In February farmers on lighter ground are seeing the growth of their grass crop starting to move. The “T” sum is approaching 200 so its time for the first fertilizer and perhaps when it’s dry enough, the chain harrows.

Most common grass diseases are in resting phases of their lifecycle and do not start to actively produce until the spring when sugars increase and grass start to grow. Much of the disease seen on the grass plant is actually moulds and fungi breeding on already dead tissue.

Removing muck pats when they have turned into ‘frisbees’ is pointless. All you do is release the meadow grass that has germinated under the muck to photosynthesize, which grow as you drag the muck around the field.

Do not restrict harrowing to the spring. Harrowing in mid June can often be a perfect time as harrows are working and doing a job for the sward and also aerating the soil and improving it.

Muck pats should be moved soon after they are produced. So consider harrowing when cows come out of a paddock, if not every time, certainly every other time. In the spring 100% of the sward is usually available to graze, but after four grazings often 50% is unusable, because it has muck on it or heavy urine burning, restricting availability.

The photograph below shows the grass harrow at work on first cut aftermath, the ley was cut about two weeks earlier. The ley is growing vigorously and appears healthy as you look beyond the tractor. Note, the dead matter being removed by the harrow. This harbours disease, it reduces tiller numbers and it often ends up in the second cut silage as it is raked up before harvesting.

Ideally if you intend using the harrow then it should be done straight after cutting. In this trail, we were really undecided whether it really required harrowing until we experimented and saw the results!

Technical Specialist, Simon Broddle is available to give technical advice and expertise.  Simon can be contacted at direct@nickerson.co.uk