The cattle will come in off the grass in the next week or two – if it rains and gets muddy underfoot they will be in sooner rather than later.
I panicked a bit back in July and went out with the fertiliser spreader when we were very tight for grazing. So when the rains came the grass just grew and grew. I’d like to keep them out as long as possible to make the most of the feed that is out there.
We re-seeded 7ha this year, putting in medium term perennial ryegrass/clover leys as part of the arable rotation. We also tried to over-seed some older permanent pastures in June. But we were too late getting the seed on. Having grazed down tightly beforehand, the seed had no cover and any that germinated just burnt right off.
We usually take one cut of silage off 20ha – normally in the second week of June. But this year there was so little grass for the stock to eat I delayed shutting up, and had to wait until the end of the month before there was enough to mow.
I have strip grazed the cows for a few years now using a front and back fence to make them eat everything in front of them. This has really improved the quality of the swards and there is very little dead, shaggy thatch in the bottom any more.
This year I experimented with the sheep on 6ha which I split into four paddocks and then rotated them round. It worked really well – although a more permanent fence would have been useful across the centre to stop the ewes straying into areas they shouldn’t have been in. When grass growth exceeded what they could possibly eat I baled one section, which added to the winter forage stocks while maintaining the quality of the grass for the next time the sheep came to eat it.
The rain that disrupted harvest so much in August has been fantastic for getting the grass growing again.
We are now reasonably well off for grass. In fact better than this time last year when we were still in a drought situation, and had to feed carrots to keep the cattle going.
This has been a very difficult year. Most summers are dry around here but this has been exceptional. We only had 5-6mm of rain per month in April, May and June, coupled with very high temperatures. The grass burnt right off in May.
Out of desperation we had to split the cattle up into seven small sub-groups, and put them onto any patches of growing grass we could find. Even though there was not a green leaf to be seen, we got through by feeding a little bit of concentrate out in the fields.
Some of our permanent pastures are pretty old and could do with re-seeding as they contain a lot of unproductive grasses that don’t handle the drought conditions well. This is something we should think about for the future.
We have considered finishing the cattle, but we don’t have enough grass to do this outdoors and would have to bring them in and do it intensively. We have done this is the past, but the economics didn’t really stack up.
Of course these are not third cuts but a forced belated second cut. Yield is still not that good and in many cases quality is also suspect. Risk of toxins and moulds in the silage from decaying grass in the bottom of the swaths, or over-mature crops is a possibility, and farmers need to be aware of this when feeding out. Don’t be tempted to scrimp on plastic if making big bales, as this could exacerbate the problem.Grazing stock in many areas has performed well; lambs especially have been heavier and finishing quicker where the dry spell did not really get hold. With higher than normal dry matters and sward heights of 4-6cm, good performance was noted as high ME and proteins were maintained. The south east has suffered more than most, but recent rain has brought the grass and clover back to life. The grass quality and digestibility of this new growth is very good. The downside of this is the increased risk of staggers especially with the colder evenings, so giving magnesium supplements may well be a consideration. Re-seeding rushWith less than ideal conditions for re-seeding this summer, and the large number of spring re-seed failures, it’s not surprising seed companies are now struggling to keep up with the demand from farmers wishing to catch this short window of opportunity to re-seed. But take care, clover especially needs around three months before frost to establish adequately. In reality the date for clover sowing has probably already past except in south west coastal areas. As autumn conditions develop we would expect stock performance at grass to fall. Not due to the reduction of feed quality, as good Recommended List material will continue to deliver high ME and CP well into autumn, but more from the reduction in dry matter, as animals are unable to achieve adequate intakes to maintain high growth rates. This is the time to consider supplementation at grass for those important growing young stock.
There is a good 5-6cm across the farm now and the clover is really doing particularly well.
Until a fortnight ago the grass situation was desperate – we really haven’t had any grass at all this year, after the terrible winter and late spring.
We have had to graze everything, as well as finishing some lambs early to relieve the pressure. The ewes don’t seem to have suffered though – they have performed well on whatever grass they could find.
We expect the grass to burn off in July and August – but not the extent it did this year. I would normally expect to take a hay crop – but there was just nothing to cut. I am buying some good quality straw from a neighbour to feed the ewes this winter, and will have to buy in other feeds to go with it.
I hope to start re-seeding 16ha this autumn. We have improved the nutrient status and soil structure over the past year, and will be introducing new short and medium term leys to boost productivity. This will allow us to continue relying on grazed grass for producing both high quality breeding animals and finished stock.
It’s been raining cats and dogs the past few evenings between 4pm and 5pm – we’ve had 13mm in the last two nights alone. Not good for combining, but good for grass which got going again pretty much as soon as the rain came. It really proves that moisture is the key driver of grass growth.
This is the first year I have used a platemeter to measure, and it proved that grass growth can go back as well as forwards. During the dry spell one week the covers may have been 2000kg DM/ha, and the next down to 1800kg DM/ha without any grazing!
The grass growth graph for May and June doesn’t look too bad, but this is because I have included the fields shut up for hay. Without that the curve would have been much flatter. There was a dramatic drop after we cut the hay.
Before the rain came I was getting very jumpy that I would not have enough grass for flushing, and even asked the dairy farmer who summers some heifers here to take them away early. But now there is plenty of grass for the ewes – almost too much.
I mustn’t be tempted to keep the sheep on the grass too long, as it is vital that I defer enough grazing for early bite next spring for the ewes and lambs. I have planted 20ha of forage rape should establish well, and hope to get the ewes on there by mid October. Last year they stayed out on the grass until 10 November which was too late.
The ewes will stay on the rape until they lamb – those with triplets will come off a little earlier. They stay indoors for between one and four weeks and are fed hay. They then go out onto the deferred pastures. If growth continues long into the autumn I will go in and top, as I want the stock to be eating fresh, high quality re-growth in the spring, not dead, old, stemmy stuff.
It has been a funny year for grass growth, very start/stop. But we can visibly see the grass growing on the meadowlands now. Our dense, species-rich swards started to grow slowly in the spring but really got going after July. It carries on growing even as the days get shorter which will enable young stock to stay out as late as the end of February, weather permitting.
The stock has done very well though – particularly up on the hill. A group of heifers has grazed the sward right down – I don’t know what they have been eating but they look terrific.
Likewise the steers. When we brought them down a few weeks back, two were ready to go, and we thought six more would be ready three weeks later. But they seemed to go backwards down on the meadows, because the grass just wasn’t growing. So they weren’t ready as soon as we thought.
The June hay cut was 100 bales short this year and the re-growth was very slow to come back. We had 80 bales left in the barn so we are not desperate, but we are debating about taking a silage cut to top up. We don’t like the expense and hassle of silage, but at this time of year the morning mist rolls in off the river, making it too damp to make hay.
We have managed OK in the drought so far as the grass has continued to grow on our heavy, damp land. First cut yield was about normal, but two weeks later than usual.
We were getting a bit desperate for grazing before last week, and had started putting big bales in with one lot of cattle. But the rain over the past few days has really helped all round. Even the 16ha (40 acres) of grass shut up for second cut is looking pretty good now.
We re-seed the ploughable land after two years of barley, with medium term cut and graze mixtures. We have been here 12 years now and have just about got round all the land we can cultivate.
One of our biggest problems is thistles – which colonise derelict areas left from the salt mining. We have to have clean swards for grazing and silage so I spray with herbicide to control them. I sprayed one reseed a couple of weeks ago; the thistles died back within a week and the grass has shot up past them.
I also drilled 4ha (10 acres) of stubble turnips this year and they are looking good too. I will be weaning the lambs in a couple of weeks and they will go straight on to strip graze them.
So it is all pretty positive on the feed side of things. Getting enough straw will be our biggest problem. Many farmers are whole-cropping their wheat for extra winter feed so there will be less straw for bedding to go round.
We have been very short of grass for grazing this summer, and were really struggling before the rain last week, as we are over-stocked due to expansion and losing one parcel of land.
But the swards have started to green up now and I put some fertiliser on, which is a bit late in the season – but desperate times call for desperate measures!
I am keen to improve the grassland management by rotational grazing. One group of cattle on some permanent pasture has gained on average 400g/day, compared to a group rotationally grazed on better grass which has gained 900g/day. This is because they are eating consistent, high quality re-growth, which provides greater feed energy, and produces a much more even animal growth rate over the season.
In future I would like to weigh the cattle more regularly and take a more technical approach to grazing. With help from EBLEX I may even start measuring grass growth, so I can make more strategic decisions about grazed grass.
First cut silage was 40% down on yield, second cut came good with some rain just at the right time, and I am hopeful of a decent third cut from a westerwold/Italian Ryegrass mixture in mid August.
We have our own antiquated silage kit, so we have the flexibility to harvest when we think the grass is right for what we want to use it for. I am also going to cut some wholecrop as a bit of an experiment and to try and make up for some of the first cut shortfall.
The grass is brown and parched; although it has perked up a bit with the small amount of rain we have had over the past two weeks. I have not applied any fertiliser as I feel the sward needs to be green and growing for maximum uptake.
Unlike the dairy farmers in the north of the county, we have flexibility within our system to manage the shortfall in grazing. We are starting to finish fattening cattle – bullocks and heifers over 600kg, by offering 2-3kg crimped grain while they are still out at grass. The grain is very much a supplement to the grazing and not the other way round. The first 14 will go to ABP next week, followed by six or seven a week as when they are ready. We normally start marketing cattle from September.
Our second silage cut was very poor – just two and a half bales/acre – but I think we have enough to get us through the winter, as long as we don’t start eating into it before the cattle are housed.
While the drought is worrying us, the cattle are really enjoying the summer sunshine and warm nights out. They are sitting around happily chewing all day and look in great condition.
I have been measuring four of the sheep paddocks here at Fridlington Farms for daily growth rate, and grass availability using exclusion cages and a platemeter. This is something we do all the time back home in New Zealand where we run 26000 stock units on 2,300 hectares.
Results
26 May 27kg DM/day
10 June 68kg DM/day
23 June 17.2kg DM/day
19 July 22kg DM/day
The results show how sensitive grass growth is to moisture – particularly on our light sandy soils. The June figure is much more in line with what we would expect due to the rain we had at that time. The July figure has perked up a bit due to some light rain we had over the weekend.
At the moment we have covers of 1300kg DM/ha which is barely enough for all the ewes and lambs, and way below what was growing this time last year.
We are rotating a few mobs of 300-500 ewes with lambs at foot on three to four paddocks. As soon as they move out pig slurry is applied. They come back into the paddock around eight to ten days later – which gives really good utilisation of the grass that is managing to grow.
The rest of the sheep are set stocked in other fields and the lambs are getting creep feed to keep them growing. We are starting to draw some of the best ones now to send away for slaughter. As more go, this will hopefully relieve some of the pressure on the grazing.
We are struggling for grass like everyone else, especially on the thinner soils on the Downs. It is browning off fast.
I am a little worried about the hay crop and whether I have got enough shut up. The fields are in HLS and I have to wait until July 1 for harvesting anyway. But should I cut now while the sun shines, or leave it and hope for rain to help bulk it up. I have no winter forage stocks – there is nothing in the barn.
On the plus side, the sheep are looking remarkably well on so little grass – the dry matter content is so high they are making the most of it - not much is going out the back-end.
We will wean at around 100 days, which is normal and start finishing lambs as soon as possible to try and ease the grazing pressure. They will get the best grass we have – and the ewes can spend some time on the rough old banks!
It’s times like these that I wonder whether I should put in a forage crop to give some July/August cover when the grass disappears. It might give us some extra options when we are getting short.
The grass grew quite well in May and June once the temperatures were high enough, but we are short now. The sheep have taken the grass down short and re-growth has been slow in the dry weather.
We have also made the cattle eat down hard – anything they leave is topped to encourage high quality re-growth from the bottom.
First cut silage was down a third in yield – but second cut is looking more normal and we will be cutting it this week.
We hope to get a third cut which will be baled. We have plenty of round bales left in the barn so I’m not too worried about the lack of first cut.
We had a little bit of rain at the end of last week so I put 1cwt of straight nitrogen on to perk the permanent pasture up at bit – the first dose since early spring.
The grass is barely growing as we have only had 30mm of rain since the end of March – what we would normally get in a week. There’s meant to be a bit of rain coming, and we will be grateful for every drop. The swards are much lower than I would like them to be – but there is nowhere to move the sheep.
Saying that the lambs are performing very well on the very high dry matter grass, growing at 330g/day – it must be ‘concentrated goodness!’ The ewes aren’t giving them much milk now – but they do have access to creep feed.
The high sugar perennial ryegrass leys are doing best. But I won’t be able to fatten as many lambs post weaning as usual. My main income is from selling pedigree ewe lambs at the end of August, and they must take priority.
Twenty acres of silage aftermath is being held back for some weaned lambs next week. But the 70 acres re-seeded in the April are looking pig sick. It’s amazing how charlock and fat hen can find moisture where grass can’t.
I had 50% more land set aside for silage this year – but we are 50% down on what should be in the clamp now. I am going to be completely reliant on a big second cut to see us through the winter. I will apply 275kg/ha of after-cut fertiliser to try and kick-start growth after any rain.
Fourteen acres of a Swift/stubble turnip mix is only a third of what it should be, but will be used as a holding area for lambs in July and August to let the grass/clover swards recover. It will provide some useful pre-sale bite for the ewe lambs.
I usually start some re-seeding in July – but not this year.
On a more positive note – I have high hopes for an aftermath I over-sowed with clover – 90% medium and small leaved white, plus a little bit of red with some chicory. This bare sward ensured good seed to soil contact which is difficult to achieve most years when there is a dense mat of green grass in the bottom.
It’s all a juggling act at the moment – the ‘manual’ has been thrown out the window. But once the rains come the swards will recover – I am confident about that.
Field history is having a big effect on grass growth across the farm. In long term arable until five years ago, I think a lot of the fields are suffering from underlying compaction issues and very low organic matter. Soil tests have also highlighted a sodium deficiency.
Some of the newer leys are doing OK – but on others there is very poor growth. We measure weekly using a platemeter and a sward ruler. The difference in performance is very clear to see when plotted on a graph.
As a result we had to feed our ewes for three to four weeks after turn-out and the cattle were still inside until mid-May – which will have pushed costs up this year. We are still at least a month behind where we should be in terms of grass growth.
I have just applied 100kg of phosphate/ha to try and gee things up a bit. I am spot treating broadleaved weeds so as not to check the clover.
I planted 12ha of new seeds the other day, using a New Zealand mixture that is said to grow earlier and later in the season. I also comb-harrowed a new clover/grass mix into the worst performing leys.
The grass in our no input pastures was growing after the recent rains but could now do with some more moisture. The varieties in the swards are poor yielding and certainly mature early. No reseeding has taken place in decades – so they set seed early in the growing season and quickly lose feed value.
We turned out a week later than normal and fed barley straw in ring feeders until the end of April. Grass supply was tight in May – so this may have affected conception rates in the cows – we will have to wait and see.
We don’t conserve any grass as we buy in all our winter feed, depending on availability and price – may be cereals and straw or silage and hay, or a mixture of both. This year, grass forage may be expensive whereas cereal prices may stay comparatively low.
With no silage or hay to make and no fertiliser to buy and apply, the only thing that needs doing with the grassland at the moment is to spot treat creeping thistles, spear thistles and docks. Patches that are too big to spray will be topped at the start of flowering.
So I have plenty of time to do other things right now – like attend workshops and events to learn something new and to network, or earn money doing something else, or maybe I will just put my feet up!
The grass is growing a lot better than it was two months ago. Fields that we shut up for hay are coming on nicely.
My main concern is for the spring calving herd – they are getting quite short of grass now. It really hasn’t caught up to where it should be at this time of year. The bull went in on the 10 June – and they may need a bit of extra dry feed during the service period.
The calves are doing OK - but I think I will have to start creep feeding them a month earlier than usual. I normally start at the end of August – but it’ll be the beginning of July this year. It’s an extra cost – but there just isn’t as much grass around as there should be.
The dry autumn calvers are holding their own now that their calves have been weaned. And the ewes are fine as the lambs have all been weaned. So I am happy I have enough grass for them.
We had a lot of thundery rain last weekend - which perked the grass up a bit. I went out with some ammonium nitrate after the rain to try and encourage more growth where we need it.
Morton Morrell data shows a typical set of results as the silage crops reach harvest. The permanent pasture has poorer yield and D-value (4.2t DM/ha 73D). The two-year old reseeded areas and an older reseed are still demonstrating improved yields and quality (7.1t DM/ha 77D and 5.1t DM/ha and 75D). However the quality and D-value will start to fall as the crop matures and heads.
D -Value can drop in warm, dry sunny conditions by three to five units a week. Ideally these crops should now be cut so that quality and yield can be optimised, as well as encouraging faster regrowth for second cut or grazing.
Newton Rigg finally has enough grass to record data. As expected silage areas have now been fertilised and closed, nearly a month later than usual. Yields have doubled in a month, but they are still only growing at 60kgDM/ha/day. This will increase with greater production of leaf area and better weather conditions.
Many areas suffered from lack of rain until last week, and looking at the results, the Royal Agricultural College was no exception. Dry Matter cover was between 1100kg/DM/ha and 1480kg/DM/ha, equivalent to between 2 and 4cm in sward height. On pastures where ewes and lambs are grazing, the youngsters may be performing OK, but the ewes will be using up reserves to maintain lamb growth. Creep feed and possible early weaning may be needed if lack of rain persists. On the plus side, the quality of the grass is good, which is essential when intake is restricted.
Askham Bryan College seems to be fairing better than many. Silage yields are good and fields have been harvested at their optimum. Regrowth is good and will have benefitted from last week’s rain. Paddock grazing cattle is being well managed with stock moving on once swards have been well grazed.
There is no doubt that this is not a typical year and variation across the country great. From the data collected newer reseeds continue to deliver on quality and yield, and good management as always, is showing through. Drought may be the biggest challenge our colleges have to face as the summer progresses.
In the third week of April I was terrified that I was going to run out of grass. The heavy night frosts caused a real dip in growth which you can see on the growth curves. In fact I don’t think the grass just stopped growing, I think it went backwards.
Things have picked up since then – and while we are still below what we were last year, I am confident that I now have enough grass to finish the lambs. I can also shut up one extra field for hay.
The aim is to graze down tightly to 1500kg/DM/ha so that the lambs can benefit from fresh, high quality re-growth when they come back in three weeks time. It’s not easy to maintain this level of control. One new ley started to head which would have left a very open sward – so I put the ewes back in for a week to take it right down.
I am getting much more output from my grass now that I am measuring and have the confidence to exert harder grazing pressure.
I am also managing the autumn better so there is more grass available in the spring. This is the critical time for me – I need the grass early. Our heavy land takes time to warm up after winter. It probably seems that I am under-stocked, but while I have plenty of grass in the summer, early spring is a different matter.
It is so very, very dry.
The cattle went out in early March and have just finished the second rotation. They are currently grazing some re-seeds until they start the third rotation to allow the grass to grow a bit more.
The key to our system is keeping high quality grass in front of the cows, for maximum milk production and good calf performance, as no creep feed is given.
Controlling the grazing by using paddocks and temporary electric fencing within these paddocks, allows us to exert grazing pressure to ensure quality re-growth the next time the cattle come to eat it. They don't leave an area until they have grazed it down to 4-6cm.
There is a high percentage of clover in the swards to keep fertiliser inputs to a minimum. Hopefully the clover will start to grow away soon and help make up for the lack of grass.
The farm does tend to be a bit slow to get going in the spring - but the cold, dry weather this year has made things worse than usual.
The grass has come through all of a sudden in the past two weeks. There was hardly any growth through April and early May - but the recent sunshine and some heavy night-time dews have really got the grass going.
Say that we are still three weeks to a month behind where we normally are - I hoped we would have more by now.
Some of the pastures were really hammered at lambing, when we had 800 sheep on 50ha. The swards were grazed down far too short, but there was nowhere else to put them. They struggled to recover in the cold and dry - but we hope that there will be enough to summer the cattle on eventually. Neighbours who have less sheep and more cattle have better covers than we have at the moment.
A re-seed we drilled last autumn in less than ideal conditions and which looked poor to start, is looking good now. It's a long-term ley with timothy, cocksfoot, fescues and white clover. We have tried to recreate a similar sward to what was there before, but with newer varieties.
We usually make a bulky cut of silage around 20 June - but it could be a week later this year.
The grass really needs to grow here – we are about two weeks behind in yield terms – but it will all head at the usual time so we can’t delay silaging.
The hot sun over the past few days has boosted sugar levels and to be fair, the re-seeds are doing OK – but the permanent pasture has struggled a bit in the heat.
There are dandelions everywhere – their deep roots are getting down to the moisture. I can’t do much about them this year as we are so close to making silage – but next year I will probably have to spray them out.
Rodbaston
College is about 30 miles the other side of the River Severn – so probably has a very different micro-climate to here. Grass growth patterns may be very different.
We are very short of grass, and with around 3,300 ewes and their lambs to feed this is a real worry.
Some fields are really struggling – the severe frost last week and general lack of rain is holding grass growth back. We are having to creep feed lambs in some fields – which I don’t like doing as it adds to the cost, but we can’t have lambs going backwards at this stage.
We are completely out of silage – the sheep ate everything we had this winter. And it looks like this year’s harvest will be later and less bulky than usual.
Our light land tends to dry out in summer. We drilled some extra grass this spring which we hope will give us extra cover for the lambs in July and August, fingers crossed!
We have a New Zealander helping us at the moment – he runs 14,000 ewes back home so our flock seems small to him!
He is helping us work out a rotational grazing system – measuring grass growth rates and producing feed budgets. It will be interesting to see how closely these reflect the results coming out of Askham Bryan.
Commentary at 11th May 2010
We are so short of grass at the moment due to the cold and lack of rain. I fear we are heading for another bad year like last year when we burnt right off four times during the summer.
That was why we decided to try and introduce some newer varieties by slot seeding in early autumn. The grass was brown so we thought the new seed would have a better chance of establishing. Where we seeded bare ground we can really see new grass coming through now.
We turned the cows out in March – not too much later than usual – but we were bringing them back in at night which we don’t usually, and feeding them before they went out and when they came back in. They and their calves are out full time now, and we are creep feeding the calves – although the rooks are pinching a lot of it.
We have shut up 30 acres of the heavier land for silage which has left us tight for grazing, especially as grass growth is so slow. The cows have access to straw in the fields which they are eating, which suggests they are not getting all they need from the grass yet
Grass growth is phenomenal now - with more than 2000kg dry matter/ha cover across the farm.
Even though we are highly stocked – with 1200 head of sheep on 35ha, this is actually more than we need right now. So I will probably take out some of the fields from the grazing rotation and shut them up for silage.
If we don’t do this we risk losing grazing quality which we can’t afford to do as we need good grass to sustain ewe milk yields and lamb growth through to weaning and beyond.
It has been a very awkward spring – with three weeks dry and then three weeks of the wettest weather I have ever known at the back end of March. One of the fields was so badly poached we have had to plough it up.
We have drilled a new ley on some rented land. It took a while for this to get going but I am hopeful of getting two good grazings to help it thicken before shutting it up for a late July silage cut. This will be added to the silage clamp with the second cut taken off the main farm.
I monitored grass growth and quality last year using metal exclusion cages and found it very useful. I will be doing so again this year. So I will be able to make a direct comparison to the measurements taken at Duchy College and it will be very interesting to see the differences
The season has finally got going in many regions and in some areas grass growth is starting to motor. The three fields the colleges selected to monitor represent a productive field, an average performer, and one that regularly underperforms compared to the rest.The results are already picking up the differences in yield and growth rates between the different types of field. However, there is no real difference yet in digestibility (D Value). This is to be expected. New season grass, regardless of species will be good quality, with a D-Value of around 80%. All the colleges are recording levels around this across all fields which means they have good intake potential for grazing livestock. The indigenous species will reduce in D-value as the season progresses as it is very difficult to prevent them heading and going to seed. Poor grazing management speeds up the process, but the biggest influence is soil nutrient status. If the grass becomes challenged in terms of nutrient availability, then flowering occurs quickly. The first species to flower will normally be sweet vernal. Growth rates - There are significant differences in growth rates across fields. Reseeds which contain new modern varieties are responding well to spring nutrient applications. Fields that have the correct soil nutrient status have double the yield of some poorer permanent pasture sites. For example Grey’s Copse at Kingston Maurward College in Dorset has received slurry, artificial nitrogen and sulphur earlier in the month and been rolled, and I am assuming has been closed for silage. It is now recording growth rates of 93kgDM/ha/day which is excellent. The increasing leaf area should maintain this growth rate.Other sites such a Plumpton in West Sussex, which is under organic management, appears to be suffering from the long winter and lack of early season nitrogen. The best field there is recording 26kgDM/ha/day, and the sheep grazing field only 5kgDM/ha/day.Newton Rigg in Cumbria is yet to record growth after the long, hard winter. Plate- meter measurements are recording levels of 900-1300kgDM/ha which is about 2-3cm of sward height. Ewes are still being fed concentrates and silage. Spring is obviously yet to arrive at Newton Rigg!
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