As we progress through the month of October, grass growth is slowing down and the housing period is becoming more of a reality as the days shorten.

A lot of farmers are still reluctant to house cattle at this time of year, considering how mild it has been in the last couple of weeks.

Farmers may be wary when housing cows in these conditions, as the risk of pneumonia is a lot higher in these conditions, especially for younger stock.

However, at this moment in time, the best option for farmers may be to let cows in at night time and back out at grass during the day.

It is important to try and keep grass in the diet of cows for as long as possible and to close up the farm at a decent cover to ensure there is grass for the following spring.

Grass growth

Grass growth on farms this week has been 31kg dry matter (DM)/ha with a demand of 37kg DM/ha, which means supplementation at this time of the year is necessary.

According to Pasturebase Ireland, the average diet for dairy cows is 12kg DM of grass with 4kg of meal and 2kg of silage, as the stagnation of grass growth has meant that more feeding has been required.

Dry conditions have meant that picking and choosing paddocks in the back end has been made easy, which should result in decent covers in the most accessible paddocks for the spring time.

It has also meant that farmers have been able to maximise grass in the cows’ diet for most of the grazing season, which has reflected in cows’ milk performance holding throughout the autumn.

Farmers should keep cows grazing for as long as possible, as doing so will keep costs down and keep protein percentages up.

An option at this time of the year is keeping the cows in at night and providing them with high quality silage and then letting them out during the day to maximise grass in their diet.

This method may be the best option for many farmers, as it will allow farmers to build covers and keep grass in the cows’ diet without hindering or affecting paddocks for next spring.

Where spring grass supply is a priority, farmers should aim for a farm cover of over 700kg DM/ha on December 1 and each week a farmer delays closing a paddock, it will reduce spring grass supply of over 100kg DM/ha.

In order for farmers to get good clean-outs at this time of the year, they should be strip grazing paddocks, using a back fence and allowing for multiple access points into the paddocks to reduce damage and poaching.

At this stage, there should be over 40% of the farm grazed and closed off– paddocks that are dry with good access and further from the yard.