As it stands farms in the south and east of the country haven’t had any rain in nearly a month and soil moisture deficits are over 90mm in some counties as a result.

This makes reseeding now a futile exercise on any of those farms. Best advice is to hold off until there is rain in the forecast.

A reseed that goes in by the middle of August should be ready for grazing around the middle of October.

That gives enough time to get at least one grazing of the paddock before closing for the winter which isn’t perfect but it’s still enough.

Ideally, the paddock would be sown in early August and grazed twice or three times before the paddock is close, but this just won’t be possible under the current circumstances. Spraying paddocks off in dry conditions is also a waste of time, as the grass plant needs to be growing to get a good kill from a glyphosate spray.

Therefore, there is no point in trying to get too far ahead by spraying now and having a seed bed ready.

The key is to be ready to go when the rain does come and growth picks up again.

Rain

Farms in the western half of the country that have gotten rain in the last week should be looking to get their reseeds in now.

Soil moisture deficits might still be up but with plenty of rain in the forecast, there’s very little risk of seeds not germinating. The earlier, the better here, as a good proportion of these farms will also be on heavier soils and it won’t be as easy to get those grazings in the back end.