For those on heavy land, let’s be honest, it’s probably a long shot. Yes, if we get a period of prolonged dry weather it might be possible, but it’s hard to depend on that during the months of November, December and January. However, those on dry land will be considering the option, especially if money is tight, forage is tight, extra stock numbers around or housing facilities are such that you can’t feed all stock at the one time indoors.

Options

So what are the options? The theory is you need to build a portion of the farm up with grass, manage the grazing such that regrowths are protected and try to manage grazing so that you don’t do any damage to the soil.

Grass buildup ideally needs to start in late August or early September. That would allow you to start grazing it in early October and stay moving in blocks around the farm. How much area you can devote to this depends on your stocking rate. Remember the golden rule you don’t want to sacrifice early grass in the diet of the freshly calved cow. I’d much prefer to have freshly calved milking cows out on grass in February than fat dry cows not calving until April.

So those farmers stocked at 2.5 cows/ha (cow to the acre) you really need to start your last rotation in late September or early October, depending on where you are in the country, for grazing again in February.

So the extended grass theory then is an option for those farms stocked at 1.5 to 2 cows/ha or for those farmers who have an outfarm that has a dry run or stand-off facilities.

Grass cover

Start building a grass cover up in stages preferably, rather than having it all at the same growth stage. Start in August and instead of cutting it after six to seven weeks of growth, get out the strip wire and start grazing it in late September.

Some would have hoped to cut clean in mid- to late-August, but the long period with no rain has ruined that as an idea for most in the east and south. Cutting clean would effectively allow you to build up aftergrass for grazing in October onwards – aftergrass would be easier to graze after 50 to 60 days of growing. If cutting clean is an option, then go for it.

So is it something you might try for a group of weanlings? Yes it is – you could have them out, they are nice and light, and you could try to supplement them with meal on a runback, roadway or rocky outcrop.

The key is to be mindful of next spring and the fact that, ideally, you would like them out on grass next March and April in advance of breeding start date next May.

Dry cows

Might you try it on dry cows? Yes you could. Again, smaller numbers would be easier to handle. Late-calvers would work. Maybe dry them off that little bit earlier so they have a slightly extended dry period.

The rule of thumb would be that you wouldn’t gain condition score when outside grazing, so holding is the best you can hope for. Again, this all depends on grazing conditions and outside temperatures.

The key is to get the last of the nitrogen out in September and maximise growth. Whether you plan to graze or cut then will depend on what you require in terms of feed and ground conditions, etc.

Many will go with late August nitrogen to try to maximise growth rates rather than wait until September when nitrogen response could be lower.

You need a feed plan whether lowly or highly stocked and low-stocked farmers might consider an extended grazing season easier than those stocked heavy.