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The current spell of settled weather has seen ground conditions improving across the country. As such, there has been a flurry of field activity and cattle going out to grass.
However, with a lack of rainfall, mild daytime temperatures and cold nights, grass has been slow to regrow on paddocks after grazing.
This is leaving some farms extremely tight for grass. Below are a few steps to help stretch grazing supplies in front of cattle.
1 Walk the grazing platform weekly
The first step is to get a handle on how much grass is ahead of cattle, how quickly swards are being grazed off and which paddocks are re-growing.
In doing so, you are better prepared to take early action if you think you are going to run out of grass. The best way to do this is to walk the grazing ground at least once every week. Ideally, walk the grazing twice weekly while you are running tight for grass
You can simply eyeball covers, or use a platemeter to give a more accurate assessment of grass growth.
The alternative is to go for something in between. Mark a few lines on the side of a welly boot to gauge average sward height in paddocks.
Mark a line at 4cm, then 8 cm, 12cm, 16cm and 20 cm from ground level. Take a quick note of the average height in each paddock and compare the changes each week.
2 Should you apply fertiliser?
Farmers are asking whether they should spread fertiliser given the lack of rain. On farms with drier land that received fertiliser in early April, the advice would be to hold off on further applications if there is still fertiliser granules visible on the soil surface.
If this is not the case, then the general advice would be to apply fertiliser. However, to reduce potential nitrogen loss, you could reduce application rates to a half bag of fertiliser, or 12 to 15 units per acre.
There will be some moisture in the ground, along with early morning dew, that will help to dissolve granules. When rain does come, the fertiliser is already on the ground ready to be washed in. This means it will immediately kick-start grass growth.
On farms with heavier soils that have put out very little slurry so far, hold off applications until after silage has been harvested.
Spreading slurry with a splash plate now will soil swards, making them less suited to grazing and leaving you tight for grass.
3 Should I turn more cattle out?
Where there are cattle still indoors and grass growth has slowed, do not turn any more animals out until growth rates pick up.
On farms with autumn-calving herds, wean the calves and keep cows housed to reduce grazing demand.
It is important to prioritise grass for spring-calving cows over the next month, so that they are in good body condition before the start of the breeding period. There is no need to re-house animals, unless you think you will run out of grass in the next week to 10 days. Even then, there other options you should consider first.
4 Buffer feeding with silage
There is still plenty of silage on farms, especially baled forage. Buffer feeding cattle that are grazing with silage will stretch grazing days ahead of animals.
Ideally, feed bales on a hardcore laneway. Alternatively, place feeders in older paddocks marked for reseeding or rougher grazing areas that are less productive. With soil being extremely dry at present, there will be very little damage to the soil surface. But if this is an issue, make sure to move the feeder after each use.
5 Meal feeding
Another way to reduce grazing demand and stretch grazing days ahead is to offer cattle some concentrate. Rather than go with a blanket approach to meal feeding, prioritise which animals to offer meals.
Ideally, target replacement heifers, as meals will boost weight gain in animals, helping them reach target weights in time for breeding.
This is especially important in herds where heifers will calve down at 24 months of age.
Heifers should be at least 60% of mature cow weight when bred, which is 400kg to 450kg in herds with mature cows weighing 650kg to 750kg liveweight.
The next group of animals to target is freshly-calved cows. If possible, go for a high-magnesium ration, as cows grazing on very low grass covers will be more prone to grass tetany.
Double up on tetany prevention with magnesium licks, a mineral bolus or a magnesium additive to water troughs.
6 Back fencing
Make use of electric fencing to protect grazed areas, thereby encouraging fresh grass to regrow. This is easier to do in a proper rotational grazing set-up, compared to a set-stocking system.
Once grass is grazed off, it will start to regrow after three days. But young grass shoots will be selectively targeted by cattle, unless they are kept off grazed areas.
If grazed off too early, this will further slowdown regrowth coming back on the grazing platform.
7 Keep cattle moving and leave a higher residual
The normal advice at this time of year would be to graze grass off as tight as possible. But if you are running tight on grazing days ahead of stock, then it may be worthwhile to move cattle a day earlier than planned, so that there is a slightly higher residual cover left behind.
With a bit more plant leaf left on a grazed sward, there is better chance for the plant to photosynthesise and start to regrow.
There is little risk of grass quality deteriorating at this time of year, so a slightly higher residual cover will not impact on sward quality in the next rotation. But it will be important to clean covers out properly in the next rotation.
8 Offload surplus stock
Selling surplus cattle is another way to ease graze demand and with livestock marts starting to reopen, there is currently plenty of appetite for good-quality grazing store animals.
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