Grass growth rates are above the 5 year average in the UK! Great news for hay crop and prices, not so great for laminitis and EMS horse owners. After a difficult winter in the UK and hay shortages meaning huge price rises, the team at DrDavidMarlin.com decided that we needed to support horse owners by helping you prepare for a hay shortage or ensure that everyone knows that there won’t be a hay shortage and there might be the opportunity to shop around for the best price! With that in mind, we have been delivering you a weekly #ForageForecast so that we can track grass growth and hay production this year! We also hosted some webinars to support you further, Laminitis/EMS and Forage covering hay, haylage, and silage and feeding for specific types. Details below.
Health warning
The highest grass growth rate was reported in the South East however if you have horses or ponies prone to colic, obesity, EMS, laminitis, adverse behaviour etc, this is the time to limit grass intake despite where you live. If you do, then ensure that you provide additional forage in the form of hay, preferably soaked or soaked and steamed.
Watch our Laminitis and EMS webinar, click here
Watch our Forage 4 Knowledge webinars with two leading experts:
Dr Helen Warren: Feeding forage in practical terms: Click here
Dr David Davies: Hay, Haylage and Silage: Click here
The last week’s grass growth:
- Average daily growth rates are changing direction, up 4.3 kg DM/ha, to 46.4 kg DM/ha
- Average growth rates are on par with the growth reported at the same time this time last year and the 5-year average
- Highest regional average daily growth rates are seen again in the South East, 75 kg DM/ha
Reference:
The information on grass growth has come from the Forage For Knowledge page on the AHDB website: click here
