Silage on the stem

kingstown

Any idea of what silage on the stem will make this year?

countygorey

was 100 last year for first cut,

JohnBoy

charge more and fertilise it yourself, no point having a lad come in, shake some nitrogen out and then draw away all your P&K in trailers.


we got soil tests done last year and our adviser said we'd need 4 bags of cut sward to the acre to maintain our levels. I think that was costing around 70-80 an acre spread last year.

GERMAN ROCKS

does it really pay if its €100 per acre. add another €40 per acre for nitrogen and the another €90 for the contractor. thats at least €230 per acre. this year you can buy bales of silage for €15. so thats 15 bales you get for the price of one acres silage

JohnBoy

I suppose the quality control of it is worth a lot to some people?

You see the crop in advance, you decide when it's cut, how it's wilted etc, and it gets drawn into your own pit.

That must be worth a lot to some dairy men.

kingstown

Was thinking on the same lines JohnBoy, most dairy men want pit silage and of good quality, so when to cut and pickup is important to these men. Should follow your advice and get some testing done before any fertiliser is put out.
Was thinking of selling about 30 / 35 acres on the stem as i wouldn't have enough cattle to graze it all
After grass is then another issue - would it be wise to get slurry out and have second cut - or try and get a few more cattle an graze away - i suppose a lot depends on the price of cattle in the summer.........
Been following other threads on cattle prices etc but one thing for sure they aren't showing any signs of settling down yet.

Farmer Pudsey

Lads you are all forgetting that last year was an exceptional year for grass growth, there was more bales/ acre than other years we have 180000 less cattle in the 18-36 month age group than 2010 I think that is an awful lot of mouthsless to feed i would not be caught without silage next year and if I had excess silage I wouldn't sell it at 18 euro a bale the same cycle happens every 4 to 5 years remember was it two years ago silage made 35 euro a bale

JohnBoy

the supply/demand situation is definitely back this year after the mild winter.

Our customer from last year, was mad keen to go again this year, but with such a mild winter he's got loads left over and doesnt need to take on extra grass this year.

which is a balls as he paid up front, no messin around and came back and repaired fences his contractor had damaged.

ravima

got €100 acre last year, two cuts and buyer fertilises

rancher

JohnBoy wrote: »

charge more and fertilise it yourself, no point having a lad come in, shake some nitrogen out and then draw away all your P&K in trailers.


we got soil tests done last year and our adviser said we'd need 4 bags of cut sward to the acre to maintain our levels. I think that was costing around 70-80 an acre spread last year.

4 bags cut sward is unlikely to maintain P and K levels, Farmers selling silage should be doing soil analysis to monitor exactly how much P&K they're losing, they might be very disappointed'

JohnBoy

you think not?

that's four bags for each cut. that's a hell of a lot of fertiliser no?

49801

JohnBoy wrote: »

you think not?

that's four bags for each cut. that's a hell of a lot of fertiliser no?

I would of thought that 3bags of cutsward would maintain NPK levels just fine for 1st cut.
perhaps some1 can educate me

rancher

49801 wrote: »

I would of thought that 3bags of cutsward would maintain NPK levels just fine for 1st cut.
perhaps some1 can educate me

Cutsward is only suitable for silage ground if you are spreading the slurry on the land well, it is a high nitrogen compound with a small amount of P&K. A good crop of silage will remove 35 units of P and 100 units of K per acre, 4 cwt cutsward (24N-5P-10K) will only replace 20 units P and 40 units K so it is vital that the slurry goes back on that acre. In other words if some one takes your silage ground, puts out 4cwt cutsward, cuts the silage and doesn't return the slurry.... you have lost the equivalent of 2 cwt 0-7-30/acre or 40 euros/acre.....

49801

cheers.
i'd better check whats being spread then:o

with our reps plan we have not been aloud buy P's.
Result from soil tests this winter that soil is loosiing out on the Ps and Ks

rancher

49801 wrote: »

cheers.
i'd better check whats being spread then:o

with our reps plan we have not been aloud buy P's.
Result from soil tests this winter that soil is loosiing out on the Ps and Ks

Its been a good few years since I learnt those figures, so I checked with teagasc, they reckon 1st cut silage can take 125kg/ha of potash to grow it.
Cutsward has 10% K or 5kg per bag so 10 bags/ha still wouldn't be enough

blue5000

49801 wrote: »

cheers.
i'd better check whats being spread then:o

with our reps plan we have not been aloud buy P's.
Result from soil tests this winter that soil is loosiing out on the Ps and Ks

You could use muriate of potash, it's 50% K. One bag per ac supplies 50 units per ac. Won't solve the P problem for you though unless you have some slurry.

JohnBoy

good info rancher.

so what would you suggest spreading for silage that will get no slurry?

rancher

JohnBoy wrote: »

good info rancher.

so what would you suggest spreading for silage that will get no slurry?

To maintain fertility levels for just one cut/yr.....two bags 0.7.30 in the autumn followed by cutsward in the spring. I know it's too late to do that now, but it's not a good idea to put too much potash out in the spring. Use muriate of potash if you're not allowed P. Think there's a cutsward available without P.as well. Silage is hard on land and even at those levels you could be losing fertility

countygorey

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Lads you are all forgetting that last year was an exceptional year for grass growth, there was more bales/ acre than other years we have 180000 less cattle in the 18-36 month age group than 2010 I think that is an awful lot of mouthsless to feed i would not be caught without silage next year and if I had excess silage I wouldn't sell it at 18 euro a bale the same cycle happens every 4 to 5 years remember was it two years ago silage made 35 euro a bale

How are you fixed now lad