Fundamentals

Learn the habits of farmers with excellent pasture management, including controlling daily grazing area, treating pasture like a crop, and maintaining optimal pasture cover.

Regular pasture assessment on your dairy farm helps you manage your herd's feed, plan grazing, and detect surplus or deficit in pasture.

Creating a new pasture isn't just about sowing. Good management, especially in the first year, can boost its performance and longevity. It's only successfully established once it's dense and has survived a summer.

Leaf stage, in ryegrass pasture management, is an indicator for optimal grazing times. Monitoring the leaf stage helps you understand when a paddock is ready for grazing and if your rotation length is suitable for current growth conditions.

Pre-graze mowing is a technique sometimes used to manage surplus pasture. However, research shows it doesn't increase cow intake or performance, and actually reduces pasture performance.

Managing pasture damage after bad weather involves assessing and fixing areas pugged by cows.

Comparative Stocking Rate (CSR) is a tool to measure the balance between feed demand and supply on a farm. It is determined by calculating the amount of livestock weight per hectare versus the annual feed available.

Deferred grazing is an alternative pasture management tool used to manage pasture quality, defer spring feed to early summer and increase the number of plants in the paddock through natural re-seeding.