Challenges of grass growth in difficult weather patterns and other issues will be addressed at an AgriSearch conference to mark the 25th anniversary of GrassCheck in the Seagoe Hotel, Portadown on Tuesday, November 12 at 10.30am.

The title of the conference is, ‘Future-Proofing Our Pastures: 25 Years of GrassCheck and Beyond’.

Speakers will include Dr. David Patterson and Dr. Taro Takahashi from AFBI, Dr. Sinclair Mayne (independent consultant), Jason Rankin (AgriSearch) and special guest speaker, Dr. Brendan Horan from Teagasc.

The conference will also feature contributions from GrassCheck farmers from across Northern Ireland.

All are welcome to attend the conference, and places can be booked via the AgriSearch website.

The final GrassCheck Bulletin for 2024 was published last week, which included that grass growth has been behind the long-term average for most of the year.

This year, the GrassCheck plots at Hillsborough and Greenmount grew a total of 9.49t DM/ha compared with 10.77tDM/ha in 2023 and the 10-year average of 11.59tDM/ha.

County Tyrone farms had the highest overall grass growth (11.23t DM/ha), closely followed by County Londonderry (11.22 tDM/ha) and County Antrim (11.20tDM/ha).

County Fermanagh grew 10.99t DM/ha and County Armagh grew 10.90 tDM/ha, with County Down having the lowest grass growth (10.48 tDM/ha).