Description
Syds-Jan’s farm manages grassland on marsh and clay soils and milks 170 Jersey cows. As an intensive full-grazing farm, his aim is not only to further reduce the costs of buying in feed, but also to utilise the pasture as efficiently as possible as the farm’s own high-quality feed source.
As a grazing strategy, they top the grass from June to August. Topping means to cut the upper part of the grass just before it goes into seedhead. The cut part is left, and the plot is grazed after a short wilting of the cut. This has two advantages: Firstly, the grass growth is stimulated again so that the animals can graze a plot with high forage quality more quickly. Secondly, the slight drying out of the cut results in higher palatability and feed intake by the animals, which is reflected in slightly higher productivity. Topping is carried out from June to August until the grass no longer goes into seedhead. The time of cutting and the weather must be right for topping. The grass should not already be too high, otherwise the animals will no longer eat the lower part and there will be too much residue. The grass must also be dry. The diagram below illustrates the practice using a rotational grazing system as an example:
