Grazing silage ground pre closeup

Muckit

Hi lads

Those of you that are grazing your silage ground at the moment before closing up, have ye it paddocked up or do ye just give the cattle the run of it?

theroad

The yearling heifers have been grazing it since they came off the kale. Growth was good in March and very dry too, so that helped .

whelan1

i have 100 acres of silage ground . it is in divisions of 30, 10., 20 ,15 , 15 acres i let them run each seperatly .. they have finished on it 2 weeks ago and the slurry and fertiliser are out

5live

Much the same as whelan1. Dry stock or cows graze a field then slurry and fertiliser. Oh and 8 to 15 acre fields so not overly big. The older pasture is finished and going into newer reseeds tomorrow and all closed by the end of next week. I hope.......

Muckit

Oh to win the lotto........

In parts of Galway, 15 plus acres would be decribed as a 'farm'

I was more wondering if lads temporarily broke up silage fields with elec fence into paddocks equivalent to the size to their grazing ground.

So NO is the answer I take it, according to the replies!?

keep going

bigger fields i just drive a timber post in the middle of it and feed in quarters around it easy to do and protects all important regrowth

F.D

I have 16 acres to let out 27 stores on hoping to do it on saturday not great growth on it so hopefully they wont take to long, not sure but maybe i shoud divide it in half to get them to graze it tight ?

5live

The problem i found with splitting in 4 is you have 4 different stages of growth from very strong to still bulking up and in between those to cater for when cutting. I am probably wrong on that line of thinking though:o

blue5000

Hi Muckit.

Mine is mostly 8-12 acre fields divided in half, or 3 in a 12acre field, with 1 strand of hi tensile. I put a trough in the middle so the field can be easily divided in quarters, or can block graze around the trough if cattle numbers are smaller in the field.

I've the strainers in about 25m with a big gap at the end of the fence. This lets me mow all round the field first, then mow sets parallel to the permanent fence.

candor

blue5000 wrote: »

Hi Muckit.

Mine is mostly 8-12 acre fields divided in half, or 3 in a 12acre field, with 1 strand of hi tensile. I put a trough in the middle so the field can be easily divided in quarters, or can block graze around the trough if cattle numbers are smaller in the field.

I've the strainers in about 25m with a big gap at the end of the fence. This lets me mow all round the field first, then mow sets parallel to the permanent fence.

Could you post a picture to get a better idea?

Muckit

Hi blue5000

Like candor I'm a little lost, it sounds good though! I don't know if your 'dazzling me with brillance or baffling me with bullsh*t'

So am I right in thinking you've a trough slap bang in the middle of your silage block? Then you block graze in quadrants around it?

With HT wire I presume they are a permanent fixture?

I'm prob way off......

F.D

blue5000 wrote: »

Hi Muckit.

Mine is mostly 8-12 acre fields divided in half, or 3 in a 12acre field, with 1 strand of hi tensile. I put a trough in the middle so the field can be easily divided in quarters, or can block graze around the trough if cattle numbers are smaller in the field.

I've the strainers in about 25m with a big gap at the end of the fence. This lets me mow all round the field first, then mow sets parallel to the permanent fence.

Brilliant idea that way your mowing headlands around the 8 acres instead of 4 and 4 for example

blue5000

Took a few photos, first one is taken in the middle of a 10ac silage field, The permanent fence(top to bottom of photo) is run over the jfc water trough, on the timber stakes, temporary fence (pigtail posts) runs left to right at right angles to permanent fence, this is moved over and back
across the trough as cattle graze round the field.
hope this works!:mad:[IMG]http://IMG][HTML]http://pix.ie/kitwith5000/2252102[/HTML][/IMG][/IMG]
[Photo below just shows temporary fence run across the permanent fence near the trough


Next photo is at the headland, shows strainer post with ratchet, gate handle is on permanent wire at the hedge. Permanent wire runs all the way round the field. I used electric string on this one, on v long runs the hi-tensile wire can get tangled up if it is let go. I left a pigtail stake halfway between strainer and hedge.
[IMG]http://[HTML][HTML]pix.ie/kitwith5000/2252100[/IMG]

Muckit

Blue5000

The photos haven't come up!:mad: I appreciate the bother you've gone to in posting them up.

