle today in North Cork.

It could and probably will.

I've seven heifer calves (Feb/Mar born) still out on about twelve acres and the grass is still growing. They are getting 0.5kg of maize meal with about a kg of rolled oats. Our old pet cow Daisy is on a four acre field along with her three month old bull calf and they have plenty of grass although I've giving her a few forkfuls of hay and a bucket of rolled oats every night. I've a neighbour that has a couple of yearling/year and a half old continental heifers rotational grazing one acre paddocks and the paddocks are greening up within days of her moving them.

Similar heavy land here. With a similar plan. Never graze silage ground here as it’s usually too wet. Hoping to graze this year and then get slurry on for a bulky first cut mid June.

But it’s all about the weather. Plans be damned.

You must be lowly stocked or have super land?

Haven't spread any bagged n, p or k yet here either. The weanling heifers are out full time and cows still day only.

Yesterday and today are really driving on growth. At foliar yesterday without any N included and even today you'd see where you were. At dirty water and dairy washings spreading today. Back at foliar again tomorrow to get it all kicking off proper.

Seaweed, fulvic, molasses. Then that special water.

Humic acid will be added to the mix in the future.

I'd love to know what climate these lads with loads of grass are living in....

Today was the first day I saw growth since January.

Fields are green but nothing in them.

Im in the extreme southwest but those horrible easterly winds over the last couple of weeks were too cold for anything to grow.

Before that we were flooded out of it with rain which also doesn't allow growth.

Hungry enough spring down here unless ground is closed since October or November.

Was there not big growth the last three days?

Ground temperature here is nine degrees, and with that sunshine grass has to grow.

My father used to say that grass won't grow until the daffodil wilts , so I see them dying back now this morning.

Nitrogen out ten days here and a paddock that I took the ewes off two days ago is visibly growing, so all good.......for now

last of the cattle weighted,copper bolused and let out today,serious weather for March in fairness

Glad of the hot days, growth picking up a bit, might be wanted in April.

Thats always the way with small sheltered gairdíns - they grow at double the pace of a bigger colder field.

With or without fertilizer.

I'm going with nothing but granlime this year and I'll report back.

Nothing only a colour yet on the fields I'll have sheep lambing in around The 15th. That has happened before other years even with fertilizer spread anything from Feb 25th to Paddy's Day. The length of the day beats it in the end and it always grows.

I'm not worried yet but if I had gone for lambing 20th March onwards like other years I'd be in **** street now.

Granular should be noticeable if ground is sour.

But no point spreading lime if ground isn't in need of it, its not an instant magic potion.

How much a ton for Granlime? last time I checked it was heading for €200.

I find Granlime works well on heavy muddy land (brown soil)

If you have land that always was well fertilized or got plenty Slurry then Granlime will release locked up fertilizer that has remained in the soil

I found it useless on boggy ground, -> it worked but not as well as other land type and needed more to make a difference

You need a bit of Moisture with granlime, I seen it sitting on the ground for the whole summer during a dry spell so imho get it out before mid May

Biggest negative for me is it makes the skin on the soil very soft, it'll make the top 6 inchs very fluffy

Still a cheap alternative to fertilizer if the ground is rich. idk how it would perform on sandy soils or soils with a higher ph