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Grass growth continues to struggle in parts of the country due to low soil moisture levels. As such, farmers are struggling to keep grass in front of cattle.
To avoid cattle running out of grass, farmers need to act quickly to reduce grazing demand or provide buffer feeding to stretch grass supplies.
Outlined are five tips to help stretch grazing covers until growth rates recover.
1. Offer silage or concentrate
The first option is to offer cattle a buffer feed to reduce grazing demand. This can be in the form of silage or concentrates.
Concentrates will be easier to feed and support higher liveweight gain in stores, as well as milk production in cows.
However, it comes at a higher cost. Feed levels will depend on the availability of grass, with higher levels required where grazing is extremely limited and vice versa.
Offering silage will work, but there can be a palatability issue unless forage is kept fresh. Ideally, feed silage on a laneway or headland area that can be easily repaired if ground becomes damaged.
2. Strip grazing
Strip grazing grass will help to control grazing. As cattle do not have access to a full paddock, there is less soiled grass, which should help to increase utilisation.
The other benefit of strip grazing is that it allows covers to keep building ahead of stock.
However, it has some drawbacks.
You will need an electric fencer with a good charge to keep cattle under control.
You also need to make sure cattle have enough grass for a 24- to 48-hour period and always move the fence at the same time each day. If not, there is a risk of cattle breaking the wire.
But you will quickly get the hang of how to gauge the area of grass needed to carry stock for such a time period.
3. Grazing silage ground
Where first cut has yet to be harvested, there is the option to let cattle graze silage swards. As covers will be heavier on silage ground, use an electric fence to strip graze to increase utilisation.
Once grass on grazing ground recovers, you can move cattle back to paddocks and close off the silage swards again.
Where silage is ready to cut and the contractor is booked, you could sacrifice a wider margin around the field boundaries. Once grass has been lifted, turn cattle into the field to graze off these areas.
4. Offloading stock
If the farm is carrying surplus stock, think about offloading some animals to ease the demand for grass.
There is growing demand for good-quality forward stores at present, so if these animals are in saleable condition, consider marketing some stock.
5. Fertiliser
When spreading fertiliser, use a compound product that contains phosphate (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S) rather than just straight nitrogen (N).
Although these products are more expensive per tonne, they are cheaper per unit of fertiliser applied. However, these nutrients will stimulate plant roots and mobilise nutrients better than a straight N product.
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