It is both pleasing and encouraging to be able to start off on a positive note for the first Grass+ page of 2019. While this page in 2018 was dominated by negativity for long periods, the dividends of a good September, October and November period are still being reaped as we face into spring 2019 and as things stand, grass quantities and ground conditions on farms couldn’t be much better.

If you haven’t yet walked your farm, make it your business to do so before the weekend is out. Ideally, you should be taking an opening grass cover as you walk the farm, either with a plate meter or a quadrant and shears. Start now as you mean to go on in 2019 and get into the habit of measuring grass on a weekly basis.

Decisions

Once you have a handle on what’s in the fields, early spring grass management is going to involve three factors – stock, slurry and fertiliser – and more importantly, where to apply each of them. As a rough guide, I would be thinking about dividing your ground into three categories. They are heavy covers, medium covers and light covers.

On the light covers, I would be going with slurry. Fifteen hundred to two thousand gallons per acre is a good application. Cattle slurry nutrient values in spring are approximately eight units of N, five units of P and 30 units of K per 1,000 gallons. On the medium covers consider spreading chemical N. Given the conditions in spring, urea is the best suited, with 23 units (half a bag) per acre advisable. Finally, on the heavy covers there is no reason why cattle can’t be applied. If ground conditions allow, it would certainly be worth trying lighter animals like weanlings or store heifers. Let them out hungry and they will settle quicker. Only go with a small group to start off, no more than 15. The weather might turn sour at some stage but we can only play what’s in front of us for now.

Read the dairy section of grass+ Grass+: great start to spring grazing" target="_blank">here.