The BBC national outlook is showers and thunderstorms for the next month, with most of these in the North and West, so to me it is still dry management – protect average cover for as long as you can and extend grazing rotation out on a good long round.
Try not to let it drop below 2,000 kg DM/ha. You may need to supplement/feed livestock to manage the wedge and extend your grazing round to above 45 days. If the dry spell continues then plant mass will disappear so you might as well graze it, certainly on lighter land.
Extending the round is driven by growth rate (for example, entry cover 2,800 kg DM/ha minus the residual cover of 1,500 kg DM/ha, leaves 1,300 kg DM/ha available). If it grows at 50 kg DM/ha/day that is a 26-day round, if it is growing at 30 kg DM/ha/day that is a 43-day round.
So, start feeding early to protect the average cover and keep grass in the diet for as long as you can.
If you are feeding silage in a sacrifice paddock, try doing it in a paddock with low P & K soil indices - all that silage and muck should help increase them.
Heading of late perennials is coming to an end. If you have not already, make sure you clear out paddocks to ensure you have new growth when the rain comes.
If you are considering pre-mowing – be aware that at above knee height it becomes a challenge but where needs must, try it but do not over allocate. Pre-mowing and good allocations will reset residuals for when it does rain and then you will have quality grass through the sward profile and to the base.
For those with high average covers, “normally” with rain the advice would be to cut surplus to keep control of average cover and quality. With the current forecast, the best way to fully utilise high-entry covers of +3,000 kg DM/ha is pre-mowing.
This is potentially the best answer to utilise all you have and push well into the dry conditions (if rain comes and once growth rates pick up these high covers can be baled), as this will now be a bit stalky and headed. The quality will be lower so I would support this with a reasonable level of concentrates. This is not what I would normally be suggesting at this time of year.
Be mindful of heat stress, which is a combination of heat and humidity. Cows start to feel the effects at 21-22C. Google it and you will find some particularly good charts to show you at which temperature and humidity your cows will start to encounter heat stress.
Some may find bringing cows in during the heat of the day is cooler for them, but you can only judge that by going in among them where they are lying in the cubicles. I remember looking at cows in a shed from the feed passage, which had a breeze, and all seemed well. But further over in the cubicles cows were panting and it was remarkably different to the feed passage.
If you must supplement with silage, a suggestion is to offer it post-PM milking when it is cooler as eating gets the rumen going and this creates heat.
Post-PM milking silage should not be offered ad-lib. It should just be used to fill the gap in the daily grass allocation. So, in this scenario the first cows through the parlour will have a high silage and low grass diet and the later milkers will have a low silage and high grass diet, plus any concentrate you feed, the combination of grass/silage does not matter.
Ensure you have clean water available and plenty of it. Make sure all stock has access to the troughs. Dominant cows will stand next to water troughs and deter more submissive cows from drinking, so can you get an extra trough in to help the low order cow?
Finally, how are your young stock getting on? Have they ample water and feed? It may be worth weighing them in a cool part of the day to check they are on track.
