Average grass growth this week increased to 50kg/day as most farms recover from the drought. However, big differences in growth remain between farms.

Those that got over 40mm of rain seem to be growing a lot better than those that got less than 30mm. Unless more rain comes, these farms will be back to drought soon. Farms that got more rain recovered faster and because they are now at a higher average farm cover they are growing more grass now too. More leaf area leads to more photosynthesis which increases the energy to the plant and so grass grows faster, hence the origin of the saying “grass grows grass”.

Getting average farm cover up to 600 or 700kg/ha is critical to maximise growth over the long term. Farms that are struggling to grow must keep feeding until average farm cover comes up to target. If you take the foot off the brake too soon you’ll be chasing your tail for the rest of the year. If you hold the cows up until the farm cover is up, then you’ll easily be growing +80kg/day in a few weeks provided more rain comes.

But it’s business as usual for farms that are growing well. Average farm cover should be between 200 and 250kg/cow in order to build up grass for the autumn. Rotation lengths should be pushed out a bit, to 22 or 23 days.

The only change from other years is that growth rates are and should continue to stay higher than normal for the next month at least so be prepared to take out surplus paddocks and still be on target for average farm cover.

All farms should drive on with fertiliser for the next four weeks – as of now, the closed period for fertiliser is 15 September.

I would blanket spread the farm with 30 units/acre now and blanket spread again in mid-September.

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Grass growth getting back on track