It’s a pity to see this month draw to a close after what must be the best February any of us has ever seen. Wall to wall sunshine and temperatures well into double figures for most of this week means early grazed paddocks have as much grass on them again now as they had when grazed first with heifers and cows at the end of January.

We’ve been grazing full-time since calving started in mid-January, with very little on-off grazing needed and very little harm being done.

The maize pit is still held in reserve with about 80% of the herd calved. The silage eaten by the milking herd since calving wouldn’t fill a good-sized wheelbarrow.

We all hear about grazing certain percentages of the farm by the end of February and by the middle of March, but this year, with regrowths so good, maybe we should aim to kick on a bit and start the second rotation a few days earlier.

The farm will get a second round of urea this week to help keep us on track

We normally try to eke out the first rotation until 10 April but this year might see us hit the first paddocks again in the last week of March.

We can put in silage to slow things down at any stage, or we might hit some rough weather which will push us back a few days but the main thing is probably to keep monitoring if we are building towards having a good enough cover of grass on those paddocks by the end of March to keep moving forward.

The farm will get a second round of urea this week to help keep us on track.

The contrast with this time last year is unbelievable. The beast from the east was just settling in to cause havoc for a week or two.

Silage stocks were tightening after an early winter and the workload was intense with cows on a full indoor diet, all young-stock still in and all of the cubicles etc needing attention at every milking.

Hopefully March won’t scupper too many of our plans. A week or two of an east wind with rain and temperatures in the single figures would slow everything down. But at least after the month we’ve had, the silage is in the pit if necessary and the grass is still on the fields to kick on when the opportunity arises.

Cow condition was a bit too good coming into the winter after all of the feeding last year

The other benefit of the good weather is cow health has been exceptional through the spring with them out at grass full-time. Incidence of lameness and mastitis has been low and cows have cleaned well after calving.

Cow condition was a bit too good coming into the winter after all of the feeding last year. We mixed a lot of excellent-quality straw through the silage for the dry cows with a good dry-cow mineral and this has helped to keep them fit and healthy through the winter.

The silage quality was a bit too good to feed on its own and feeding the straw with it has stretched it that bit further.

Positive effect

This has also had a positive knock-on effect on calf health with losses limited to a handful of stillborn calves.

All calves born live have hit the ground running and are really starting to motor along on the automatic feeder over the last few weeks.

We have our quota of replacement heifer calves accounted for in February and will start to sell later calves from next week on.

Beef calves have been moving off farm as soon as BVD testing, cards and age allow.

We have only a handful left on the farm this week which is taking a lot of pressure off calf houses and manpower. Hopefully we can move on the later calves as quickly.