The heavy rain experienced in most parts of the country over the past week has made grazing conditions much more challenging.
September and October up until now have been reasonable, with grass growth being good and ground conditions holding up.
But the heavy rain that fell recently has seen land in many areas challenging to graze and with further rain forecast, it will likely become more difficult.
Grazing conditions
A significant amount of rain fell on Sunday evening (October 16) in a short period of time, which has resulted in many area seeing fields with water lying on the surface.
With more rain forecast for later in the week, farmers can really see the wintry weather beginning to set in. Many farmers chose to house their cows on Sunday evening, which was likely the right idea, as they could have potentially caused damage if left out in that rain.
At this time of year, you need to be very careful with land. Damage caused now will likely be detrimental to the paddock’s performance going forward.
Grass
Where conditions allow, farmers should continue to try and get cows out to grass, even if just for short periods.
Keep silage in the diet as low as possible to ensure that grass utilisation remains steady and does not become a waste as a result of being trampled on by cattle.
To obtain the maximum utilisation, the strip wire now needs to be used. Farmers should allocate cow breaks, based on times between milking. e.g., allocate eight hours during the day and 16 hours for during the night.
It is important that you make use of your grazing infrastructure and use multiple access points when grazing paddocks.
If farmers haven’t already started using spur roadways, it is likely that they will now have to start doing so.
On/off grazing should also be used when needed, however cows should continue to be out when possible.