Five tips for closing off grazing paddocks in autumn

The grazing season is almost at an end for the majority of suckler farms, as heavy and frequent rain is causing ground conditions to deteriorate quickly.

Believe it or not, planning for the 2020 grazing season starts now, not next March.

The benefits of early spring grazing far outweighs grazing into late autumn, so closing up paddocks for turnout next spring should start this week.

Outlined are some tips to closing off paddocks, in order to prepare for spring grazing.

1 Target older swards and heavier paddocks first

As ground conditions are deteriorating, it is important to get older swards grazed off now and closed up for the winter.

Older grasses will be less winter-hardy. Therefore, heavy grass covers are more likely to die off and turn white.

This dead grass needs to be grazed off before fresh swards will resume growing, or slurry and fertiliser can be applied next spring. Therefore, rather than wasting grass over winter, graze older swards now.

With heavier soils, graze covers off as soon as possible before ground conditions are unable to carry animals. Again, this will prevent dead grass accumulating over winter.

2 Use lighter cattle or sheep

As ground conditions deteriorate, heavier cattle should be housed. This will leave weaned calves and light stores to clean off swards before closing up for winter.

These animals will inflict less ground damage, and if electric fencing is used to control the size of grazing areas, grass utilisation will improve.

If all cattle have to be housed, then sheep should be used to clean out paddocks.

3 Work in smaller groups

Running large cattle groups in late autumn is impractical on heavier soils. Therefore, spread cattle out over the farm in smaller groups to reduce ground pressure.

Having more grazing groups means it is much easier to target older swards and heavier fields before closing off for winter.

4 Silage fields

On most farms, silage fields tend to be drier land and should be grazed towards the end of the final rotation for a few reasons.

Firstly, drier fields will extend autumn grazing, especially for lighter weanlings. Secondly, these fields tend to have more productive swards, so regrowth will be higher over winter.

Finally, these fields should be targeted for early spring grazing during March, before closing off for first-cut silage.

Closing silage fields off in late autumn means there is less likely to be heavy covers accumulating over winter.

This makes it much easier to graze swards out fully before closing off for first-cut silage next April.

5 Once grazed, close stock out for winter

Once a paddock has been grazed, close all stock out for the winter. Do not leave gates open to allow cattle to roam over the whole farm.

Also, don’t be tempted to put animals back into a field for one final grazing at the end of October, purely to delay housing for a few days.

If cattle are causing damage as they graze, stop grazing and move animals off a paddock. Close off the paddock to allow it to recover before spring.

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