Pasture Report: May 2, 2012

Pasture growth continues to be modest with cool temperatures and limited moisture until this past week. For optimum pasture performance give the grasses and legumes an opportunity to produce a minimum of 10-12 cm of new growth before turning livestock into a paddock.  In an ideal situation each paddock provides one day’s forage for the livestock with daily moves to a new paddock. If daily moves are not possible the maximum length of stay in any paddock should be no more than 5 days.  Each additional day beyond 1 is will reduce pasture productivity.