Farmer Writes: it's a critical time for good grass management

A few years ago, a farm adviser told me that whatever grass you grow in May should be eaten in May. Some would say that’s impossible as you always need some grass ahead of you, but what I have come to realise over the years is that the better your grassland management is in May, the more productive your farm is likely to be.

Things can change so quickly during a month. Within a few days you can go from being short of grass to having too much.

For those who think that you can’t have too much grass, I believe this is not true. Once the grass gets out of control it will run to seedhead and if you don’t act quickly, you will be playing catch up all year.

So what are your options? You can hold the cattle on a paddock and make them eat it and take a hit on performance. You can top the grass and waste it, or you can cut it for bales.

But if you do nothing, then the grazing season is pretty much over.

Taking off

This year on my farm, growth has been slow due to the night frosts and grass has been fairly easy to manage. However, things are changing now and growth is taking off, so the next couple of weeks are critical for my farm – and for everyone else.

At the moment, I am walking the paddocks at least twice a week, and I can almost see the grass growing. The reasonably dry weather has helped, because it means that I can hold the cattle on the paddocks long enough to ensure they are well cleaned out.

But holding the cattle longer on paddocks means the you are making your rotation longer, which is the wrong option at this time of year. Instead, you need to be shortening your rotation because grass is growing that quickly.

So to get through grass quicker in May and June, I take out some paddocks for bales almost every week (depending on the weather).

Fence

There is one other thing which is vital to grassland management and that is an electric fence. I would love to have been the person who invented it – from such humble beginnings it has made an enormous difference to farming practices.

I’m sure there aren’t too many farmers who don’t possess at least one electric fence. I have a couple of mains fences and several portable ones.

The first electric fence that we owned was a Woolsey. From what I remember, it was a big, yellow box that held a battery and sat on a peg that was pushed into the ground.

It made a loud clicking noise, so you knew when it was going. It lasted for years, until the box eventually rotted.

Things have progressed since then and there are all sorts, shapes and sizes out now. With an armful of plastic posts and some pollywire you can set up paddocks or sub-divide fields, and thus make grassland management very simple.

Trained

There is another benefit from the use of electric fences. Once you get cattle trained with the fence it makes moving them very simple.

When I want to bring in some cows or heifers for artificial insemination (AI), I set up some wire and posts to guide them towards the lanes.

I don’t have power in this wire and I pull it along behind them. But because they are used to the electric fence, they don’t try to go through it.

I now have the whole farm set up in paddocks and it is mostly just plastic posts and pollywire. It is a cheap and cheerful system. Grassland management doesn’t need to be expensive. For a small investment you can gain a substantial financial reward.

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