It may seem strange to be talking about autumn grass supplies in early August, but management practices taken in the coming weeks will lay the foundations for successfully building a sufficient grass reserve.

The target throughout August is to build the volume of grass dry matter available per livestock unit (LU) from 200kg DM/LU to 250kg DM/LU.

The optimum number of days ahead should increase from an average of 15 days in July to 17 days in August.

Reduced demand

This is generally facilitated by reducing demand through drafting lambs and cull ewes and by bringing silage ground back into the rotation.

It is also strongly influenced by spreading fertiliser when grass growth rates are generally more favourable than later in the month. This will deliver a greater response and return on investment.

Highly stocked farms should generally continue to apply 20 to 25 units of nitrogen after grazing

The volume of fertiliser that should be applied is directly influenced by the farm's stocking rate and demand.

For mid-season lambing flocks, grass demand from lambs will remain constant at 1.2kg DM/day, while ewe demand increases from 1kg DM during July to 1.3kg in August and 1.6kg in September.

Highly stocked farms should generally continue to apply 20 to 25 units of nitrogen after grazing while lowly stocked farms will still benefit from applying 10 units of nitrogen.

It is also a good opportunity to target fields which are in deficit for soil phosphorus or potassium and also to apply lime to silage ground or grazing ground which requires it.

New land designations are ‘rewilding by another name’

Autumn grazing management needs to start in early August

If you struggle to start to build a surplus of grass in August, then you are likely to face significant challenges in developing the grass reserves you need.