Michael Skinner outwinters nearly 1,400 Highlander ewes and ewe lambs without concentrates at his farm in Leicestershire. Now going into his 10th year outwintering, Michael says the key to success is the breed and foraging ability of the ewes.

Quality 12 ME silage is like having concentrates in the clamp – so rations need to cut concentrate levels accordingly if you want to boost milk from forage production this winter

George Brown started a joint venture on a Hampshire estate last December and is getting to grips with grass growing – or the lack of it!

August’s extreme weather has left some farms nicely building Average Farm Cover (AFC) for their last round, while others are struggling to grow grass. But whatever your situation, try and have as many grazing days as possible this autumn to save on winter housing and feed costs, says LIC consultant, Bess Jowsey.

Many parts of the country are seeing a wet end to a warm summer, with others still struggling for grass due to the prolonged dry weather. Both extremes are resulting in tight availability of current grazing but potentially conserved winter forage too.

11 September 2020

Grazed grass and home-grown forage can be the cheapest form of feed when it is well-managed, and it has the potential to reduce the costs of bought-in feed significantly.

3 September 2020

The variable weather this year has been reflected in this year's grass silage crop.

As herd manager for Lydney Park, Keith Davis has been growing and measuring grass for the past 12 years but has found this year’s weather ups and downs tiresome.

25 August 2020

Following the prolonged dry weather this summer, AHDB conducted a fodder stock survey, which aimed to collect information on the current stock levels across the UK. There were 110 responses, with the majority of respondents living in the South West of England.

21 August 2020

As we creep towards the end of August, those still considering an autumn reseed are advised to assess conditions and closely monitor each paddock’s performance, to identify those that will benefit most.

21 August 2020

If you are short on silage or worried about straw supplies for winter, now is the time to work out whether outwintering in-calf heifers could save you some money.

31 July 2020

Phil Asbury has been measuring grass for 13 years for his 212-cow spring block herd in Cheshire – this year has had its challenges…

7 August 2020

Livestock farmers are encouraged to forward buy or secure their straw requirement, or look at alternative bedding options for this coming winter, sooner rather than later.

31 July 2020

Managing outwintered livestock starts with the transition or change of diet. This is important because forage crops differ in composition to grass, and the rumen microbes need time to adapt. It also allows the stock to adapt to foraging rather than grazing, particularly for root crops, and potentially reduce the chance of any weight loss.

24 July 2020

Sam Alexander is managing 340 Kiwi crosses in mid-Wales in her first year as a grassland manager.

11 September 2020

Grazed grass and home-grown forage can be the cheapest form of feed when it is well-managed, and it has the potential to reduce the costs of bought-in feed significantly.

17 July 2020

Next month, it’s time to start planning your farm’s grazing to set up for spring 2021. So keep measuring, take a look at long-range weather forecasts and use your grazing software to help you make good decisions. This advice, from LIC grazing consultant Bess Jowsey, comes on the back of an expensive grazing season for many herds hit by the drought.

17 July 2020

Outwintering has several potential advantages over housing, but these have to be carefully weighed against possible concerns over animal welfare in unsuitable field conditions, the risk of soil erosion and performance targets.

10 July 2020

Grazing dry cows and youngstock on pasture closed and set aside for winter grazing can significantly reduce feeding costs.

4 September 2020

This article looks at ways you can reduce your silage costs.

10 July 2020

Calving in a good shed is better than doing a bad job in a paddock, says Graise Consulting’s Andre van Barneveld, but there are so many variables.

3 July 2020

With the average pasture yields in the UK sitting at 8 t DM/ha, there is room for improvement, with the potential to grow over 10 t DM/ha on any system.

26 July 2019

Using rotational grazing techniques on a heifer grazing platform not only helps train replacements for herd life, but also creates the quality leafy grass necessary for rumen development and daily liveweight gain. Just as on the milking platform, however, it requires good infrastructure and an eye on residuals.

