The rain has come and grass growth has well and truly taken off.

While parts of the west are only getting rain this Monday, between 20mm and 30mm hit most of the country over the weekend.

Farmers who were short of grass before the rain and were feeding supplement to hold rotation length should walk their farm over the next few days to see how much grass has grown since the rain came.

There is no point in feeding supplement if it is not needed

Especially not silage that will lower protein and milk yield. Ideally, you should have an average farm cover of between 140kg/cow and 180kg/cow.

For those who do not measure grass routinely, a pre-grazing yield of between 1,400kg/ha and 1,500kg/ha is desirable, but you could be happy to let this dip down around 1,100kg with no supplement if you felt high growth rates are going to continue, which they should.

Farmers that were very tight for grass may have to continue feeding supplement for a few more days until growth rate catches up.

Silage swards

Of course, the hope now is that the rain knows when to stop, as some farmers will be looking to cut silage over the next fortnight.

This period of growth will help to bulk up silage swards, but if silage is not cut when planned, then quality will decrease. However, crops should not be starting to head out for another week to 10 days at least.

On fertiliser, now is a good time to spread urea if it is in the yard. Higher-stocked farms will need about 30 units/acre for the month, but lighter-stocked farms will get away with less, down to about 20 units/acre for the month.

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