I was on a farm last week where the farmer had less than 25% of the farm grazed.

So he missed the target to get 30% of the farm grazed in February.

The next target that was outlined at the farm walk was to have 60% grazed by 17 March.

It was unlikely at the current rate of progress that this was going to be achieved.

Academic

Some suggested that other stock could be let out to help get the area grazed up.

At this stage, percentage grazed and by what date is academic.

The 30% target in February is important.

But if you fail to hit the 30% target, do not try to catch up and hit the 60% or 100% target.

Rotation length can then either be sped up or slowed down, depending on the amount of grass available

If you do, you will run out of grass.

Grazing grass that could be fed to cows with any other stock is madness.

That was probably OK last month or if average farm cover is above 1,200kg/ha, but not for most farmers.

How much grass is growing

You must look at how much grass you have on the farm and how much grass is growing.

Ideally, this would be achieved by doing a grass measurement, but if you’re not into measuring, just watch regrowths and see how fast they are coming back.

Rotation length can then either be sped up or slowed down, depending on the amount of grass available and on growing conditions.

At the moment, growing conditions are poor enough at about 10kg/day and I don’t see this changing for another week.

Farms with a low percentage grazed might be growing more because they have more grass, but farms with 50% grazed today are only growing around 10kg/day.

It is likely that many herds will have to be housed for periods

Ground conditions are mixed and challenging in most places after a lot of rain.

Interestingly, most places in Ireland have got as much rain so far in March than they did for all of March last year.

With more rain on the way for later this week, it is likely that many herds will have to be housed for periods.

If cows are in on silage, meal feeding levels should increase to around 4kg per day.

If some level of grass is in the diet, a protein level in the meal of 14% should suffice.

If cows are indoors full-time, a higher protein of 18% should be fed.

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