Farming
No point in paying over €300 an acre for reseeding if post-management is neglected
IF you have gone to the trouble and expense of reseeding (up to €320/acre), every effort is needed to ensure that you have a dense, leafy clover/grass sward available for your stock next spring. Post-emergence management of ryegrass and clover seedlings, along with weed control, are both as important as sowing the new ley itself – this care is very much the same whether clover is present or not.
Post Emergence Management: The aim of reseeding is to allow grass and clover seedlings establish and develop after sowing. Allowing the grass to get too high will shade out the clover seedlings. Grass seedlings will not tiller out in this situation either. Best suggested practice is to first lightly graze the sward with sheep or weanlings before closing for the winter.
This will encourage the young grass plants to tiller out and the sward to thicken up. A light grazing also exposes emerging clover to light and enables it to develop and grow. If possible, delay any cutting of silage for twelve months to allow grass tillering and clover establishment.
Some light grazing of the reseeded sward may need to be carried out over the winter months to prevent grass from getting too high. A bag of CAN/acre can be applied after 15th January next year with a tight first grazing being undertaken. Avoid poaching of reseeded swards when grazing. Remove stock during periods of heavy rainfall.
Weed Control: The most cost effective method of weed control is to use a post emergence herbicide. The best time to control weeds is at the four leaf stage in weed seedlings. By using a clover safe post emergence spray, seedling weeds can be destroyed before they develop and establish root stocks. Established weeds can seriously reduce the yield potential and economic lifetime of the reseeded sward.
The post emergence spray should be applied approximately six weeks after establishment just before the first grazing takes place. Seedling docks and thistles along with tillage weeds such as Redshank, Rat Hen, Charlock and Chickweed can be controlled in newly established swards by using Legumex DB, Alistell, Underclear/Undersown and Mastercrop Undersown.
These sprays will not damage seedling clover after the trifoliate leaf stage; and they will not affect young grass shoots. Alistell and Underclear would be the products of choice if chickweed is present.
For non clover reseed swards, herbicide sprays such as Pastor, Nintex, Dockstar etc can be used. Check with local Agri-Merchants for other herbicide sprays that could be used. These sprays will wipe out any seedling clover present in the new ley. They will control most emerging perennial weeds and tillage weeds.
Again, they should be applied to new swards 6 to 8 weeks post sowing where needed. Follow the manufacturer’s advice on the information leaflet on each pack/container of spray in relation to rates/ha and dilution rates. Ensure to keep the prescribed Cross Compliance records for any chemical spray used.
Pest Control: Pests such as Leatherjackets, Wireworms and Frit flies should not be a problem in grass seedlings if the seedbed and field margins were free of trash and decaying organic material at the time of sowing. This deprives these pests of the environment on which they thrive. Slugs and leatherjackets could be a problem in heavier soils. If infestation is a serious problem, consult your local Teagasc Adviser/Agricultural Consultant or Agri-Merchants on what pesticide to use.
*Anthony O’Connor is a drystock adviser with Teagasc, Athenry. Comments to anthony.oconnor@teagasc.ie
Connacht Tribune
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Connacht Tribune
Calls to ‘revisit’ exclusion of sheep sector from Brexit reserve fund
MINISTER for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has been asked to review a decision taken over recent weeks to exclude the sheep farming sector from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).
East Galway Independent TD, Seán Canney, has called on the Agriculture Minister and Government to ‘revisit’ the issue of sheep farmers and the BAR fund.
Galway IFA Chair, Stephen Canavan, also said that a mistake had been made in terms of excluding the sheep sector from the BAR funding.
“I think that there is no doubt whatsoever that Brexit had a major impact in terms of New Zealand lamb exports flooding the UK market.
“The knock-on affect of that on Irish sheep farmers was a serious fall-back on lamb and hogget prices through the early months of this year.
“There are now serious concerns that the farmers who buy in store lambs through the early autumn period will just pull out of this market after getting such a scalding over the past six months or so,” said Stephen Canavan.
According to Deputy Seán Canney, all of the Regional Group of TDs are backing the move to get the Government to have another look at the use of the BAR fund for the sheep sector.
“The evidence that sheep farming was affected by Brexit is strong and the decision not to support people in this sector needs to be reversed immediately.
“Brexit negotiations began in June 2016 and caused turmoil in the sheep trade as it weakened the currency making UK lamb far more competitive.
“The notion or threat of ‘a no deal ‘ in Brexit caused the price of sheep to fluctuate repeatedly in the trade and resulted in lambs selling for an estimated €30-€50 lower per head each year during the entire Brexit process,” said Deputy Canney.
Connacht Tribune
Dairy sector driving land market
WITH the exception of Leitrim, Galway was marginally the cheapest county in the west and north-west to buy non-residential farmland during the course of 2022, according to the latest national survey of prices.
The survey showed that the average price of an acre of ‘good land’ in Galway last year, for holdings under 50-acres, was €9,500 – the dearest was Donegal at €12,143 while the cheapest was Leitrim at €6,140 an acre.
Jointly researched by Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCCI) and Teagasc, the survey also indicated that only 0.5% of land in Ireland goes up for sale each year, a major factor in terms of demand for leased land.
‘Good land’ in Mayo [under 50-acres] averaged out at €10,092; the figure for Roscommon was €9,938; with Sligo coming in at €9,550.
When it came to a comparison of poorer quality land in Connacht [under 50-acres], Mayo was the cheapest at €2,886 followed by Leitrim on €3,300 while Galway topped ‘poor land price league’ at €5,375 per acre.
Auctioneer Martin O’Connor of DNG O’Connor, Oughterard, said that the market was being driven by dairy farmers ‘who are continually ranked throughout the survey as the most likely purchasers of land across the country’.
He said that changes in the European Nitrates Directive in relation to improving water quality meant that many dairy farmers needed more land to comply with this directive.
“In order to maintain current levels of milk production – and to comply with the directive – many dairy farms will need to either increase their land area or reduce milk production.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.