October grass: A delicate balancing act
For sheep farmers, October is a critical month for grassland management. Get it right and you’ll have sufficient supplies of grass for when ewes and lambs return to pasture next spring; get it wrong and you’ll end up feeding more meal/silage or hampering ewe performance during the breeding season.
To provide guidance on how to navigate autumn closing, Teagasc Research Officer, Dr. Sarah Woodmartin joined Teagasc Sheep Specialist, Ciaran Lynch on the OviCast podcast to provide an October Grass Update.
A disappearing resource
Although current grass growth rates are sufficient to support most flocks, Dr. Woodmartin noted that careful attention is required:
“Grass growth rates disappear very quickly at the tail end of the grazing season, and it will be very easy to eat down into grass covers. We are at a point where growth rate will soon drop below demand and we need to have a closing plan in place.”
Dr. Woodmartin encouraged sheep farmers to not only implement a closing plan but to stick to it. As to the why, she explained: “The management decisions we make now in this autumn period are going to directly reflect the quality and availability of grass we have going forward.”
For an early March lambing flock, she recommended the following closing plan:
- Late October – 20% of total area closed.
- Mid November – 40% of total area closed.
- Late November – 60% of total area closed.
- Mid December – 80% of total area closed.
The above, of course, will be very farm specific, but the most important aspect is closing off the first 20% and avoiding the temptation to re-graze later in the year. These will be the paddocks grazed first next spring, supplying a valuable feed resource to freshly lambed ewes and their lambs.
“Very little grass grows in December/January. If you are tempted to go back in an eat that grass off, you will really struggle for March grazing,” Dr. Woodmartin added.
When it comes to closing paddocks, Dr. Woodmartin also highlighted the importance of achieving a post-grazing sward height of 3.5-4cm. Failing to achieve this allows for the accumulation of dead material over the winter and thus a reduction in spring grass quality – a time when ewes really need quality grass.
Achieving this target when pre-grazing covers on farms are approaching peak does require careful management. The use of temporary fencing was recommended to split larger paddocks into more manageable areas, while also preventing ewes from having to work hard to achieve the desired post-grazing cover.
“If ewes are in good condition, you can use them to graze out paddocks well. To do that, we need to practice good grazing management. Don’t leave sheep in paddocks for long periods of time. If covers are high, put up temporary fencing and graze it down to 3.5-4cm quite quickly and move them on to achieve good graze outs without hampering the ewes’ condition at this time of year.” Dr. Woodmartin added.
Also discussed on the podcast was grass growth – production so far this year and current grass growth rates – and the key management practices for closing grass-clover / multispecies swards.
Listen to the October Grass Update on the OviCast podcast below:
More from Teagasc Daily: Autumn grassland management guidelines for sheep farms