At long last, we can finally say that spring has got into gear. The last few days of last week were almost like the weather forgot about spring and we went from winter straight into summer. But rain and more seasonal temperatures brought us back to reality on Sunday.

The big burst in growth (in excess of 100kg/day on many farms) is leading to difficulties. Managing grass now is both a challenge and a risk. It’s a challenge because it is very hard to know the right thing to do and it is a risk because if you get it wrong it can be hard to correct it.

The key thing is to take action. Paddocks on every farm will have to be skipped in order to maintain the pre-grazing yield at between 1,400kg and 1,600kg. This is very difficult to do as in the space of a few days a paddock with a cover of 1,200kg becomes a paddock with a cover of 1,800kg. Grass grows grass and these paddocks are probably growing at twice the farm average.

By skipping paddocks you are increasing the demand. Long term demand should be set at around 65kg to 70kg per day. By long term, I mean taking out paddocks for first cut silage, reseeding or bringing other stock on to the platform. If surpluses are generated while at this stocking rate then they should be removed quickly.

Reducing supplement is another way to increase demand. There is simply no economic return from feeding any more than 2kg of meal per cow now. All minerals can be covered in 2kg so why feed any more when grass is abundant?

A demand of 70kg with 2kg of meal being fed is a stocking rate of 4.3 cows/ha. I think this is reasonable over the next month. However, just because grass is growing well now does not mean it will continue to grow well. It needs fertiliser. The target for highly stocked farms is to have 100 units of nitrogen spread by 1 May. Those that were late spreading this year may not reach that target but at least 30 units of nitrogen should be spread following grazing now. Now is also a good time to spread compound fertiliser and sulphur.

Despite the good weather last week, heavy ground is still very wet. This is posing an even bigger challenge as grass growth is good now on all fields. Farmers on heavy soils will have to pick their grazing spots carefully and try to minimise damage as best they can. The last thing those on heavy soils need now is more rain.