latest date to cut silage

orchardfarmer

can someone give me a bit of advise, cant seem to find answer on internet anywhere
i spent the summer draining a field which was out of use and sewed same with grass on 4th july. gave it 3 bags of 18-6-12 on 3rd august.
its come on lovely and i was thinking of taking a cut of silage off it as im short on feed for the winter
question i have is when is the latest time i can cut??
despite being well drained the field is still fairly wet and with the recent broken weather i don;t want to mucking it up with heavy machinery..
long term weather forecast is for the weather to pick up in 2 weeks but this is going to mean cutting in early october. is this too late?

pakalasa

I cut silage once in the middle of October. Getting the weather dry is the tricky bit though.

reilig

orchardfarmer wrote: »

can someone give me a bit of advise, cant seem to find answer on internet anywhere
i spent the summer draining a field which was out of use and sewed same with grass on 4th july. gave it 3 bags of 18-6-12 on 3rd august.
its come on lovely and i was thinking of taking a cut of silage off it as im short on feed for the winter
question i have is when is the latest time i can cut??
despite being well drained the field is still fairly wet and with the recent broken weather i don;t want to mucking it up with heavy machinery..
long term weather forecast is for the weather to pick up in 2 weeks but this is going to mean cutting in early october. is this too late?

If you want 2011 silage, then the latest date will be 31/12/2011.

But seriously, there is no latest date. Silage making isn't governed by dates. A simple rule of thumb is to ensure not to cut until at least 6 weeks after fertilizer has been spread. Beyond that, it also helps to have dry weather so that you're not mucking up the ground.

A couple of years ago, i wrapped bales for a neighbour on 15th October. They turned out fine!!

orchardfarmer

thanks a million lads
it'll save me pulling me hair out looking out the window at it in the rain :eek:
i;ll sit tight and wait for this dry weather...

kenny d

We once cut RVP ( a 5th cut ) at halloween and did not have a problem so dont get too hung up about the calendar - leave that to the Dept !

lakill Farm

I drew silage in once on the 23rd Dec for a contractor. The contractor wount bring out the claas Jaguar so he used a trailed harester and "she calved" with about 20 0f the 22 acres picked. The harvester is still in the same spot in the field about 10 years later

blue5000

Can you block graze it instead, and save yourself roughly 100e per acre?

flatout11

was up north at the weekend and seen lads at the 3rd or 4th cut (dairy farm)
seen it done in mid october the weather is going to be your biggest problem

whelan1

we did a cut in november a few years ago....