GrassWatch update

Beef and sheep farmers in England are struggling with poor spring grass growth, according to blog entries on the Farmers Weekly/EBLEX GrassWatch initiative.

But producers are urged to keep a close eye on pastures as conditions warm up and days lengthen, and make sure soil nutrient values are correct.

“Grass growth has been very, very slow this year,” comments Worcs beef and sheep producer Clive Davies. “We have just started to turn out some calved cows, with yearling heifers out now as well. We are running out of straw.”

It is a similar story for Sam Rawling in Cumbria, who has had to feed his 2400-ewe flock an extra 50 tonnes of silage this winter to keep the stock going.

“Neither me nor my Dad has seen a winter like this one. Normally by the second week in March we start to see a noticeable change in grass colour from yellow to green – but not this year.”

Both farmers are taking part in GrassWatch, an initiative to monitor how grass grows throughout the season to help beef and sheep producers manage pastures with greater confidence.

Grass growth is being monitored at ten college farms across England with results posted on FWi.

Graphs tracking growth across the sites are updated fortnightly, and the latest data show the rate of growth is now increasing rapidly.

Producers must now monitor this carefully to ensure grazing keeps pace with rate of growth, notes GrassMaster’s Charlie Morgan. “As soon as soil temperatures at a depth of 10cm consistently reach at least 5C, grass growth will sprint away.”

But pH, phosphate (P) and potash(K) levels of soils could be a big limiting factor: “Only one of the GrassWatch fields has the correct nutrient status for growing a good crop of grass,” he continues.

“If pH is below 5.5 or exceeds 6.5, phosphate becomes virtually unavailable to plants as a nutrient, as do many of the trace elements.”