After such a horrible year from a grazing point of view, it’s strange that we are experiencing such a kind back end.

Ground conditions are as near perfect as you could ask for November and are better than some farmers in the northwest experienced in August.

By my memory, it has been the best final round of grazing for the last five years or so.

Grass growth is above average for the time of the year by about 10kg DM/ha, in a year where we were consistently below average.

Options

This raises its own debate regarding closing cover, with two options - keep grazing hard while ground is good or house cattle when the farm reaches its target closing cover.

Do the first and you run the risk of being tight for grass in spring, when it is more valuable to you. Do the second, and you could just as easily be looking at grass waving in sodden paddocks come next spring, which are then difficult to graze out and slow to regrow.

There’s no right or wrong answer really. Advisers would likely say to not dip below the target closing cover, but with the variability in weather, science doesn’t always have the right answer.

Take this spring for example, when February was excellent. Farmers who ignored the spring planner and grazed hard reaped the benefits, as cattle had to be rehoused due to wet weather in March, while those who had limited grazing and stuck to the rules suffered.

If you have good access to dry paddocks and a relatively high demand for grass in spring, then there is merit in holding grass over, but if you are calving later, not heavily stocked or have poor grazing infrastructure, you are likely better to graze hard while the going is good.

Dipping below closing cover

If you have a desired closing cover of 700kg DM/ha by 1 December, then you can likely justify dipping below this with growth being so strong.

However, you have to be cognisant that growth will dip as days get shorter, background nitrogen is used up and green leaf (grass cover) reduces.

A good rule of thumb is to work back from 1 December and your closing cover, subtracting 8kg to 10kg for each day - for example, cease grazing date of 25 November with a target closing cover of 700kg DM/ha = five days or 40kg to 50kg of growth, meaning you can dip as low as 650kg to 660kg DM/ha.