Last weekend saw a welcome change in the weather with a few consecutive dry days giving opportunities to take surplus grass and to cut some third-cut silage.

The high growth rates of August seemed to be matched with high intakes on farms due to the low DM% in the grass during the wet spell. Reassess your grass situation and ensure you identify any shortfalls early as it is much easier build covers in periods of high growth.

Your targets now are as follows. Stocking rate should be 3.0LU/ha or greater and you should be trying to reach an AFC of 1,100kg to 1,200kg by mid-September. Low-stocked farms closer to 2.5LU/ha should aim for 1,000kg to 1,100kg also but will be building grass up until the end of September. Rotation length should now be at 30 days and should be stretched out to 35 days by mid-September. This will help ensure you maintain your grass cover until you start your final rotation.

The last round of nitrogen fertiliser is now due. While we want to manage the quality and quantity, we still should be aiming to maximise grass growth and taking full advantage of the high growth rates. Growths are starting to drop off and waiting until 14 September to go with your final application is going to significantly reduce your ability to get the full value and return out of this last application.

It is time to spray reseeds. Any reseed that went in late July or early August should be sprayed now.

Your post-emergence spray is the best and most effective way of controlling weeds. Weeds in new reseeds are best controlled when the grass is at the two- to three-leaf stage.