Recent rainfall across the country has helped to drive grass growth rates once again, and this will be a welcome relief on many farms, who were feeling the pinch.
With grass growth powering on, the worry is that it will become stemmy and, with that, the digestibility of it will decrease rapidly.
Walking your farm is the only way you will know what grass you have and don’t have on your farm.
On some sheep farms, the drier conditions seen of late will have posed no problem at all and, on traditionally heavy ground, particularly over to the west and northwest of the country, the drier conditions would have actually seen grass grow very well – with plenty of hay made during this time.
The target at this stage of the year will be to have 12-14 days of grass ahead. Again, where possible, fields that have heavy covers should be taken out for silage.
To help keep on top of grass quality, graze fields at the correct sward height and make use of dry ewes to clean out paddocks or top them after they have been grazed.
Ewes shouldn’t be restricted to cleaning out low covers of grass for long after weaning, as they need to regain condition ahead of breeding – so they will need access to good-quality grass soon after.
Lambs need to be going into short, leafy covers of grass (7-9cm) where good weight gain can be achieved.