Average grass growth rates are flatlining at around 55kg/day – the same as last week. Most farms have now received enough rain to grow and while the soil moisture deficits will remain for a while longer, growth shouldn’t be impeded. It’s now all about managing average farm cover and setting the farm up for next spring. Where are you relativeto target?

Remember peak cover should be in late September, at around 1,200kg/ha on most farms. Autumn-calving farms or very heavy farms might prefer to peak at 100-200kg/ha lower, but for most people that is the target to aim for.

Whether or not you get there depends on growth and demand, and where you start building from. If growth is less than demand then you won’t build cover – and vice versa. If the demand is 50kg and growth is 60kg you will build 10kg of grass per day, or add 70kg to average farm cover over a week. And vice versa. Manipulate demand by adjusting cow numbers and the amount of supplement.

If short, it makes sense to put the feed in now when growth is still reasonably good. What feed to use depends on what is available. Most will need to hold onto silage for the winter. Soya hulls, beet pulp nuts and palm kernel are good options if you need to feed 2-3kg of extra supplement. If round bales are available, work out the dry matter (DM) per bale. It’s probably between 200kg and 250kg DM. So one bale will give between 2kg and 2.5kg of DM per 100 cows.

At this stage, strip wires should be used every day and cows should be back on a 12-hour or 24-hour break to make sure they are hitting residuals and not walking big covers into the ground. Use a back fence to prevent re-growths getting nipped off. These re-growths are what will feed the herd in the last round, so protect them at all cost.

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Grass+ beef: planning time as peak cover looms