Youngstock: There are approximately two months of grazing left for youngstock in 2020. This presents a final opportunity to get cheap liveweight gain before the winter. Over the winter months, farmers will be lucky to get 0.4 or 0.5kg/day of liveweight gain, whereas 0.7 or 0.8kg/day is achievable on autumn grass. This is only possible where good grass is presented to stock. So, prioritise the good grass to the heifers that need it the most – the lighter ones.

Target liveweight in mid-September for a heifer that is expected to weigh 580kg when mature is 200kg, or 35% of mature liveweight. Heifers that are below this weight today need extra TLC – good grass and meal and being parasite free. They will also need an early turnout next spring to capitalise on cheap liveweight gain, so be planning for this now.

It’s not all rosy for the heifers that are above 200kg liveweight today either. You don’t want these getting too big, as this puts them at risk also. There is no point in feeding these heifers meal if it means they are only going to get bigger and fatter. It’s important to remember that the target is the target, not the minimum weight required. In-calf heifers should be 75% of their mature liveweight now.

Hedge-cutting: Farmers that are operating under a nitrates derogation have new rules to deal with this year. Of particular relevance at this time of year are the new measures under the biodiversity heading. Farmers must carry out at least one of two measures around managing hedgerows.

One option is to leave a mature whitethorn or blackthorn tree every 300m along the hedge. The second option is to cut hedgerows on a three year cycle. The latter option means that instead of cutting all hedges annually, only one-third of hedges are cut. This gives them an opportunity to flower and produce fruit.

The key thing for pollinators is flowers, as these are a rich source of nectar for bees. Hedgerows should also be high, as birds will not nest in low hedges for fear of attack by predators such as foxes. They won’t nest at the top of a hedge either, as their eggs could be eaten by magpies. So the low, box-shaped hedges, while neat, are not very good from a biodiversity perspective.

Grass: It’s a critical time on dairy farms. Most farmers have less grass than they should. That is OK if you know where you stand – at least you can take action. It’s worse to be in a bad situation and not even know it. The opportunity cost of not building up sufficient grass for extended grazing is lost milk sales, higher feed costs and more work next spring and autumn. Even if you don’t measure grass, it’s critical that every field is walked once a week, to work out how many days you have ahead of the cows.

All farmers should be on a 35 day rotation length now. This means grazing one 35th of the farm per day. To work out your actual rotation length, divide the area being grazed per day into the overall farm area, eg 100ac divided by three acres per day is a 33-day rotation length.