Farmers endure difficult start to grazing season

The weather is beginning to dry up and with continued dry conditions farmers will be able to get stock out of sheds onto pastures.

However cold and wet conditions will lead to lower than normal growth rates for this time of year.

Many farms where animals are out are seeing very slow recovery on paddocks. Below normal temperatures can impacted severely on both growth and regrowths of pastures and many fields have very low covers to start with.

Suckler cows that are turned out with calves are at higher risk of grass tetany at this time of year and it is recommended to herd at least twice a day as young calves can easily succumb to pneumonia in cold and variable weather.

Grazing ground considerations – an issue for many farms will be late turnout with good covers carried over from winter which can get ahead of stock quickly if good growth conditions kick in.

To combat this get stock out as quickly as possible as ground conditions allow. Consider grazing lighter covers first as this will help control things better when growth starts.

Heavier covers could be taken out as silage in May or June if surplus grass becomes an issue. Tactics for grazing will depend on the supply of grass and ground conditions.

If conditions are wet but sufficient grass is available the use of on-off grazing, multiple gaps and temporary roadways can all be considered.

If conditions remain dry full-time grazing utilising block paddocks is a good idea to get ground fully grazed. This will improve grass quality for later grazings.

Where a farm is tight on grass but very wet it makes sense to re-house at least some stock.

Feed these minimum roughage and meal inside.

The animals remaining outside can be fed meal outside taking care to avoid poaching. Of course where it is possible all cattle should be out grazing.

Also keep in mind silage making requirements and whether to graze silage ground prior to closing.

To achieve high quality silage the optimum time for harvesting is around the early June period.

Most farms will close silage fields off in April for cutting towards the end of May or early June. It is important that silage fields are grazed prior to this in order to remove dead material off these fields in order to make good quality highly digestible silage.

It will also result in higher yields of silage if they are grazed before closing.

This may be a problem this spring on cattle farms where poor growth and ground conditions have pushed back the date of cattle going to grass.

However this is not always practical and where silage ground is not grazed in the spring good quality silage can be obtained by cutting earlier.

It is important that as ground conditions improve that higher stocking rates are applied on these fields over a short period in order to graze them out in preparation for silage conservation.