Grazing conditions on most farms have turned tricky and sticky.

That’s the story on farms where cows are out grazing.

It’s always a challenge at this time of year but especially so when the weather is wet.

Rainfall amounts have varied significantly from east to west and north to south. The sporadic nature of the rain showers means that some parts of each parish are faring better than others.

To be fair, ground conditions on free-draining land are generally good – much better than normal. But having said that, damage can still be done when cows are out during a rain shower.

In order to avoid damage and to feed cows as best they can, farmers need to make many decisions. The three main decisions are detailed below:

Answering the first question is difficult and depends on your tolerance to damage and poaching, soil type and weather. This is very variable between farms.

Generally, most farmers will tolerate some level of poaching in order to keep grazed grass in the diet. However, it’s almost impossible to avoid damage if it’s raining overhead while cows are grazing.

If it’s raining, it’s a good idea to let cows stand in the yard for an hour or two after milking and if it’s still raining at that point you know the only option then is the shed and silage. But if it’s dry then, you can chance grass for a few hours.

Answering the second question involves walking a few paddocks to ascertain the most suitable location.

In this kind of weather, they may not necessarily be the driest fields as you might want to save these for when it’s really wet. The best policy is to target fields with a pre-grazing yield of 1,000kg to 1,400kg/ha.

How much area to give will depend on how many cows are going out, how long they have been calved, the proportion of heifers in the group and how much supplement is being fed plus how much grass is on the field.

As a rule of thumb, total intakes will be about 11kg/cow/day for the first week after calving. This increases by about 1kg/cow/day for every week after calving.