Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will ask the first question and then allow Senator Daly in. I have had the privilege to be on the multispecies swards at Devenish lands in Dowth twice. On both occasions, I acquired more information and knowledge. Great credit is due to the research that is being conducted on the Dowth farm. On grass measurement, has Devenish done any research on the number of kilograms of dry matter produced on the multispecies sward on a monthly basis? There is a view that clover-based swards will not produce in March and October. Does Devenish have monthly measurements of what is produced on the multispecies swards?

My second question is on the persistence of the sward. What is the lifetime of it? If it has to be resown, what effect will that have on the emissions scale? If it has be resown far more frequently than a rye grass sward, does it have to ploughed or can it be direct drilled? Has Devenish any plans to do research on multispecies swards on dairy farms to see how they would work in a very intensive grazing system? The last time I was at Dowth, I thought about the rotation length that would be needed for multispecies swards. Where is the research on that?