What a season it has been for grass growth in Northwest of England, we had tipping edge drought conditions in the early part of the growing year , with 2 inch’s of rainfall between February and the end of May this had some knock on affects on 1st cut yields especially where sheep had taken any early grass .
Early March Grazing Near Kendal
We did basically miss to some extent the grass peak growth we often see in late April early May as the blue line shows in the graph below
At the end of year we have grown approximately 10.8 tonne of grass DM/ha compared to 11.7 tonne we grew last year , so we are back by 8% on the year. So keep an eye on the silage pits this winter. We are of course in a way better position than some other parts of the country where lack of grass growth has been a real issue due the lower rainfall figures
So grass quality has remained fairly good throughout the year , especially in the latter part with Grass protein levels of 25-26% which is exceptional.
Zero Grazing in June 25 near Slaidburn
