This is ideal as a good cleanout of paddocks now will ensure good quality re-growths in the next and subsequent rounds. With the forecast set to change from the middle of this week, it would be a good opportunity to get the wetter fields grazed off now.

Despite air temperatures being zero to two degrees below normal, soil temperatures are between zero and one degrees above normal. Nevertheless, grass growth rates are back on other years with average growth rates from the Grass+ farmers coming back at between 10 and 20kg/day for the past seven days. The Moorepark 20 year average for the past seven days was 28kg/day.

That said, average farm cover for this group of farmers is 671kg, which remains higher than normal. With most people planning to end the first round in the next week to ten days, attention is turning to the cover on the first grazed paddocks.

If grass is tight, an extra day or two in the first rotation will make a big difference. Air temperatures are forecast to rise later in the week so this should lift growth rates, however, rain is accompanying the higher temperatures.

There may still be an opportunity to get some watery slurry out on well grazed paddocks this week, especially if there’s a chance of it getting washed in with rain. Many farmers are now spreading their second round of fertiliser. Highly stocked farms (greater than 2.5 cows/ha) should target to have 70 units of nitrogen spread per acre by 1 April.

Some farmers have switched to CAN because they felt it was too dry to spread urea. The old rule of thumb was that if you knelt down in the field and if after a minute your knees were damp it was OK to spread urea. If spreading P’s and K’s on the grazing area, the advice is to frontload P and hold off on K until the backend of the year.