The last of the second-cut silage is now harvested and fodder reserves have been replenished fully. There has been plenty of surplus grazing saved as silage this year also to boost stocks.

The plan from now on in the programme farms is to save grass for autumn grazing and try to hold weanlings or autumn calving cows out at grass for as long as possible. Most of the farms have been applying a bag of nitrogen to grazing ground. This will be the final dressing applied this year.

Ground that is being reseeded at present will get a dressing of nitrogen before the closed period for chemical fertilizer comes into play.

There has been some reseeding taking place in the past week, with plans for more reseeding to be carried out in early September.

Weather has been holding back some of the programme farmers from proceeding with their original reseeding plans, as frequent showers have limited ploughing opportunities. While the majority of farms have been getting weekly rainfall, there are a small number that have received little rainfall since early summer. As a result, grass growth in these areas has been severely hindered and silage has been used to supplement cattle intakes.

The lack of soil moisture has limited fertilizer applications and on one farm, it has hindered germination of grass seed in reseeded ground.

Grass growth

Grass growth this week averaged 44kg DM/ha/day. While growth rates are starting to tail off in line with normal seasonal growth, the majority of programme farms are getting excellent grass utilisation when grazing, which is helping to clean out paddocks.

As cattle are getting the full-time period of grazing in paddocks (two, three or four days), it is easier to build grazing covers, as cattle are now in a 20- to 25-day rotation compared with 12 to 14 days around one month ago.