This all depends on the length of grazing season. The aim should be to keep cows at grass for as long as possible, as it’s the cheapest and best available feed on farms.

However, land type and the weather will dictate a lot when it comes to closing dates on farms and this should be taken into consideration when building covers.

Stocking rate will also have a big impact on when you start building. The higher your stocking rate, the earlier you need to build.

Highly-stocked farmers

Farmers that will be stocked at 3.2Lu/ha plus for the remainder of the year will want to look at building covers after the first week of August.

This means having a cover/Lu of 180-200kg on 7 August and keeping growth ahead of demand until mid- to late September.

In mid- to late September, when demand exceeds growth, you should have an average farm cover (AFC) of 1,000kg-1,200kg/ha.

Land type and the weather will dictate a lot when it comes to closing dates on farms

High-stocked farms that can keep cows out in the autumn and get cows out early in spring need to be building to an AFC of 1,200kg/ha

Starting early will give farmers the best chance of building covers, without having to increase supplementation much over the next month.

This week coming should see the last of any surplus bales being cut on the grazing platform, in order to start building grass cover the following week.

Lower-stocked farmers

Farmers stocked below 3.0Lu/ha don’t need to start building grass until after mid-August, targeting a cover/Lu of 180-200kg/ha.

Any farmer stocked at 2.5Lu or less will be building grass into mid-October on the average year, so take this into account when you start building your grass covers.

Heavy soil farmers

Farmers on heavy soils need to be careful not to build heavy covers and most will normally fall into the lower stocking rates.

Target maintaining a cover per cow of 180kg for most of August and start building cover for late August with a target AFC of 1,000kg maximum.

Poor P and K soil indexs

Farmers with a high percentage of poor P and K soils may need to start building grass a week earlier than planned, as low P and K soils generally have poor grass growth in the shoulders of the year.