The Grass Week: rain dampening farmers' mood and ground conditions in west

It’s becoming a tale of two halves regarding grazing at the minute.

Farmers that I’ve talked to in the south and east working on loose, free-draining soil are reporting that the rain is having little to no effect on grazing conditions.

Farmers there have cows out full-time, with one farmer informing me that he was actually working off 36-hour allocations.

In contrast, farmers in the northern half of the country are reporting that conditions are becoming increasingly worse, with many farmers working off three-hour breaks after each milking.

Tricky balance

Whenever silage is introduced alongside grass, it’s a tricky balance to match intake with allocation.

If cows are going out for only a three-hour break of grass, you want them to put the head down and graze solidly, with no dawdling and come back in to lie down and ruminate.

If cows are going out with a full or semi-full stomach of silage, they are much more likely to walk grass into the ground as opposed to graze.

As it can be hard to allocate silage correctly, the best method to get cows to go to grass with an appetite is to hold them in the yard after milking.

If it’s possible to, lock them away from access to silage in the cubicle shed as opposed to leaving them standing in a collecting yard.

Drier conditions

Thankfully, more settled conditions seem to be returning for the weekend. Although farm covers are a little lower across farms than many would like, holding back on grazing now will result in a pinch in grass supply come the second round.

The target of 30% grazed by 1 March for farms and 20 March for heavier farms still remains.

Now is also a good time to have cows out from a labour point of view. Setting up a wire or fetching cows is quicker and more enjoyable than scraping cubicles or putting out silage.

The dry conditions don’t seem to be having much of an effect on soil temperatures though and they are remaining stubbornly low.

As the days get longer, temperatures and drying conditions should improve, so it’s not something to worry about just yet.