Grazed grass is a vital component of many dairy farm businesses. However the nutritional value of grass can vary significantly week to week throughout the grazing season. Monitoring energy (ME) and protein in your grass will help you decide how much supplementation feeds are necessary as it provides an up-to-date picture of the quality of the grass.

Bandon Coop has partnered with Trouw Nutrition and participates in their Grass Watch programme. This is a programme used to demonstrate the value of grass in milk production. We collect weekly information on grass quality throughout the season on dairy farms to help farmers make the most of grazed grass in dairy cow diets. Each week grass samples are taken from grazing paddocks on approximately 15 farms across the island of Ireland and sent for analysis. Samples are analysed for key nutritional parameters including dry matter, protein, oil, fibre and metabolisable energy levels using NIR techniques.

This up-to-date information is then used by Bandon Coop when reviewing dairy cow diets on farm and allows for feeding levels and concentrate recommendations to be adjusted in response to changes in grass quality.