compared to last year’s dry spring , we following a more predictable curve , with growth rates expected to climb again next week , we are now past the magic number on a lot of grazing platforms.
BGS Farm Walk Near Buxton last week – everyday is a school day , learning this time about contract farming as a future part of the business
With Soil temperatures consistently above 7 degrees and we are now past the spring equinox , grass is on a upward curve. with 25 kg/DM/ha this week in the north west of the UK , it looks like the growth rates will hit 40 kg plus in another 2 weeks there magic day will be on target in 3 weeks (which is a growth of 50-55 kg ) .
Put simply if you can graze sooner than you think or grass will race away from you and quality could be lost .
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
on my average block we have grown 7.8 t/ DM/ha this year to date which is still 10% behind last year.
