Barenbrug’s Agriculture Product Manager, Janet Montgomery, thinks we might be out of the woods…
Listen carefully… and don’t make any sudden movements.
Don’t look the weather in the eye. Because right now, and I’m going to whisper this, things are looking good.
Remember what it was like this time last year? I’m someone who’s still acclimatising to being British, but here I’m going to lean into that typically British habit of understatement: last winter was quite wet.
In fact, it took the Met Office to confirm what everyone already knew: England had had the wettest 18 months since records began. Soil was saturated, fields were sodden, and it was all we could do in spring 2024 to issue a ‘silage advisory’: Go Softly was our message.
After that little recap, you’ll surely be sympathetic about my hesitation to suggest that spring 2025 is looking ‘normal’. So, if you don’t mind, I’m more comfortable describing the outlook as approachable.
But if we’ve reached this far and the weather’s holding steady, perhaps we can afford to have a closer look. In the previous blog “Spring Grass Growth” I stressed the importance of monitoring soil temperatures. I will wager that’s going to be the key to your successful grass strategy this year.
Thanks to the absence of another winter of relentless rain, there should be very few fields to which access – for fear of roughing up swards and compacting soil – might prove questionable. That also means soils aren’t having to dry out so much, which in turn will allow soil temperatures to rise much more quickly this spring.
By keeping tabs on where those soil temperatures are rising most quickly (slope, soil, elevation and orientation will be the most influential factors), you’ll have a most reliable guide to how fast grass growth is starting. Remember, 5°C is crucial: when the soil temperature hits or exceeds that point, you’re back in the business of grass growth.
And when that happens, you make plans: prioritise fields for all the uses for which you need to put them. Where will you turn out ewes and lambs after lambing? Where will spring-calved cows graze? From which field can you take your first conservation cut?
Presently, when (I’ll whisper it again) daytime temperatures have been reaching into high double figures in some parts of the country, the wise might give some thought to selecting a field for a ‘cheeky’ early cut, a strategic early move to help replenish stocks used up over winter.
We never know what the weather ahead holds; starting early opens up the possibility to secure a good few cuts, rather than finding yourself in a less enviable position later in the season.
So never mind carpe diem, make your mantra carpe gramen.
