For most of the country, last week proved to be wetter and colder than normal and this seems to have had a negative impact on grass growth rates.

On top of the changes to the weather, many farmers are or have been operating on a smaller grazing area due to more area than normal being closed for silage.

This is because grass growth rates over the last two weeks have been much higher than normal and the natural response to this situation is to take out surplus paddocks for bales.

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However, this plan was impacted by the aforementioned wet weather which meant that the grass couldn’t be cut when farmers wanted to cut it.

The result is a higher demand than many farmers would like and when this is combined with a lower growth rate than expected, the situation can turn from a surplus to a deficit very quickly.

Average farm cover

For me, an average farm cover of 140kg/cow or less at this time of year is a sign that the farm is tight for grass.

When a farm is at this point, it can go one of two ways.

Firstly, if growth rates bounce back up, the farm will grow its way out of the problem without taking any action other than to perhaps reduce demand by cutting the surplus paddocks and thereby increasing the area available for grazing.

Secondly, if growth rates don’t improve and if demand cannot be decreased by increasing the area available for grazing, the farm risks going into the doom spiral.

This is where rotation length shortens because pre-grazing yields are lower and, as a result, average farm cover decreases even faster.

The only way to correct this is by introducing supplement to slow down the rotation. In such a scenario, farmers might feed a few kilos of good quality silage back for a few days to slow down the round.

Based on the drier and warmer weather currently being experienced, I would expect that grass growth rates will have increased this week and that the first scenario outlined will work for most farmers.

Drastic action

However, some farms are likely to be in the second scenario where more drastic action is required to get the farm cover back on track.

In farming, it’s never the wrong time to do the right thing, so if some corrective action needs to be taken to improve average farm cover, then it should be done quickly as it's easier to solve a small grass problem than a big one.