There was a notable nip in the air both on Sunday morning and again this morning, with mild frost experienced almost nationwide. This night frost is accompanied by wintry showers intermixed with some lovely sunny spells – typical April weather.

After three weeks of glorious sunshine that saw growth rates approach 100kg/day on some southerly farms, what effect will this cold snap have on growth for the coming week?

I predict growth rates over the past four or five days to be over 100kg/day, grass has been jumping out of the ground. So anyone who measures weekly on a Monday or a Tuesday should see average growth rates of 70 to 80kg/day.

Considering the sharp reduction in air temperatures, it is likely that growth will drop this week, but probably not by as much as one might think.

What drives growth at this time of year is increasing soil temperature and increasing daylight hours. Soil temperatures are currently between 11 and 13C and we know that these are slow to change as the earth is slow to heat up and slow to cool down.

Daylight hours are increasing, regardless of the weather. Increased sunshine hours means more photosynthesis occurs so more energy is available to the grass plant.

Provided soil fertility is not limiting, particularly nitrogen, then I would be confident that growth rates will not drop too much over the coming week, at least not more than 20%.

If growth rates do drop more, or if this cold spell lasts longer than we would like, what can we do to limit our exposure to a grass deficit?

Firstly, don’t compromise on fertiliser spreading. Even though it may be cold continue to spread nitrogen fertiliser as planned.

If you have a grass surplus now, for example an average farm cover of 250kg/cow or more and surplus need to be removed, try picking some high, medium and low covers for closing as opposed to just the high covers. That way, at least if growth does drop and some silage ground needs to be grazed then at least the covers won’t be too high.

Finally, keep focusing on achieving a good clean out. It is pointless to waste grass now by not cleaning out properly only to be short of grass in a week or two.