Forage for Knowledge

Make the most of your farm's potential with the latest regional grass growth and quality data and analysis, updates and resources.

Stay updated with the latest regional grass and quality data, including predictions from AFBI’s 7–10 day grass growth model.

Get expert recommendations to optimise pasture management and maximise productivity.

Make informed decisions – whether it’s adding an extra paddock for silage and assessing its impact on demand or ensuring that growth rates align with your needs.

Use the grass growth wedge to identify potential surpluses or deficits, adjusting your strategy accordingly.

Access the Forage for Knowledge database and resources to manage risks effectively and enhance your decision-making process.

Latest grass growth data

Use the interactive dashboard to view the latest regional grass growth and quality data.

Grass growth commentary and advice

Pasture to Profit consultant Bess Neil will provide comments (usually, every two weeks) throughout the main grass growing season. Read the latest below.

5 November 2026

Even with some areas receiving substantial rainfall, grazing conditions have generally remained good. Damage has largely been limited to gateways, around water troughs and other high-traffic areas.

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If you still have a healthy average farm cover, you are in the enviable position of being able to keep a higher proportion of grass in the diet and delay full-time housing.

When did you last calculate your daily housing costs? Understanding these costs is a useful reminder of why measuring and managing grass remains important right through to the end of the growing season.

Keep up the farm walks and avoid taking your eye of the ball now. The aim is to finish with the correct farm cover to carry through to spring, no lower than 2,100 kg DM/ha.

Prepare soils for next season

Have you done your autumn soil sampling and put a plan in place to address any issues?

Alongside improved grazing management, addressing poor soil pH is the most cost-effective way to improve sward productivity.

Where regulations allow, a light application of slurry after grazing and before fields are closed will provide valuable nutrients and help boost any remaining growth before winter.

Lessons from a challenging year

Many grazers will look back at 2026 as a stressful and challenging year, but it’s important to remember the lessons.

Experience prepares us for the future, but only if we reflect and act on opportunities missed. Having a ‘there’s nothing I could have done’ attitude dooms us to repeating the same mistakes.

As climatic extremes become more normal, preparation and timely decision-making will be increasingly important parts of the solution.

Witnessing the huge variation in post-drought recovery has been my biggest learning from this year.

Those who trusted the research on long rotation lengths, protecting average cover and continued farm walks even though it was just depressing, were largely rewarded with significantly quicker growth recovery when rain eventually arrived. Experience and wisdom banked.

Signing off for 2026

Bess Neil, Pasture to Profit Consultant

Disclaimer

This data set includes predictions from AFBI’s 7- and 14-day grass growth model.

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Grassland management

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Measuring forage yield and quality

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Understand why yield and quality measurements matter and explore some practical methods you can use, from quick visual checks to more precise weighing techniques.

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