Building your farm resilience with grass and grazing

Date published: 12 March 2026

Grazing quality grass, making better silage and a return to a simpler feeding system will help improve milk from forage and improve your farm profitability. 

This is a fact which on many dairy farms across Northern Ireland (NI) has been simply forgotten. Healthy product prices and favourable weather conditions over the past 18 months has in some cases distracted our focus on what really drives farm profitability and overall business resilience.

The start to 2026 has seen a contraction of farm margin with a downturn in milk price, and the January and February weather conditions have had an impact on soil and ground conditions both of which are a real challenge and test of dairy producer resilience. 

“All dairy farmers have one thing in common regardless of cow breed or location, that is grass forms the corner stone of the diet whether grazed or silage,” comments Conail Keown, Senior Dairy Adviser, at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE). 

Essential to the production of milk, grass is a cost-effective form of feed that can be utilised all year round. This article will look at building your farm resilience with grass and grazing will focus on challenges facing dairy producers, and the key areas that will drive the profitability of your business.

Milk price

Not much can be done within the farmgate on milk prices especially in the short term. While there has been a significant shift in milk price, the reality on most NI dairy farms in 2025 is that it was a profitable year, milk volume in the period January – December 2025 was up 7.8% on 2024 production, average farm-gate price of milk during January to December 2025 was 42.14 pence per litre, 1.10 pence per litre higher than the same period in 2024.  2026 will be much more challenging for dairy producers, uncertainty in fertiliser price and wider issues impacting this will also add to the pressure. There are no silver bullets to address a farm margin reduction experienced January and February 2026. However, focusing on the basics of farm profitability is key to keeping the farm business healthy.

Grass and profitability

Significant research and interpretation of CAFRE benchmarking data highlights the strongest link to farm profitability on NI dairy farms is: the more grass a cow eats, the more profitable your business will be. While grazed grass is a major piece of this puzzle, high quality silage especially in block autumn calving situations has a major role to play in profitability. A similar message comes from Teagasc and dairy farms across the border. It would be fair to assume then that increasing grass utilised by the cow on our farms must be the primary focus this year, and to achieve this we need to both grow more grass and encourage the cow to eat more of it.

The chart below highlights the link between Milk from Forage (MFF) and farm net margin. Based on CAFRE benchmarking data from 2023 and 2024 the most profitable dairy enterprises produced the highest quantity of milk from grass and forage.

Graph 1

Impact of weather for March 2026 and feeding the grass plant

Slurry application has been delayed on most dairy farms with poor ground conditions. Getting slurry onto the grazing block at this stage in March is not an option (unless after the first grazing), grass cover is strong and slurry will only delay grazing further, and in most cases not actually required on grazing areas as phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) indices are on target, over suppling nutrients is only contributing to water quality issues. Best to focus slurry spreading on silage areas these areas will require the P and K supplied by slurry. 

For grazing areas, the focus should be on grazing as much as possible as soon as possible. March is the month to best set up your grazing block for the year ahead, getting as much of the block grazed in March will dictate the quality of grass available for the second rotation which should start 50 – 60 days from the start of the first round. The start of the second rotation will be delayed this year, direct result of very wet ground conditions. However, predominantly block autumn calving herds in Northern Ireland have very high grazing demand in early spring, and if managed correctly meeting the grazing target of starting second rotations on April 10– 15is possible. With no slurry on the grazing block chemical N should be targeted to the grazing area. 

Protected urea the product of choice with plenty of research highlighting its ability to grow grass and minimise environmental losses. At time of writing fertiliser prices are increasing rapidly because of wider political matters, this will have an impact on grass growth and farm profitability here in Northern Ireland.

Develop your grass management skill

The importance of walking your grazing block and measuring grass cannot be overstated. It is the single most important hour of the week. The best grassland managers do it for a reason! Take the time to walk your grazing platform and get an accurate handle on key grass management metrics like Average Farm Cover (AFC), grass growth rate, farm stocking rate and daily grass allocation for your herd. Grass measurement software is good and can remove a lot of guess work from grass management. As you are walking the farm, start to think about the paddocks that will be next, look at post grazing cover, and be careful not to cause any excessive ground damage in this first rotation. 

Continuous improvement of grazing infrastructure

Farm infrastructure is key, especially in marginal conditions like we have. Any improvement work to farm laneways should be identified at this stage. When doing the farm walk just consider would an extra access point help or would additional laneway extensions make grazing more effective. Ultimately you want to increase the number of days at grass and minimising any damage to gateways and ground conditions in the process. If farm laneways have not been maintained or resurfaced already, make sure to get this done as soon as possible. If cows become lame in the first few months at grass herd performance will suffer.

Planning to overcome challenges

Growing and utilising quality grass in the form of grazed grass or silage is every farmer’s goal, but it will not happen by itself. Time must be made this spring to plan, difficult conditions and delayed grazing is a challenge this year, Production systems need to be flexible to adjust and adopt various tools available to help maintain grass utilisation. Simple improvements in infrastructure and improving grassland management skills will go a long way in achieving this. This may require a slight change in mindset, but it is what will drive the profitability of your farm business.

The aforementioned are key areas that will drive the profitability of the dairy business in 2026. While additional matters will inevitably require consideration, addressing these core areas effectively will establish the essential foundations needed to endure what has already begun and what is expected to remain a challenging year.