The good growth continues. The current average growth rate is 64kg DM/ha/day, signalling no change from last week’s figure. A lot of farmers are noticing that their average farm cover (AFC) is building quickly and this is being driven by two things: good growth and reduced demand.

Reduced demand probably sounds incorrect considering suckler calves and store cattle have increasing appetites for grass at this time of the year. But most farms now have the benefit of second-cut silage ground coming back into play and, on a kg DM/ha basis, this will in fact cause daily demand to drop.

But at this stage of the year, the AFC needs to be increasing. Putting aside the need to build grass covers for the back end for the moment, the feeding value of grass is naturally in decline.

The DM% of grass during summer would have been from 20% up to 23% in very dry areas. It’s now ranging from 15-18% in most places. And of course we all know the type of grass we get after a cut of silage or a round of topping – it doesn’t have nearly the same grazing power.

Adjustments

With that in mind, it’s time to make some adjustments to our grazing mindset to prevent us straying away from a grass surplus and a rising AFC towards a deficit.

Firstly, target pre-grazing yield needs to be pushed up to at least 1,800-2,000kg DM/ha (11-12cm) now. This will grow to 2,200-2,400kg DM/ha later in the month. Anything less than 12cm of grass is no good for suckler cows in August. Next up, the rotation length needs to be pushed out from the summer’s 18-21 day round to a 22-25 day round. This means finding an extra one to three paddocks for every group of stock. This shouldn’t be an issue when you factor in silage ground. The end goal is a slowly increasing AFC.

On a farm stocked at a moderate 2.5LU/ha, AFC should be around 850kg DM/ha by mid-August. A final application of N at the end of the month should provide the final boost for the mid-September peak.