The continuous inclement weather has brought forward some key decisions for the coming two weeks.

Ground is now saturated, yet farm covers remain too high to close down grazing for the year, with individual paddocks carrying up to 1800kgDM/ha. The question has been raised – why not leave these paddocks over the Winter? These high covers will experience high levels of “die back” or senescence – and will be full of dead material of poor feeding value come early February. They may even be showing signs of die back at the moment but I would much prefer to graze them now with cows coming to the end of their rotation as opposed to asking freshly calved cows in the Spring to graze them and expect these cows to increase and peak output only a few weeks later.

Right through the grazing season I have been emphasising the importance of grazing out paddocks to low residual height so that the base of the sward is clean allowing light to the base stimulating daughter tillers and maximising growth. You have all seen how a heavy cut of first cut silage is always slower to grow back than a lighter cut – the exact same principal applies with carrying high covers over the Winter. Once grazed in the Spring, these paddocks will have poor tiller density and re-growth will be poor reducing grass supply for the second rotation. Bottom line – cover >1200kgDM/ha should not be carried over the Winter.

With suggested increases in October and November milk price, many farmers are now looking to “milk on” – but body condition and Spring calving dates must take priority. As suggested last week, some silage analysis shows low DM, crude protein and digestibility – therefore not a feed to milk from. Grass must remain in the diet – ideally no less than 50% of the diet and therefore On/Off grazing should be the norm these wet days – keep grass in the diet, minimise silage in the diet and minimise poaching.

One of the striking observations made during farm walks last Spring was the differences in the growing state between farms and between individual paddocks on farms. This has also been the observation in the past 10 days. When the question is asked why, the common answer is that slurry was applied after grazing up to the spreading deadline – now these paddocks are very active likely to grow well through December and January. For poorly growing yellow paddocks, be prepared to get slurry out on them once the spreading deadline is lifted in January – especially if these paddocks will be grazed in the second half of the first rotation – equally avoid spreading on the paddocks you will be grazing in the first two weeks of grazing in February.

You should also be considering soil analysis on the farm if you have not already done so. Soil analysis is now more important given the high level of rainfall in the past two years. This rainfall not only leads to leaching of nutrients but also poaching and soil structure damage, which in turn can lead to losses of normally stable nutrients. Analysis of two farms earlier this year showed dramatically lower potassium levels – on farms historically high in potassium! Soil analysis allows you to make informed decisions and allows you to plan and prepare in advance.