I'm very intrigued to see your system in operation, as in sounds ingenious

blue5000

Thanks muckit, trying to upload them from pix.ie, anyone know what to click on to insert image? thanx

candor

blue5000

Thanks Candor:o

candor wrote: »

temp fence on pigtail posts runs from left to right, permanent fence is on timber stakes

Temp fence runs at right angles to permanent fence near trough

Strainer, headland is about 20-25m wide

Headland view

No need for the cow and calf pic, hope you guys can make sense of these!!
Permanent fence divides the field in half, temporary fence runs across permanent fence at trough to divide field in quarters

candor

No worries blue, thought I'd stick in the cow and calf, fine beasts

Could have stuck in a few more but I refrained

That's a handy setup and I understand where you are coming from now.

Muckit

With the slow spring, are lads going to graze silage ground pre close up? It's getting late now if want to cut before June Bank holiday.

If ground was grazed tight last backend would this suffice or is grazing in the spring the ideal?

I'm thinking of just fertilising, run of chain harrow and closing the gate.

delaval

You should try Gallagher reel and pigtail stakes. €150 will buy all you need. They will last you years. Thats what we use to sub divide areas. I am not able to post photo. I did succeed once it's posted in Livestock photos.

To answer your question yes we do divide bigger areas. 36 hrs max any group should spend on one block.

delaval

Muckit wrote: »

With the slow spring, are lads going to graze silage ground pre close up? It's getting late now if want to cut before June Bank holiday.

If ground was grazed tight last backend would this suffice or is grazing in the spring the ideal?

I'm thinking of just fertilising, run of chain harrow and closing the gate.

GRAZE, you will gain nothing by leaving it. Graze quickly

whelan1

them pictures are driving me mad, we can only dream around here, i know its 2 years ago but would love to see grass like that, even buttercups / dandelions are welcome

blue5000

Thanks whelan, driving me mad too, I think if I get a chance over the week I'll take a few from the same spots, I'll be embarrassed though.

I'm trying to allocate just enough grass for 1 day for calves and cows, I give them the fresh block in the early evening, I think the grass has higher sugar levels in it after sunshine.

Yearling heifers are out all winter on kale and went to grass in feb. First bit they grazed was a silage paddock, plan was to graze it twice before closing it, not much on it yet, maybe 450kg dm/ha.

buffalobilly

Delavel do you think the chain harrows are a good job was thinking of investing in a set

delaval

buffalobilly wrote: »

Delavel do you think the chain harrows are a good job was thinking of investing in a set

I have never used one. A guy in our group bought one and swears by it.

Blue Holland

Muckit wrote: »

With the slow spring, are lads going to graze silage ground pre close up? It's getting late now if want to cut before June Bank holiday.

If ground was grazed tight last backend would this suffice or is grazing in the spring the ideal?

I'm thinking of just fertilising, run of chain harrow and closing the gate.

Was surprised to read an aricle recently on closing date for silage, stated land grazed tight in fall was slightly better quality silage than stuff grazed in spring.

freedominacup

Muckit wrote: »

It's getting late now if want to cut before June Bank holiday.

Why?

kowtow

We are grazing the bit of Silage ground we have very tight - it was grazed into December anyway for lack of winter feed, so now we are sending a few cows and calves down it in very tight strips - dry days only, one day per strip, with silage overnight in the yard.

Plan is to put out slurry any day now, close up, and replace the polywire with razor wire and guard dogs in case the silage gets stolen again

Marooned75

Blue Holland wrote: »

Was surprised to read an aricle recently on closing date for silage, stated land grazed tight in fall was slightly better quality silage than stuff grazed in spring.

Jaysus I'm sorted so grazed tight autumn and spring

manjou

Always graze the silage ground as this lets me get cows out earlier.Also gets rid of any grass that is left on them so all the silage has no brown but in when it is cut.Get less silage of it probably but then again use less as cows out earlier.
Also as make bales can stagger when i close up the fields so can keep cows out.The plan is to only have fields out of grazing for 8 10 weeks depending on weather.All depending on weather.

munkus

Muckit wrote: »

With the slow spring, are lads going to graze silage ground pre close up? It's getting late now if want to cut before June Bank holiday.

If ground was grazed tight last backend would this suffice or is grazing in the spring the ideal?

I'm thinking of just fertilising, run of chain harrow and closing the gate.

HI Muck,

Do you run the chain harrow over all the silage fields before closing? Is this common practice?

Muckit

munkus wrote: »

HI Muck,

Do you run the chain harrow over all the silage fields before closing? Is this common practice?

Well I find that it pulls out any dead grass and weeds and gives the fresh grass a chance.

1chippy

I decided to chain harrow fields today and really happy with the result. I am closing off the last of the silage ground in the next couple of days. I have them well grazed, harrowed fertilized and a quick run of the roller.