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Managing cattle on autumn grazing takes skill to avoid animals running out of grass and ground being poached.
Getting high levels of utilisation is a challenge during the autumn period.
To help make the best use of grass, outlined are five tips for grazing late in the year.
1. Walking grazing swards twice weekly
Walk the grazing platform at least twice per week during autumn as ground conditions will quickly change, as will grass covers in front of cattle.
By walking swards more regularly, it is easier to see problems coming down the line.
As swards are low in dry matter during autumn and tend to be lush, grass will run through cattle, which will increase intakes.
That means swards will not last cattle for as long as you think and animals will need moving earlier than planned.
2. Change the rotation to target heavier paddocks in early autumn
The aim should be to clean out as many paddocks as possible before housing. To achieve this, it requires a change to the usual changing rotation.
Instead of moving cattle to the next adjacent paddock as normal, target fields with heavier soils during early autumn while ground conditions are holding up.
That should let cattle nip off covers before housing starts. Leave drier paddocks with lighter soils to carry stock into October.
3. Strip-graze heavy covers
If paddocks have accumulated heavy covers in recent weeks, consider strip grazing to increase utilisation.
By restricting access to grass, it stops cattle from spoiling covers in front of them. Intakes will always be higher when fresh clean grass is offered to cattle.
However, when strip grazing, it is crucial to move electric wires on time, be that once per day or every morning and evening.
Make sure there is enough grass to last cattle until the next move. Otherwise, animals will become unsettled as grass runs out, start poaching ground and more likely to break through strip wires.
4. Moving cattle after 24- and 48-hour grazing allocations
While it is more time consuming, there is merit in grazing cattle on 24- and 48-hour allocations to increase grass utilisation.
As cattle are moving into fresh grass more often, it can help to keep animals settled and less prone to poaching.
As with strip grazing, it stops cattle from spoiling grass ahead of them and stretches grazing that bit further into mid- to late autumn.
If there is rejected grass on paddocks as cattle are removed, rain will clean the sward and it can be nipped off in the next rotation, if ground conditions permit.
5. Mixed grazing groups
Grazing cattle and sheep on the same ground will improve grass utilisation. Sheep are lighter and able to graze tighter than adult cattle, which is a big advantage to autumn grassland management.
On farms that do not have sheep, it may be an option to leave spring-born calves at grass after weaning. These animals can then clean out paddocks before closing off for winter.
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