Achieving good graze outs was next to impossible on many farms this spring and the impact of this is being seen on grass quality in subsequent grazing rotations.
As dairy farmers will know themselves, there is a direct link in grass quality offered to cows and the production of quality milk on dairy farms.
Temperatures have picked up over the weekend and grass growth rates are expected to significantly kick on also.
During the peak growth months for grass, farm grass covers can easily get out of control and the quality can drop if these grass covers are not managed correctly.
This can result in poor utilisation of grass swards and can result in a lot of poor quality grass with a high amount of stem, which will then result in poor residuals being achieved on farms.
Achieving good post-grazing residuals has been challenging this spring and on most farms, cows were housed for much longer than would have been anticipated.
While rain is forecast this week, grazing will still continue in general and farmers should not lose focus on maintaining grass quality.
As grass growth rates kick on, grazing rotation lengths need to be adjusted and surplus grass taken out for silage, when conditions allow. Cows need to be entering paddocks at the right grass covers.
Letting the cows into a paddock with too high of a grass cover will result in poor graze-outs and it could well be better to take these paddocks out for silage.
During these periods of high grass growth it is advisable to complete a grass walk on the milking platform at least once, if not twice a week.
As farmers will know when May grass growth rates are peaking, the grass situation on farms changes very quickly.
Walking the farm regularly will allow farmers to identify grass surpluses and it is important to remove these quickly so the field can be reintroduced into the next rotation.