Photos: Jon Stroud
In the colder, darker months, it’s all too easy to forget about pasture management. But it’s as important to care for your fields in winter as it is in the spring and summer, if not more so, because what you do now will have a big effect on your fields later on.
The key word when it comes to managing pasture in winter is protection. Grass grows more slowly, if at all (it can continue to grow so long as the temperature is above 5°C, depending on the species), which means as it’s eaten, it isn’t being replenished in the same way as it would be in warmer weather. This can lead to exposed soil and, if the grass is shorter than 7cm when grazed, long-term damage to the grass itself can occur, from which it will be hard for it to recover.