Get grass ready for next year’s turnout

Heavy land or high-yielding cows may delay spring turnout until April for some farms, but that doesn’t mean forgetting about grassland management until the clocks go forward.

Only the coldest of winters calls a halt to grass growth.

Grass continues to grow albeit at 0-5kg/ha of dry matter a day or, in mild climates, up to 10kg/ha DM a day, says DairyCo extension officer Piers Badnell. He says on most farms, this results in a substantial amount of grass building up after autumn housing. By April, the result is that grass covers in paddocks can be too far ahead of cows.

“You get the growth, but not the use, because cows going out into paddocks of 3500kg/ha DM waste it. When you are looking to turnout when average farm cover is 2100kg/ha DM, for instance, then you need to work back from this date, know what covers you have going into winter, and check grass growth over winter,” he says.

Farms with excess grass at the start of winter also risk losing it due to frost kill. This is why Mr Badnell suggests grazing it down now using sheep or youngstock.

Stock must be rotated through paddocks to maintain a grazing wedge across the farm – where paddocks are at different stages of growth – and removed before mid January, to prevent grass yields falling too low.

The other option, he says, is to get more out of this excess grass by turning cows out in February.

In some years, April and May can be wetter than February and March, which makes it harder to access this late spring grazing anyway. “You can forfeit a bit of yield by grazing grass off early in return for far better utilisation in April,” he adds.

Although high-yielding cows won’t get their full intake, Mr Badnell believes 5kg/cow DM a day is possible on dry, palatable winter-grown grass. And even when cows only graze for two weeks, they get exercise, the TMR can be cut down and it helps make feeding, cleaning and bedding-up easier.

Block-calving herds may be tempted to graze swards down at the end of the season when conditions are nice, but they are risking their spring feed, warns British Grassland Society grazing partner Malcolm Fewster. “Although it tillers and looks brilliant, you won’t get the spring growth rates and turnout is a month later,” he says.

Mr Fewster aims for an average farm cover of 2200kg/ha DM at turnout. His plan to leave good covers over winter involves moving his 95 cows on to kale and big bale silage during October, to spin the grazing round out in November.

“What I do now is really important for next spring. Cows graze kale during the day (with either big bale silage or clamp silage fed alongside the fence) and graze at night. This gains us half a day in the round.”

Cows are fully housed by the end of December and calving begins in the first week of March, when cows are also turned out.

“I like to make sure there is enough grazing before turning cows out. Paddocks range from 1400 to 2600kg/ha DM. We are on fairly light land and with quite a favourable climate, but I prefer to take more risk at the end of lactation not at the start. I like to be fairly confident I can turn cows out and keep them out, even if it gets wet, because we have tracks and multiple gateways.”

Over in Shropshire, BGS grazing mentor Neale Manning agrees block-calving herds mustn’t leave cows out grazing too late in winter. “Either they make a mess, or they will be taking yield off spring grass,” he says.

“That spring grass is worth more in February to a freshly calved cow than it is in late November to old, stale cows. Autumn is about leaving grass at the right stage and quality to stimulate fresh growth ready for February grazing. It must be good clean grass that has been topped by the end of September.”

Mr Manning will be feeding silage this month to make the rotation last longer before finally housing his 180 cows in the latter half of November. Calving will start on 1 February. Winter, he finds, is a good time to get out and catch up with other farmers and advisers.

“Grassland management is an ongoing thing, so winter is ideal for meetings, local grassland societies and discussion groups. When you are farming on your own, you have no-one to talk to and it’s great to discuss grass with other like-minded people, try something new and learn from mistakes.”