The weather forecast for the next few days is for much milder nighttime temperatures compared with last week.

Even though daytime temperatures will not be as warm, it’s important to remember that it is average temperatures that influence grass growth.

A bit like the analogy of the man with his head in the cooker and feet in the freezer – night and day temperatures have been fluctuating by up to 17°C, with the average being around 6°C to 7°C.

If night and day temperatures are closer aligned at forecasted 10°C to 12°C, then that means the average temperature nearly doubles, even though the days will seem much colder than the nice sunny days last week.

Cold nights

The cold nights have been hard on stock and while cows are generally milking fairly well, vets are reporting a lot more chills and health issues than normal. It’s fair to say cows aren’t firing on all cylinders just yet.

So what are the important tasks for this week? Firstly, do a grass walk and assess where the farm is at regarding grass supply.

Many farms are at the point where they should be skipping into the second round of grazing.

Consider letting the oldest calves out to grass. This provides them with a healthier environment, with much less disease risk.

Transition

Grass is a high protein feed and will be beneficial for the calves as they transition off meal milk over the coming weeks.

Although they won’t be eating much grass at first, it’s important to get them used to it before weaning.

Spreading fertiliser on silage ground is another job for the coming weeks. By right, silage fields should be grazed before closing and the fertiliser spread by 14 April.

Finally, with three weeks to go before the main breeding season kicks off, farmers should be tail painting cows to identify which ones are bulling.

Top up the paint on those with paint still on every week and then get these cows scanned before mating start date.