which fertiliser?

cloudroost

What general purpose fertiliser are people spreading at this time of the year to boost grass? In the absence of a soil analysis (something on the list for next year...), what do people recommend?

Farmer Pudsey

If P&K is ok then with the weather urea is the most economical unless you have access to slurry. You could spread 1/2-1 bag an acre remember it nearly has twice the nitrogen of CAN.

However it is very hard to give a opinion without soil anaylsis. Have you spread a lot of P7K over the years. Is it sucklers or dry stock are you taking a lot od P&K off the farm in the for of Milk or kilo's of beef

cloudroost

My aim is to push on a few store cattle to heavier weights before I sell them. I'm not farming the land long and I'm guessing that it's low on most elements at this stage (I hope to do some soil analysis and reseeding next year).
Is it still ok to spread urea at this time of year?

49801

we're currently spreading CAN+S on our grass at a bag (50kg) to the acre

Farmer Pudsey

cloudroost wrote: »

My aim is to push on a few store cattle to heavier weights before I sell them. I'm not farming the land long and I'm guessing that it's low on most elements at this stage (I hope to do some soil analysis and reseeding next year).
Is it still ok to spread urea at this time of year?

Ground is quite moist and there is a heavy dew most mornings also we are gettimg showers try to spread when light rain is forecast but urea is your cheapest option a 1/2 bag contains 23 units of nitrogen a bad of CAN contains 26 units. You would be suprise how high a lot of farms ( especially one that were not looked after by ould fella's) are in P&K as these ould fellas were a terror for spreading 18.6.12

kevthegaff

would soil be leeched of a lot of nutrients after the persisitent rain. Im spreading pasture sward. Is this all yer last round of spreading lads or will ye go into october?

Farmer Pudsey

kevthegaff wrote: »

would soil be leeched of a lot of nutrients after the persisitent rain. Im spreading pasture sward. Is this all yer last round of spreading lads or will ye go into october?

You are not allowed to spread artifical fertlizer after Sept 15th (I think) after that you can only spread slurry to provide nutrients to land. Alot of Dairy farmers blanket spread mid September to provide grass for October/November.

Yes land could be leeched of nutrients especiall nitrogen. I myself think I did not get the reaction to fertlizer that i would normall get have been chaseing grass since the End of June and am spreading all the time.

Black Smoke

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

You are not allowed to spread artifical fertlizer after Sept 15th (I think) after that you can only spread slurry to provide nutrients to land. Alot of Dairy farmers blanket spread mid September to provide grass for October/November.

Yes land could be leeched of nutrients especiall nitrogen. I myself think I did not get the reaction to fertlizer that i would normall get have been chaseing grass since the End of June and am spreading all the time.

Worst year ever for after grass. Only good response I got was one field, where I put a heavy dose of slurry. The rest got pasture sward, and or cut sward I had left over from spring. Very dissatisfied with the response to the bag stuff.

Probably could do with a bit of lime, but in a high molybdenum area, so that is not a real option:(

restive

Probably could do with a bit of lime, but in a high molybdenum area, so that is not a real option:([/Quote]

Why can you not spread lime n a high molybdenum area?

Black Smoke

restive wrote: »

Probably could do with a bit of lime, but in a high molybdenum area, so that is not a real option:(

Why can you not spread lime n a high molybdenum area?[/QUOTE]

Something to do with the lime interfering with the ability of plants or grass, to extract necessary minerals from the soil. Copper in particular can be locked up, thereby causing a deficiency in the grass, and by extention the cattle! At least that's my understanding.

awaywithyou

Black Smoke wrote: »

Worst year ever for after grass. Only good response I got was one field, where I put a heavy dose of slurry. The rest got pasture sward, and or cut sward I had left over from spring. Very dissatisfied with the response to the bag stuff.

