With relatively mild conditions over the winter, most farmers who have walked their land in the past fortnight have returned impressed with the level of grass growth over the winter months.
Despite this, recent spells of wet weather have impacted ground conditions, making getting cattle out to grass up until now tricky in most parts of the country.
While ground had started to soak at the beginning of March, high rainfall recently resulted in some beef farmers who risked letting cattle out, having to resort to rehousing cattle.
While on-off grazing seems to work well in a dairy setup, the reality is that due to time constraints, it is unworkable on many part-time beef farms.
Despite this, some spring-calving suckler farmers are letting cows and calves out to grass by day in drier conditions. However, unless there is ample shelter in the paddock, leaving cows and calves out by night has been unworkable in many parts of the country – until now at least.
But, with high pressure forecast, drier conditions may take hold over the country.
With the clock ticking and April fast approaching, once a reasonably dry-weather window opens, farmers should start turning out cattle where possible.
Checking paddocks
With this in mind – if it hasn’t been done already – drier paddocks and fields that farmers plan to graze first should be checked to ensure they are ready for cattle.
The most important things to check are:
- Fences;
- Drinkers;
- Grass covers;
- Ground conditions.
Once paddocks are in order and weather improves, farmers should get store cattle out to grass without delay.
With high fertiliser prices this year, beef farmers should also assess how much more or less chemical fertiliser they intend on using and how they will address this with regards to their stocking rate on grass.