Agriland visited the farm of Michael Harty junior in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary to see how his grassland management is shaping up this spring.

Harty hosted a crowd of farmers during the week for a Teagasc spring grazing farm walk, with local advisers John Conroy and Padraig Costigan both presenting on the day.

Michael Harty junior told the crowd how he came home to the farm in 2020 and entered a farm partnership with his father, Michael Harty Senior.

They are now milking a herd of 120 black-and-white cows, averaging over 500kg of milk solids in 2025.

Since returning to the farm, Harty has implemented a strict focus on breeding and grassland management in a bid to boost the farm's margins in a low cost system.

Spring grazing

The farm's milking platform is stocked at 2.8LU/ha, while the whole farm stocking rate sits at 2.2LU/ha.

Since putting an emphasis on breeding, and switching from 100% stock bull in 2020 to 100% artificial insemination (AI) in 2025, Michael's calving start date has moved forward to January 25 with 81% of the herd calved down in six weeks.

Therefore, having a high standard of grassland management is critical in getting cows out early to boost their performance and health.

Harty admitted that he is relatively lucky with his soil type as he can usually have cows out to grass from February 1 on the 100ac milking platform, with an opening farm cover of 755kg dry matter (DM)/ha.

This year is an exception after this week's rain, but he is still confident cows will be out by the end of next week if he gets a few favourable days of weather.

He also has a 65ac block on the other side of road which is wetter in nature; however, it has become a saviour in droughts over the recent years.

Harty has invested heavily in infrastructure to be able to manage this early grazing season, with an exceptional fencing system and road network in place, making access to paddocks as easy as possible.

He also has spur roadways in place in each paddock to prevent damage when strip grazing.

He begins grazing low cover paddocks in early spring trying to prevent any major damage to the the fields.

However, he admitted that he is not overly concerned with grass intake as the cows are still getting silage in the shed.

But getting that bit of grass does the world of good for them, the Co. Tipperary farmer said, and getting cows out of the shed also helps with somatic cell count (SCC) levels in the bulk tank, further pushing margins.

When conditions are poor, he often leaves the herd in the yard for an hour after milking, sending them out to the paddock hungry for a few short hours after.

He also holds cows for five days in the shed after calving in a 'red group' rather than rushing them out as they transition.

Grassland management

Harty has also put a huge emphasis on improving the nutrient status of the farm.

He carries out regular soil testing and hits paddocks with appropriate levels of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) based on the results.

He said he has also improved his slurry usage in the last couple of years, through low emission slurry spreading and targeted applications as 2,000gal/ac are spread on low cover paddocks in early spring.

He is spreading up to 80t of lime a year to improve the farm's pH levels; this is usually spread when reseeding.

Both the grazing and silage blocks are getting regular reseeding, with the results speaking for themselves.

The advisers highlighted the importance of early nitrogen, saying half a bag/ac will cost about €14.25, but it will grow the feeding equivalent of one high quality bale of silage, which costs approximately €50.

The advisers also reminded farmers that spring grass is worth €4.17/cow/day, which is worth €2,919 a week if 100 cows are out.

Therefore, taking up grassland management practices like Harty's should help farmers get cows out to grass, and boost their margins.

And even though many farmers will not be able to get to grass for another couple of weeks, the platform should still be set up so grazing can start straight away once conditions are suitable.