Grass growth averaged 54kg/day this week, meaning grass growth is ahead of average for this time of year. However, the colder mornings and shorter daylight hours are starting to take effect and growth will start to drop back as we move into October.

This will end the building of grass on farms as growth will drop below demand. The focus now needs to turn to grazing out paddocks well to set up grass quality for next year, while also putting a plan in place to ensure you close up the farm to leave grass for the spring.

Try to avoid feeding silage over the next two weeks. The aim should be to get a high percentage of ground closed in October to ensure grass grows back for the spring.

Good graze-outs are extremely important and should be the main focus. Ground conditions are good at the moment, so utilisation should be high.

Target

Target grazing wet ground once covers reach 800kg/ha to 1,000kg/ha if weather conditions allow. The lower cover will mean stock doesn’t spend as long in the field. Getting another grazing on these paddocks will help you avoid carrying a heavy cover on wet land into the spring.

Remember when closing up paddocks that the first ones closed will have the heaviest covers next spring. So ideally these would be some of the driest paddocks.

Also, paddocks close to the parlour with good access are ideal for early turnout. These paddocks should be closed up around 15 to 20 October to have an ideal cover of around 900 to 1,000kg/ha at turnout in spring.