26 July 2019

A combination of dairy breed and management experience means that this year’s crop of heifer calves has picked up the grazing habit easily on the Dalton’s Derbyshire farm. The spring-born replacements are destined for the family’s 500-cow herd, milked once a day.

26 June 2020

Planning ahead to secure any straw requirements or to seek alternative good-quality bedding options for the winter months is crucial.

26 June 2020

Clovers can replace some, or all, bagged nitrogen (N) in both conventional and organic swards. How much N is fixed depends on the clover content in the sward.

19 June 2020

Currently, across most of the UK, soil moisture deficits are severe, with over 75 mm of rain needed to return the soil back to field capacity.

19 June 2020

Successful buffer feeding not only helps slow down the rotation and conserve grass for grazing, it can also be cost-effective if you reduce waste, maintain milk yields and generate payback. While feeding in the paddock is a cheaper option, it risks encouraging local wildlife into the paddock, which isn’t good for TB management.

12 June 2020

We take a look at Chris and Sarah Berry’s longer-term contingency plan to increase their resilience to dry weather.

The Recommended Grass and Clover Lists for England and Wales are drawn up after rigorous testing for attributes such as yield, persistency, quality and disease resistance. The data come from trials carried out by the NIAB-TAG, Barenbrug, IBERS, DLF Seeds, DSV, AFBI and SRUC, and are evaluated by a panel of experts.

5 June 2020

Forward planning is critical for Chris and Sarah Berry from Exeter who are aiming to increase output and reduce costs. After recently taking on full-time management of Higher Thornton Farm in Devon, Chris is aiming to improve their resilience to dry weather through diverse swards and grazing management

29 May 2020

Good grazing management can provide high-quality nutrition which can help animals withstand the effects of parasite.

29 May 2020

If you are confident in your grass measuring and use of AgriNet, take it one step further and improve grassland efficiency by creating more grazing mobs on the same account.

29 May 2020

Top tips for managing beef and sheep grazing during dry weather

22 May 2020

An article looking at how you can manage prolonged dry conditions on - farm.

22 May 2020

Seed heads will always happen, but managing them correctly can reduce the impact they have on cow intakes, milk production and the rest of the grazing season

22 May 2020

An article looking at signs of Pica in cows.

15 May 2020

Strategic Farms across England give us a snapshot of how the 2020 grazing season is going for them so far.

7 May 2020

Strategic farmer Guy Prudom tells us how spring 2020 was a first for early turnout in North Yorkshire and what management decisions he has put in place to keep grass growing.

7 May 2020

This article looks at how you choose seed mixes dependant on which grazing platform you are going to use.

1 May 2020

An article looking at Using dirty water as a source of moisture for the grazing platform could lead to rejected paddocks, or poor residuals, caused by high potassium levels, which make grass taste bitter.

24 April 2020

This article looks at how you should consider grazing infrastructure as an investment.

24 April 2020

This article discusses whether you should be supplementing or substituting a grass-fed diet

9 April 2020

Oversowing can provide a cost-effective way of improving pasture without the need for seedbed preparation. It is useful in situations in which you do not want to – or can’t – plough, if there are gaps in the sward (for example, after poaching), or if you need more rye-grass or clover.

27 March 2020

Waterlogged swards need a kick-start this season. Grazing managers who rely on their usual fertiliser rates could see disappointing growth rates. Paddocks that were flooded, or severely waterlogged, over winter need rejuvenation, followed by higher nitrogen and sulphur applications.

