Drive Grass from the Front Seat

Have you got a plan for the rest of the grazing season? If not, it is time to sit down and prepare your autumn/spring grass budget. This plan will enable you to make the best decisions regarding your farm for future autumn and spring months. Without it, you will not fully achieve the fantastic potential of grazed grass. Your plan will also enable you to make the right decisions regarding grass and concentrate on allowances, drying-off, housing and turn-out dates. Of course once your plan is completed, you must monitor the actual grass situation against your targets.

Characteristics of Autumn Grass
There is often some doubt about the feeding value of autumn grass. Siobhán Kavanagh, Teagasc Nutrition Specialist, has assembled the facts. Autumn grass is a highly digestible feed. Digestibility values of 78-84 per cent have been measured in research and on-farm trials. While it has a lower energy content (due mainly to a lower sugar content) than spring or summer grass, the intake of autumn grass can be higher to compensate for this. Cows eat more autumn grass than you would expect. Grass intakes of 14-19kg DM and total intakes of 15-20kg DM have been measured at Moorepark. Of course achieving these intakes will depend on how much grass you allow the cow to eat! And the protein content, at 20-25 per cent, is more than adequate to meet the protein requirements of the cow's diet.