The weather took a turn for the worse over the past week. Many parts of the country received over 50mm of precipitation last weekend. In some cases this fell as snow which is a double hit as the melting snow wets the ground twice.

However, it must be said that dry ground did recover fast, and many farmers were able to resume grazing on Monday and Tuesday. It’s stop/start for everyone but that is the nature of grazing in March.

Silage is poison for protein percentage, so if you can avoid feeding any silage then do.

The trick to fully feed cows and not do excessive damage to land is to use on/off grazing.

Cows will eat the same amount in two three-hour periods as they will in one 24-hour period. When they are in the off period, they don’t need silage.

You can feed silage if you like, but this will depress appetite and suppress protein and milk yield.

Give an extra kilo or two of meal if you’re feeling sorry for them. Is it hard on cows? Moorepark research found nothing to indicate that it was.

Do you sit down to eat your breakfast, dinner and supper at specific times or do you eat a few bites of food all day and all night?

A surprising amount of farmers have relatively high amounts of their farm grazed, but don’t have fertiliser spread yet.

This is dangerous practice as you need nitrogen to drive on grass so as to have enough back for the second rotation.

While it’s too risky to spread in the current weather, around 40 to 50kgN/ha should be spread as soon as conditions allow. With young stock, splitting them into smaller numbers and running these over larger areas will minimise damage.

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Rain stops play for most