With fodder shortages and grazing systems under pressure, one could be forgiven for ditching normal grazing plans and maximising silage cutting for the month of September to fill fodder deficits.
However, if the length of the winter can be reduced by getting stock out early next spring, this could help reduce fodder requirements for the coming winter. Early grazing will also increase weight gains and reduce feed costs. Grazing a 350kg weanling next March will cost €0.70/day while feeding the same animal indoors will cost €1.85/day, based on 5kg DM of silage and 2kg of ration being fed daily.
The same animal is capable of putting on 1kg LWG/day at grass while it will struggle to gain 0.6-0.7kg/day indoors so it makes sense to put plans in place now to get animals out early next spring.
Getting stock out early isn’t just a matter of opening the shed door next March and hoping for the best. You need to put in place plans this autumn for this to be successful.
Autumn objectives
There are two main objectives to managing autumn grass on a beef farm:
Feeding concentrates at grass will help to reduce demand at grass and help to build covers if grass is managed correctly. As grass growth rates drop, you need to ensure that there is enough grass being grown in September to keep animals grazing during October. It is the grass that is grown in the coming months that will be grazed next spring.
The 60:40 autumn grass planner
Teagasc has developed a tool for autumn grassland management. This is a calculator which dictates how much you need to graze daily to have 60% of the farm closed by a certain date and when you should have the remaining 40% grazed by. For example on a 100-acre farm, if you want to have 60 acres grazed by 1 November, the aim is to start closing paddocks from 10 October onwards (one/two weeks earlier in wet areas). Aim to have 60% farm closed by the end of the first week of November (1-2 weeks earlier in wet areas). The paddocks grazed by this date will have a chance to grow grass before growth rates decline in November. Table 1 outlines the autumn grassland planner and dates can be input for your farm to determine what area needs to be grazed on a weekly basis over the next six to eight weeks.
Autumn grassland management tips