Grass+: strong growth continues into August

Grass growth is showing no signs of slowing down just yet. In fact it has increased slightly over the last seven days and is now sitting at 65kg DM/ha/day.

It’s fantastic to see such good growth rates, but there is no doubt it is leaving farmers with some decisions to make.

The first decision is whether or not to take out surpluses in the form of bales or to start building grass covers for the autumn.

For me, I think it’s too early to ignore mowing-out paddocks – building grass covers for the backend really only needs to start in mid-August.

Paddocks removed over the next two weeks will have time to re-grow for a final grazing. That said, I would urge more caution around your decision making process.

Firstly, demand on all suckler blocks is increasing day-by-day as suckler calves’ grass demand is growing.

As well as this, while grass measurements are still coming back strong and covers look good from a distance, in reality there is never the same grazing power in grass at this time of the year as opposed to early summer – particularly on swards that have been topped in the last rotation.

Where the target pre-grazing yield was 9-10cm in mid-summer, I think we need to be looking at covers closer to 10-11cm or even 12cm soon.

Therefore I certainly would not mow anything under 12cm (2,000kg DM/ha) now. But I’d also be looking to make sure that growth on the farm is ahead of demand, and that the average farm cover is where it needs to be.

Fertiliser

With grass in plentiful supply on a lot of farms and with silage ground coming back into rotation, some are considering skipping a round of fertiliser. The plan for most would have been to spread in July and again in late-August/early September before the 15 September Nitrates Directive deadline. If opting for one application, I would consider splitting the difference and going in mid-August – this will serve as a timely boost for building autumn covers but will also benefit from a better N response compared to September.