From dry to damp: getting your pastures ready

While the moisture offers welcome relief for parched paddocks, it also presents fresh challenges— chiefly, how to rebuild pasture covers for winter without compromising sward health.

By carefully setting grazing rounds to align with slowing autumn growth, you can balance animal requirements, preserve pasture quality, and enter winter on a strong footing.

Transition out of dry conditions

After a long, dry summer, many North and South Island farms face depleted pasture covers. Because plants struggle to replenish energy reserves under drought stress, stock often graze paddocks lower than recommended, weakening pasture root systems.

As autumn rains return, the temptation can be to graze new green growth too quickly. Yet giving stressed paddocks enough recovery time— targeting two to three new leaves on ryegrass tillers before returning stock—lets plants restore vigour and ensures future growth isn’t curtailed.

Where feasible, ease the pressure on recovering paddocks by adjusting stocking rates, using sacrifice areas, or feeding silage and hay. This approach allows you to avoid “chasing” sparse regrowth. Once paddocks have built enough leaf area, they will respond more robustly to autumn’s milder temperatures and improved soil moisture.

Match rotations to growth

Managing rotation length is essential as autumn days shorten, and pasture growth tapers off. A well-planned rotation ensures each paddock gets adequate rest between grazings, enabling plants to reach the 2.5- or 3-leaf stage. Grazing too early—at only one or two new leaves—slashes total production because plants haven’t recouped their carbohydrate reserves. Conversely, waiting well beyond three leaves can lead to declining feed quality.

As a rule of thumb, many dairy and sheep farmers lengthen the autumn rotation from around 25–30 days in early autumn to 40–60 days by late autumn. That deliberate slowdown allows surplus feed to accumulate, creating a feed wedge (higher average pasture cover) that will sustain stock if winter growth drops below demand.

Prep for winter: residuals and soil protection

The next step is to set yourself up for winter by leaving consistent, appropriate post-grazing residuals— often in the 1,500 kg DM/ha range (around 3.5–4 cm). Grazing too low depletes photosynthetic capacity, slowing regrowth. Moderately grazed swards maintain enough leaf area to keep growing until temperatures decline sharply. In regions prone to pugging, keep an eye on soil conditions once autumn rains start. Standing animals off paddocks during heavy downpours or using back-fencing can prevent serious soil damage. Preserving pasture structure through autumn means less yield loss heading into winter.

Farmers should also create or update a feed budget for autumn and early winter. Predicting how much grass you can realistically grow—and when—helps you decide if extra supplements or a tighter cull strategy are necessary. If you come into winter with too little cover, animals may face feed shortages during cold snaps, and you risk overgrazing.

Leveraging data

One of the most effective ways to track pasture recovery and plan rotations in real-time is through advanced decision- support technology. Platforms like Pasture.io combine satellite imagery, farm management activities, and spatial datasets using machine learning to automatically measure pasture covers and growth rates, eliminating guesswork from grazing decisions.

These tools provide paddock-by-paddock updates, highlighting which areas are ready for grazing at the optimal leaf stage. They also assist in timing fertiliser applications to match environmental conditions, maximising pasture growth.

Importantly, datadriven insights from these platforms enable proactive management strategies. For example, if an abrupt growth dip occurs due to unexpected weather, rotations can be quickly adjusted, or supplement feeding increased. Conversely, when pasture growth exceeds expectations, technology can identify emerging surpluses, allowing timely silage harvesting or allocation of additional grazing days to maintain pasture quality.

Setting Up For Winter

By pacing your grazing rounds to match autumn growth rates, maintaining consistent post-grazing residuals, and monitoring feed budgets, you can steadily build a valuable feed wedge.

This wedge forms an insurance buffer that carries your stock through autumn’s variable weather and into winter’s leaner growth period. Through careful planning, stock selection, and selective supplementary feeding, you’ll finish autumn with well-managed swards and animals in suitable body condition.

It’s all about taking a measured approach and using the best information available— both your hands-on paddock observations and decision-support tools like Pasture. io. By doing so, you’ll transform a once-barren late-summer landscape into a healthy, resilient feed base for winter. The payoff? Fewer feed shortages, healthier soils, and a proactive, profitable start to the following spring.

Bronnie Grieve is cofounder of Pasture.io, a Tasmania-based pasture management platform.