Description

Practice abstract

Improved grassland management relies upon robust grazing infrastructure and this will allow for the extension of the grazing season in spring and autumn.  Often, existing farm layouts, roadways and water systems have been largely untouched in many years and it can be easy to overlook the restrictions these place on farm management. One improvement in infrastructure can be spur roadways which are roadways that are the size of cow tracks and cannot fit machinery on them. They can be installed as extra roadways off normal wider roadways or at the end of the main farm roadway to facilitate grazing of areas of paddocks that would not be accessible otherwise, particularly in bad weather. Spur roadways are generally only suitable for short runs and are useful for getting access to out of the way paddocks and make grazing management easier early and late in the season. They can make up for gaps in the main roadway network and are a useful and cheap alternative to standard roads in less trafficked areas. 

William Dennehy is a spring calving pasture-based dairy farmer in Co. Kerry. William has updated his grazing infrastructure through incorporation of multiple spur roadways. This allowed William to graze in the autumn and spring when other farmers in the area were feeding silage. The roadway William has put in allows him to divide the paddock into four grazing areas. This allows him to allocate the correct amount of grass for a short grazing and then the cows are not allowed access back over the paddock and this reduces damage. William makes sure to drive a wooden post at the end of his spur roadway to ensure there is no break out by the cows. To put in the roadway William removed the subsoil and put a bucket width amount of pencil trunking and rolled it with a vibrating roller. William finds huge benefit in spur roadways and plans to incorporate more on his farm. It allowed him to increase the days at pasture throughout the year especially in spring when he finds he has lots of herbage available but paddocks can be difficult to access in inclement weather conditions. 

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