Probably could do with a bit of lime, but in a high molybdenum area, so that is not a real option:(

well its good to know that we're not the only farmers whos aftergrass is disappointing..... we're thinking that lime could be necessary as well...

we're in a high molybdenum area too... soil tests a few years ago recommended 7tonne/hectare... reduced to 2 tonne/hectare if the area was high MO...

grange mac

lad can ye read soil tests....got more soil tested for reps4 but is there a guage or smtn that i should be working off to show what i need to spread...only thing i understand is lime deficcencey eventhough put out 100t over last 2 years...a joke surely

blue5000

grange mac wrote: »

lad can ye read soil tests....got more soil tested for reps4 but is there a guage or smtn that i should be working off to show what i need to spread...only thing i understand is lime deficcencey eventhough put out 100t over last 2 years...a joke surely

Stick them up here and we'll all give an opinion Are they index or mg/L?

grange mac

i have 4 test results no idea if index or mg/l....ill post when back from farm

Bigbird1

kevthegaff wrote: »

would soil be leeched of a lot of nutrients after the persisitent rain. Im spreading pasture sward. Is this all yer last round of spreading lads or will ye go into october?

What is pasture sward made up of ?

whelan1

in todays farming indo they have a bit on soil analysis results and how to read them

maxxuumman

Regardless of moisture in soil, it is too warm for urea IMO

whelan1

i am spreading nitrogen at the minute, was looking for 6 bags of pasture/cut sward but co-op wouldnt open a pallet as its too late in the year all they would give me was 10-10-20, this was going on a 6 acre paddock that was reseeded last year that didnt do well, was too wet to graze for ages , did bales 3 weeks ago and put n on it but it didnt grow... would ideally like to get slurry on it but land too wet there

blue5000

Bigbird1 wrote: »

What is pasture sward made up of ?

I think it has 27% N, 2,5% P and 5% K Recommended for grazing ground.

grange mac

the following are my readings:
top field p 5.25, k 120.8, ph water? 5.5
lime rewuired 5t p.ha

middle field p 1.35, k 70.9, ph water 5.4
lime required 5t p.ha

silage field p 1.90 , k 43.9 , ph water 6.2
lime required 1t p.ha

all i understand is that there is something lacking in my silage field reseeded last year got 7 bales acre today...very low


what do i need lads in terms of spefic fertilisers.
thanks

bob charles

grange mac wrote: »

the following are my readings:
top field p 5.25, k 120.8, ph water? 5.5
lime rewuired 5t p.ha
Just lime for this field @ 2 ton per acre

middle field p 1.35, k 70.9, ph water 5.4
lime required 5t p.ha
This field could do with some Phosphorus, So apply a bag per acre of TSP(triple super phosphate) 16% P, K levels okay for extensive grazing, Definitely Lime @ 2 ton per acre


silage field p 1.90 , k 43.9 , ph water 6.2
lime required 1t p.ha

P & K needed on this ground. if you were applying before first cut silage I would say 3 - 4 bags of 0 - 7 -30, lime is okay

all i understand is that there is something lacking in my silage field reseeded last year got 7 bales acre today...very low


what do i need lads in terms of spefic fertilisers.
thanks

Allot of what I said above should only be taken on board if the pastures are in good condition already. there is little or no point firing expensive fertilizer on bad grass swards that are not able to give a economic yield to the amount of fert used. if you have slurry to apply on the ground it will change matters

If things are tight money wise I would advise to prioritize the lime and forget for now the fert

grange mac

all slurry gone, but even for next year would b handy to know particularly for silage field as grass is v.poor for a new reseeded field. money tight and will remain so next year shoukd i forget bout can and use sonething else? silage field got slurry and pallet can 12acres priduced 80 bales....something very wrong???

grange mac

sorry bob,

thanks for your reply. if i put out 0 7 30, will that make the grass grow or will i also hav to put our can for first cut silage aswell...think with all rain in west cork ground has leeched alot. my 100t lime seems to hav vanished...

kevthegaff

i went with 3/4 bag to acre of pasture sward blanket spread last week. ill go again around the same the 15th, after the cows have grazed. some fields that were too hilly to travel the last 2 months im putting a bag of 18:6:12(these fields never get slurry). My soil samples came back low in p and k:(, so im gona try to improve it

Username John

grange mac wrote: »

all slurry gone, but even for next year would b handy to know particularly for silage field as grass is v.poor for a new reseeded field. money tight and will remain so next year shoukd i forget bout can and use sonething else? silage field got slurry and pallet can 12acres priduced 80 bales....something very wrong???

This year was a bit of a disaster for silage around us (in West Cork)
Same field gave 30% lower bales this year as last year, altho it was later cutting too - which would have reduced quality and no. of bales... It was closed 1st April, but didn't seem to grow until well into May...
So while 80 is v low for 12 acres of reseeded ground, the year that was in it didn't help...