Although grass growth has reduced on farms, the issue for many now centres around the quality of the grass in the sward.
Many farmers are looking at paddocks that have a large amount of stemmy grass within them and are wondering how to correct this.
Pre-mowing
One of the options that many farmers appear to be considering is pre-mowing.
Pre-mowing is where the grass in the paddock is mowed and then the cows are allowed in to graze the mowed grass.
This method can be used on paddocks that have gone too strong or paddocks that have a large amount of stem present.
However, it does have a number of drawbacks.
It is an expensive way to manage grass and it also takes away the cows’ choice of the grass they eat.
Cows are picky eaters and will favour lush, leafy grass over stemmy, poor-quality grass, and pre-mowing paddocks removes this choice.
By removing a cow’s choice to pick what grass to eat the likelihood is that it will have an impact on production.
If you are using this method on paddocks that have gone too strong, it can have a benefit if you are looking to ensure that grass doesn’t run short. But if grass isn’t short there is the option to mow and bale the paddock, and that should be the preference.
Grass quality
Ideally, if paddocks have gone too strong, they should be skipped and bales should be harvested.
But as many farms are still building average farm cover back up, pre-mowing is an option for the moment; not every paddock can be mowed and baled.
For now, farmers will have to just live with stem in their swards. Although it doesn’t look great, there is plenty of high-quality lush grass present.
Cows will eat the lush, high-quality grass and leave the stem – then when conditions allow, the stem can be corrected.