Beware poaching in the springtime
Beware poaching in the springtime
SPRING grazing management must protect grass from poaching damage or a quarter of the following three months grass growth may be lost, even when damage is mild.
New Zealand research, cited at a grazing discussion group by the BGSs NZ adviser, Paul Bird, claimed serious damage occurred when grass was grazed for five days without a back fence. Over the next three months 29% of the yield of a mown field would be lost, despite there being only a small amount, about 25mm (1in), of rain in the grazing period and no visible damage.
But when cows were grazed for only four hours on an on/off system, the grass yield over the next three months was only 2% below the mown field. When cows grazed a 24-hour block, grass yields were 17% less. When damage was more serious pastures could suffer greater losses.
The best NZ managers took milking cows off pasture before damage began, but that required planning and flexibility. In NZ, cows taken off pasture are kept in collecting yards for several hours, with supplements fed along a fence, or some producers prefer to use sacrifice areas. Then after evening milking cows are well fed so they will lie down quickly when they go out again at night and do not poach pasture.
"But in the UK it would be easier to bring cows off pasture and inside preventing sward damage because we have housing and could offer cheap feed supplements to limit the yield loss," said Mr Bird.
Taking cows off early will help grow more pasture for the next rotation and make it less prone to poaching in the next rotation.
Another technique was to walk cows over long grass to graze, and when fields were wet graze near the field entrance. When it was very wet and long grass got muddy, move to the next pasture and return after a few days when the mud had washed off, he advised. *
AVOIDING POACHING
• Graze only few hours in wet weather.
• Remove cows before damage visible.
• Walk cows over long grass.