Farmer writes: Grass growth in reseeded field is disappointing

It makes me envious of dairy farmers that are able to stand-off cows for a few hours.

I have no facilitates to stand-off bullocks so I just have to struggle through and try to keep animals content, along with maintaining residuals as leaving grass behind in a paddock is wasteful and also compromises grass quality for the season.

I have a strip wire up and I am just allocating enough grass for two days. The new water system that we installed last summer has really come into its own this spring as I am able to be flexible with my paddock arrangements.

On Tuesday I went with two bags per acre of CAN across the paddocks that have been grazed in hope of boosting growth. The best re-growth can be seen in paddocks that have been grazed out bare.

I know it seems early to be talking about silage but I closed 17 acres for first cut. We cut all our silage as round bales so the cuts of silage can be quite staggered to coincide with times of peak grass growth. This ensures no defined acreage is closed off at any one time. This land will receive three bags per acre of 0-7-30 and three bags per acre of Sulphacan. This is to help boost soil fertility as I feel the off take of potassium from a cut of silage is underestimated.

A paddock we reseeded last September turned out very disappointing with a high proportion of weeds and very poor germination of the grass seed. I put this down to the lack of moisture. It seems a common trend with all reseeding done locally in autumn time.

I hope to spray this with a post emergence spray in the first suitable window of weather. I will then over sow with more grass seed and apply 3 bags per acre of 10-10-20.