The first day of March has arrived and for the vast majority of dairy farms, getting cows grazing remains one of the biggest challenges.
The target for most farms has been to get 30% of the farm grazed by now, but this has not been achieved on the majority of farms.
Although some have managed to get cows grazing, most farms are more likely to have in the region of 10-15% of the farm grazed.
Heavy rainfall over the last few weeks has made grazing a significant challenge for the majority of farms, and it looks like this issue will remain for the next few weeks.
Spring
The delayed start to grazing does pose a number of challenges moving forward, when farmers eventually get cows out.
You are likely going to have a larger number of animals going to grass than you would have had back in early February.
On some farms, around 60% of the herd may now be calved and ready for grass.
This could potentially result in damage being caused to land, if these animals are not properly managed.
When conditions allow for cows to go grass, it is important that you make use of the grazing infrastructure on your farm.
Grazing
When cows are able to get grazing, you need to ensure that allocations are correct and cows are being adequately fed.
You also need to ensure that paddocks are being grazed out properly, as this will mean that they are set up for the next and future grazings.
Spring is a fine balance between grazing area, feeding your cows and preventing damage.
Freshly calved cows require 13kg of dry matter (DM) which can be made up of grass, forage and concentrates.
This increases by around 0.8kg/week until they reach maximum intakes, around 10 weeks post calving.
When allocating area for grazing it important to not under feed cows, but it is also important not to be over feeding.
Underfeeding will result in cows being hungry, which will result in them under performing, losing excessive body condition and being at higher risk of metabolic disorders.
Over feeding will result in poor clean outs, and this will impact on grass quality moving into the second and subsequent rotations.