10 April 2020

To benefit from higher grass yields in the long term, spring reseeds need a light grazing and careful management in their first 6 months. Start by doing a ‘pull test’ to establish whether seedlings have rooted properly and then use young calves to nip off leaves from 6 weeks after establishment. “The last thing you want to do is to graze and lift out seedlings,” says LIC consultant Sean Chubb. “You only want to take off the top 4 cm to encourage regrowth and tillering, so use calves because they won’t graze as low or as hard as older stock. There is no point in doing all that hard work if you then have to oversow next spring. “In their first year, new leys need preferential treatment: leave a residual growth of 5 cm, potentially graze less and then perhaps correct for this in autumn. Accepting less tonnage this year means you will be rewarded with better growth in future.” Using heavier livestock not only risks overgrazing and slowing regrowth, but also compaction where reseeding has involved a full seedbed preparation leaving a light, fluffy soil. When direct drilling into an established sward, however, cows can be used to do a light first grazing. After its first grazing, a new ley should be left to grow to 2.5–3 leaves and not be overgrazed. Leaving slightly higher covers avoids taking energy out of the plant: roots need to grow down and out, says Sean. “This is particularly important going into summer. New leys are more susceptible to drought and dying from overgrazing,” he points out, adding that a typical 10% of the platform reseeded each year is not a large enough area to affect measuring and software calculations.

10 April 2020

The options to reduce milk production and manage operating costs

3 April 2020

Recent research has shown that infective liver fluke cysts can survive in spoiled silage.

3 April 2020

Deep-rooting crops that are good to fill the summer grazing gap also help to improve soil structure and fix nitrogen.

3 April 2020

Farmers are encouraged to review their nutrient management plan to optimise grassland productivity this harvest season.

27 March 2020

The cost of a lost grazing day to businesses is an important calculation, even for experienced grazing managers.

27 March 2020

Farmers who took part in the AHDB Beef and Lamb-funded project, Beef from Grass, have seen fantastic results through implementing rotational grazing into their systems, with some trialling outwintering.

20 March 2020

Tips on how to monitor grass growth during the grazing season.

20 March 2020

Milk urea may increase after turnout due to the high levels of digestible protein in grass.

20 March 2020

With a challenging start to the grazing season, it’s worth remembering three-leaf theory when faced with any difficult decisions.

13 March 2020

For Suffolk dairy farmer Jonny Crickmore, cutting concentrate use from 11.0–12.0 kg/cow/day to 8.5 kg/cow/day this winter (1 October 2019 to 31 January 2020) has contributed to a saving of £30,000 on bought-in feed.

13 March 2020

Assessing the sward, soil and infrastructure after flooding will be key to getting grazing and silage areas growing in 2020.

13 March 2020

Did you know that moving from set stocking to paddock grazing can almost double grass yield from an average usable yield of 4.3 t DM/ha to 8.2 t DM/ha Utilisation increases to around 80%, but is the hassle of moving fences worth it? If

6 March 2020

Considerations for managing ewes in wet weather ahead of lambing. 

15 May 2020

Learn how to keep a team motivated throughout the grazing season.

19 February 2020

Average prime weights have continued to track above last year, despite a switch back to a more forage based diet.

16 January 2020

Throughout GB average milk yields continued to track above the previous year, even though producers have moved back to a forage based system.

11 October 2019

One Wiltshire dairy farm has managed to double its milk from forage by changing seven, set-stocked fields into a 34 ha grazing platform.

13 September 2019

Ar article looking at the key nutritional parameters in forage analysis

13 June 2019

Early signs of decreased sensitivity to the herbicide glyphosate have been detected in several black-grass field populations in England.

11 June 2019

At the upcoming Angus Monitor Farm meeting on 27 June the focus will be on all things grass, exploring the rotational grazing set up and the challenges and benefits of implementing this system.

7 June 2019

At the next Morayshire Monitor Farm meeting on 11 June, Nuffield Scholar, farmer Alex Brewster, will discuss his 2016 project which looked at getting the most out of grassland.

14 May 2019

Complete our short survey to help us better understand KPIs for grassland and forage management

31 July 2018

Grass and herbal leys farm network releases first findings

To be a successful dry cow feed that doubles up as a calving paddock, standing hay needs careful planning. It should be a quality grass that has been part of the platform rotation and allowed to go to seed.