Put the best grazing in front of your stock

摘要

EBLEX and Farmers Weekly have launched a major initiative to help beef and sheep farmers get more from their grassland.When you receive a shoddy consignment of concentrates, you complain to your supplier. When some of your silage goes bad, you curse your misfortune and try to avoid feeding it to your stock. Yet when it comes to grazing, far too many beef and sheep farmers are perfectly happy to present their stock with a poor-quality sward. What's more, the quirks of the weather this year mean careful management will be essential to get the maximum value out of grassland. Suclders and sheep tend to be pushed towards marginal grazing and sward management gets less attention, says EBLEX scientist Liz Genever. "The result is greater cost from bought-in feeds and conserving more forage. Poor-quality grazing also leads to higher methane production, so there's a strong environmental driver, too." The key to improving sward productivity is to monitor its performance. That's why EBLEX, in association with Farmers Weekly, has launched Grass Watch which will monitor grass growth at 10 college farms across England, with the results posted fortnightly on FWi.