The continued high pressure over Ireland is of huge help to the current grazing situation around the country.

To date the mild temperatures have led to the maintenance of high temperatures ranging from 5-15 kgDM/ha/day above normal for this time of year – this of course allows farm cover to build. Most farms have now past their Autumn balance date and so will decline in cover – but thankfully this decline is less rapid than normal.

Building to peak farm cover in the Autumn also has the consequence of grazing high covers at this time of the year. Coupled with this is the necessity to “clean out the paddocks” for the final grazing to a target residual height of 3.5 to 4.0cm. The grazing conditions have been ideal – so there is no excuse for not reaching this target.

Why is a tight grazing so important at this time of the year? Remember that paddocks grazed from now on will not be grazed again until mid-February – i.e not for greater than 100 days. During this time the plant will experience different stresses e.g frost, water logging etc. and during this time their will be natural death of green material on the plant. As part of the final grazing it is important to remove all material down to approximately 3.5cm. Material left above this height will eventually die and be left in the sward – blocking out sunlight in the sward. This in-turn prevents the development of the small tillers at the base of the sward – leading to a open sward that will be more prone to poaching and infestation of weed grasses.

There are many farmers who, in the past, have been grazing to 5-6cm+ but now want to begin to graze more severely to realise the potential of this higher grazing pressure. They ask the question – “when should I start this severe grazing?” The answer is now! There is no doubt that severe grazing of swards which historically has been laxly grazed leads to a lot of poorly digestible and dead material in the diet of the cow in the first year. The best time to begin is now when, in general cow body condition is high, milk output is declining and likely to be buffered by small levels of concentrate – the consequence of severe grazing now for the first time is less than any other time of the year. Tighter grazing now allows for tight grazing in the Spring without effecting cow performance in the Spring at a time of increasing milk output and declining body condition.

Regarding closing off strategy – everyone I have spoken to knows that they must get approximately 60% of their farm grazed and closed in the first 30 days of closing. But how many know what stage they are at on a daily basis or even a weekly basis. 30 days is a short time and it can creep up on us if we are not prepared. It is best to set intermediate targets based on the calendar for example;

100ha farm began closing on 10th October –
Ultimate target - 60ha (60%) closed by 10th November (or approximately 2ha closed per day)
Intermediate target 1 – 20ha (20%) closed by 20th October
Intermediate target 2 – 40ha (40%) closed by 30th October

Know where you are in relation to the intermediate targets that you set for your farm. If you are closing too slow, then graze lighter covers to speed up to target. If closing too fast then graze heavier covers. The past week has seen more farmers in “closing too slow” because pre-grazing covers are high with high dry matter % - there is the temptation to graze lighter covers straight away. My advice is to persevere with grazing the heavy covers in the current good grazing conditions – and get them cleaned out. When the weather breaks – move to the lighter covers and make up the deficit.
However where closing is going too fast – this is indicative of a low farm cover or grass supply – in this you will run o out of grass too early - supplementation may be needed to slow down closing and further extend the grazing