The 280ac farm in Co. Carlow runs a dairy calf-to-beef operation and buys in over 400 calves/year.

It also runs a store lamb operation over the winter months.

There are currently 416 yearling cattle at grass on the farm, and Matthew said that grazing conditions were "very difficult" at the start of the grazing season.

The first batch of cattle went to grass on February 19, and the last batch went to grass in early April.

The current average weight of the yearlings on the farm is 379kg.

The farm manager said: "Some of our weaker animals are down at 280kg and our top animal is 520kg."

Cattle are currently gaining 0.8kg/day at grass since turnout and "performance has been decent after a difficult spring".

Matthew said that average daily liveweight gain is expected to be higher on the next weighing as cattle had gut-fill at the turnout weighing.

He said the high rainfall amounts this spring delayed the average turnout date of the yearling cattle this year.

Before cattle are let out to grass, they are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) of beet, meal, silage, and red clover silage with a 12% protein nut used because of the red clover silage.

In lead-up to turnout, meal and beet is dropped out of diet and yearling cattle are on a 100% grass-only diet for their second season at grass.

Grass management on the ABP Demo Farm

Cattle are offered 7.5kg dry matter (DM) grass/day and are generally run in batches of 40 or 80 cattle grazing on 2-3 day paddocks.

The farm is currently well through the second rotation, with an average farm cover of 708kg DM/ha.

30ac have been already taken out for silage with 20ac more to be cut in the coming few weeks.

Growth on the farm as of Tuesday (May 12) was sitting at approximately 54kg DM/ha/day.

Commenting on grass growth rates, Matthew said: "We're pretty happy with that, that is exceeding demand right now.

"We're following each group of cattle that doesn't have adequate clover in the swards with about 30 units of protected urea."

Cattle will all remain at grass for the next 6-8 weeks before the first of the cattle will be drafted for housing for the finishing period.

The first cattle will be drafted for slaughter in August and the last of the cattle are generally slaughtered in December.

Matthew said: "We're looking for an in-spec animal hitting a '3' in flesh.

"Our grades vary depending on breeds but were looking targeting a 325kg carcass-weight for bullocks at 21 months and 275kg carcass-weight heifers at 19 months."