Grass growth has begun to drop this week, with daylight hours getting shorter and temperatures falling, particularly at night.

The average growth nationally for the week is 45kg DM/ha, which is down from 51kg DM/ha last week, but slightly above the 10-year average for this week.

Predicted growths for next week are expected to drop further to 30kg DM/ha in most areas.

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Pasturebase figures suggest that just 43% of the farms nationally are now on target in terms of average farm cover. This is still a significant improvement from the beginning of September, when this figure sat at just 16%.

Grazing conditions have remained okay up to now, but heavy rain is forecast over the weekend as farmers begin the final grazing rotation.

Soil moisture deficits in poorly drained soils have dropped below zero, meaning this land is gone beyond field capacity.

On better drained soil types the average soil moisture deficits are averaging around 5mm.

Soil temperatures have remained at an average of 12.5°C, indicating there is still a window of growth left.