The grazing season on farms should be coming to an end in the coming days, as farmers approach the final paddocks in their rotations.
Although many farmers have already housed cows for the winter months, there are still a good number of herds with cows grazing.
Conditions are challenging, but for the farms still grazing, growth appears to be quite good.
Grazing season
A number of farmers now appear to be considering grazing cows for longer in November, and possibly into December if conditions allow.
With the weather quite mild for the most part and little to no rain forecast it would appear the extending the grazing season may be possible.
Even the rain that has fallen in recent days has had little to no impact on ground conditions in some areas.
However, the question begs, are these farmers right to continue grazing?
Teagasc advice would be to house cows once they have reached the final paddocks in the rotation. This is to build covers for the spring and allow for early spring grazing.
But growth over the winter months in the last number of years has been nothing less than exceptional. So, it is really a question of whether extra days at grass in the tail end of the year outweigh the benefit of grass early in the spring.
The answer for the vast majority of farmers is going to be no; extra days in the tail end of the year do not outweigh the benefit of early spring grass.
Continuing to graze past the final paddock in the rotation will likely impact on the availability of grass in the spring.
Spring grass
Having access to grass in the spring is going to worth more than continuing to graze for longer in the backend.
Although having an extended grazing season in the autumn is important, it is important to know when to stop.
Having access to grass in the spring is far more valuable than even in the summer months.
Each day at grass in the spring will increase farm profitability due to lower feed cost and better milk constituents.