After driving around the country recently and seeing so many fields still full of cattle, I started to wonder about the timing of housing cattle.

On my farm, I try to extend the grazing season as long as possible. The aim is to get as much as I can from grass, as I know this is the cheapest way to put on weight. But living in the west, this is sometimes more difficult to achieve.

I will try to outline some of the things that I have put in place to extend the grazing season.

The biggest thing is to be flexible and have a plan for when the weather takes a turn for the worse. In doing this, you have to be prepared to house cattle at any stage in the year.

Some farmers will not let cattle out in spring until they think that they have enough grass to keep them out all summer (a lot of times this is not until the month of May). On top of this, some operate an all-in or all-out policy.

The way that I find works well on this farm is to let the cattle out in stages and also return them to the house in stages. I am not afraid to admit when I have got it wrong and rehouse if required.

In February, I start letting cattle out (lightest cattle first) and as the grass starts to grow, I will let out more. Sometimes this early turnout is only letting calves out for a few hours each day.

But eating off this grass helps to stimulate growth and also ensures that I have control over grass covers from an early stage.

It could be May before I have all the cattle out, but having cattle out early means that I have saved silage, which could be very useful if I have to rehouse cattle in the middle of the summer.

Then, in early September, I start housing the beef cattle, as I find it very hard to get flesh on these cattle once the quality of the grass starts to deteriorate.

I find it much better to get these cattle in and onto a finishing diet. In 90 days, they are ready to kill. In late September or early October (depending on the weather and grass supply), I wean my spring-calving cows.

At weaning, I house the cows and leave the calves out at grass.

I then start to give these calves 1kg of meal per day – they usually stay out until late November or early December.

Getting these cows off the ground means there is plenty of grass left for the calves, and to flush the ewes. It also means that I haven’t got heavy cows tramping about, destroying the ground and eating all the good grass on the calves.

As a result of these measures, my ground is in better shape and will be ready for turnout next February. To help, I have the farm set up in paddocks and the first paddocks closed in the autumn are the first paddocks grazed in spring.

This means that there are usually only two months of the year when I have all the cattle housed. Although on the other hand, there is only about four months when all the cattle are out. This may not suit everyone, but it works well for me.