Grazing: The dry week has enabled many farmers on free-draining land to resume grazing.

The forecast for the coming week is looking promising and grass growth rates are looking good for the time of year also.

On the one hand, farmers should be taking advantage of this when they have the opportunity but on the other hand farmers need to be careful not to deplete grass too much and end up being short of grass next spring.

How much grass to “store” over the winter will depend on stocking rates and how early cows will be turned out. As a rough rule of thumb, those on dry farms should be carrying over an average farm cover of 700kg/ha to 800kg/ha on 1 December.

This means the highest paddocks should have a cover of no more than 1,400kg/ha to 1,600kg/ha by then, which means they should be closed when they have a cover of 1,100kg/ha to 1,300kg/ha on them now, so any paddocks above this can be grazed now.

For those on heavier land, if they can resume grazing again this November they should aim to clean off all the higher covers as carrying over a high cover of grass on a heavy farm is not really advised because it will be too hard to graze it next spring. After all the rain, many heavy farms are unable to be grazed and so housing is the only option.

Drying off: Thin cows, high-SCC cows and first-lactation cows calving in January and early February should be dried off now. The most effective time to manipulate body condition score is the dry period. You can add an extra 0.5 of a body condition score on to cows by giving them an extra six weeks dry when silage quality is good. With a high milk price, many farmers will be tempted to milk on this winter but this shouldn’t happen at the expense of condition score.

Well and good if recently dried off cows can be left out in a bare field for a few days after drying off. Research has found that a quick drying off process is better than a long, drawn-out process where cows are put on once-a-day milking for a week or so prior to drying off. It’s better to reduce milk yield by reducing feed intake rather than dragging out milking intervals.

Feed: After a middling year for grass growth in summer, many farmers made fewer surplus bales of high-quality silage than normal.

These high-quality bales are handy to have in spring, if milking cows need to be housed for a day or two in wet weather or if grass needs to be stretched in late March. How many bales are needed to fill this purpose depends on stocking rate and soil type, but many farmers aim to have at least one good-quality round bale per cow for use in spring. Be careful not to use up too many of these good bales in the backend of the year.

If cows are housed full-time, feed the best silage available (get it tested to know what is the best) and feed a few kilos of meal also. Keep it simple – cows in late lactation don’t need fancy feeds.