As we approach mid-August, the emphasis on grass farms turns to building up grass for the autumn. Because grass growth slows down drastically in October, if farmers are to keep cows and cattle out for longer, then they must build up covers.
How early to start building up depends on the stocking rate, but for most farmers they should be starting to build up now.
The easiest way to build up grass is to slowly extend the rotation length. This involves grazing higher covers than previously to add days to the round.
So let’s say you have a paddock with a cover of 1,650kg/ha. A few weeks ago, you would have skipped over this for silage, but if you’re building up covers you would graze it.
The target at the moment is to be at an average farm cover of 250kg/cow. Extending the round length is pretty easy to achieve when all the farm is available for grazing as demand is lower than growth so the farm will generate surplus anyway.
But on highly stocked farms or where not all the farm is available for grazing the differential between demand and growth rate will be less so it will be harder to build up covers. In these situations, it will probably be necessary to feed supplement to reduce demand.
The first step though should be to get all the farm available for grazing. If silage is yet to be cut, get it cut as soon as possible. Avoid taking out ground for reseeding at this stage in the year unless stocking rate is really low.
How much supplement to feed depends on average farm cover relative to target, growth rate and grass demand.
If 2kg or 3kg is required, then meal is probably the easiest to feed. If more supplement is required then round-bale silage is probably more suitable. Good-quality bales shouldn’t depress milk yield or milk solids.
Bear in mind that feeding supplement will reduce cow’s appetite and make it harder to get a good clean-out. Consider going back to 12 or 24 breaks to get the maximum value out of the supplement.
It is an absolute waste of time to be feeding supplement if you do not slow up rotation length.