Soil temperatures have risen nicely this week, with the majority of weather stations recording over 17°C soil temperatures, with a jump of 3°C to 5°C seen across most.

Coming off some cooler temperatures in early May, this has been a welcome boost to grass growth and farm cover.

Two weeks ago, we were worried about farm cover running tight - now the opposite looks set to be the case, with healthy growths recorded right across the country.

Rainfall over the next few days will put a pause on some silage harvesting, but will certainly help to hold growth.

At the same time, grass covers have started to shoot out, which is causing some headaches with grass quality ahead of stock.

Controlling covers

Control is the name of the game right now and for many it will be a case of mowing out surplus paddocks.

Some will argue that surplus bales, especially at the current cost of contractors, is too expensive, but the value in these is in ensuring that cattle are not grazing poor covers for the next number of weeks - mowing out one or two paddocks now per group can make all the difference.

Bringing other stock on to the grazing platform to increase demand or closing up a paddock for long-term silage to artificially increase the stocking rate will work well as well and may be a safer option for farms that tend to burn up.

Should growth slow back, you will have this paddock to go back and graze again, albeit it at a higher cover, but it will save the cost of making bales and get you out of a tight spot on supply.