It was another week of the most ideal autumn weather you could ask for. It has gone a long way to make up for the bad spring and dry summer as most farms are growing way more than normal.
The average growth rate is 34kg/day, but some individual farms in the drought-prone regions are growing in excess of 50kg/day, which is exceptional for the last week of October.
However, cold weather is coming but even if growth halves over the next two weeks, it will still be more than twice the long-term average growth rate.
Average farm cover is around 880kg/ha on farms measuring grass. If the closing target is 700 to 750kg/ha on 1 December, they can afford to let average farm cover drop by 150kg/ha or so. In some cases, it could be dropped more in the expectation that cows will be housed fully before 1 December. As a result, cover will increase in late November when demand is zero.
Grass in the diet
With ground conditions on the drier parts likely to be good for the next week or 10 days at least, keeping a lot of grass in the diet should be the aim.
Reduce demand by selling cull and empty cows before feeding more meal to the whole herd.
The paddocks being grazed this week are likely to be the ones that will be grazed first next spring with a cover of about 1,000kg.
Target paddocks that are reasonably dry, but having good access is nearly more important. Good access is multiple ways in and out of the field.
With time now over the winter, maybe you should consider what can be done to improve access across the farm? Think back to the worst paddocks to graze last March – would a spur road or a slip road make a difference?
This is the last chance to get slurry spread before the closed period. Any paddocks grazed in the last 10 or 15 days probably won’t be grazed again so are candidates for slurry.
Average grass growth rates are excellent at 34kg/day, more than twice the long-term average.Keep a close eye on average farm cover relative to target closing cover.Paddocks grazed now will be the first paddocks to be grazed next spring.
Read more
Grass+: cold will finish growth but not grazing
It was another week of the most ideal autumn weather you could ask for. It has gone a long way to make up for the bad spring and dry summer as most farms are growing way more than normal.
The average growth rate is 34kg/day, but some individual farms in the drought-prone regions are growing in excess of 50kg/day, which is exceptional for the last week of October.
However, cold weather is coming but even if growth halves over the next two weeks, it will still be more than twice the long-term average growth rate.
Average farm cover is around 880kg/ha on farms measuring grass. If the closing target is 700 to 750kg/ha on 1 December, they can afford to let average farm cover drop by 150kg/ha or so. In some cases, it could be dropped more in the expectation that cows will be housed fully before 1 December. As a result, cover will increase in late November when demand is zero.
Grass in the diet
With ground conditions on the drier parts likely to be good for the next week or 10 days at least, keeping a lot of grass in the diet should be the aim.
Reduce demand by selling cull and empty cows before feeding more meal to the whole herd.
The paddocks being grazed this week are likely to be the ones that will be grazed first next spring with a cover of about 1,000kg.
Target paddocks that are reasonably dry, but having good access is nearly more important. Good access is multiple ways in and out of the field.
With time now over the winter, maybe you should consider what can be done to improve access across the farm? Think back to the worst paddocks to graze last March – would a spur road or a slip road make a difference?
This is the last chance to get slurry spread before the closed period. Any paddocks grazed in the last 10 or 15 days probably won’t be grazed again so are candidates for slurry.
Average grass growth rates are excellent at 34kg/day, more than twice the long-term average.Keep a close eye on average farm cover relative to target closing cover.Paddocks grazed now will be the first paddocks to be grazed next spring.
Read more
Grass+: cold will finish growth but not grazing
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: