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A paddock grazing system is central in maximising grass growth and utilisation on your farm. It will also make grassland management easier, giving you the ability to skip some paddocks during the grazing season if they are too strong and bale them up.
Farmers often ask whether there is a correct size for a paddock. This depends on the size of the grazing group but a good rule of thumb is a 2ha paddock for 40 suckler cows. This will mean that they should have the paddock eaten in two to three days in normal grazing conditions. You should have a minimum of six to seven grazing divisions per group.
This will then give you a 21-day rotation, the ideal in a paddock system. The grazing and resting will increase grass growth and going into the right heights will increase utilisation.
If putting in drinkers, position them in the centre of paddocks so that the paddock can be split again if needed. Try to keep paddocks as square as possible, as long, narrow paddocks will increase traffic along the fence and are harder to manage in difficult grazing conditions.
Where possible, try to set up paddocks so that each one has access to shelter, especially if you are grazing cows with young calves.
Another good tip is to put a couple of gaps into each paddock so that you don’t have to use the same gaps all of the time. It doesn’t have to be a bells-and-whistles job – if the boundary has a good fence, temporary wires can be pulled off this to split the field. Two extra drinkers and a roll of water pipe will do the rest.
Delayed turnout
With calving in full swing on many beef farms, space in sheds is at a premium. Make sure young calves have access to a clean, dry bed.
On some farms, temporary bedded areas are being made up as calf creeps on slats as a short-term measure. If sheds are full, disease pressure will be higher and you need to be vigilant for outbreaks of scour or pneumonia.
Torrential rain halts play in the south and west
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