The 2022 grazing season will be remembered by most for the challenges it posed at different times of the year.
The spring will be remembered for the weather, as it turned bad just as farmers looked to get cows out to grass.
Many areas were then hit with drought-like conditions over the summer months, with bad weather once again making the backend of the season a challenge.
However, while it had its challenges, overall, 2022 will be noted as a good year for dairy farmers, with prices for milk never before seen.
And, between the spells of challenging weather, farms did have a reasonable year for grass growth.
Grazing season
But the grazing season for many has already come to an end; anyone still grazing should be finishing up in the next few days.
Once the final paddock in the rotation has been reached it is time to house stock for the winter months and stop grazing for 2022.
The majority of farms are now using on/off grazing to get cows to grass without causing damage to land.
The goal is to keep cows at grass until mid-November, or whenever the final paddock in the rotation has been reached.
If ground condition and grass growth allows, it can be tempting to continue grazing past this. However, it is important that this does not happen; once you have reached the final paddock in the rotation it is important that you do not graze anymore paddocks.
Doing so will impact on grass availability in the spring and will likely result in cows needing to be fed extra silage and/or be housed for longer.
Improvements
Now that many farms have ended their grazing season, and others are days away from doing the same, it is a good time to look back and determine if any improvements could be made.
Farmers should question whether there were any paddocks that underperformed compared to the rest of the paddocks, and if yes, figure out why that was the case.
After this, it is wise to inspect whether any improvments can be made to the grazing infrastructure on the farm for the 2023 season.
This could include improvements around the use of temporary electric fences, back fences or spur roadways
During the spring and autumn, these are vital on most farms to ensure that grass is maximised in cows’ diets.
Another change could be creating or improving a storage system, like what is seen in the picture above, which makes everything easily accessible and tidy.