How much of your grazing ground is fit for cutting silage?

just do it

I'd say at the minute only a small percentage of my grazing ground is fit for a mower. Generally it's a bit rough, has stones and rushes, suffered poaching from years of set grazing while it was let. I'm getting there with it but it's a slow process improving it as a part timer. Currently you'd bust a mower going in there.

So I'm interested to hear how others are fixed.

Edit: Probably a more appropriate title for the thread is "how much of your grazing ground could you cut silage on?" i.e. is flat and clean enough for a mower (not whether it has grass or not!!)

Dampintheattic

just do it wrote: »

I'd say at the minute only a small percentage of my grazing ground is fit for a mower. Generally it's a bit rough, has stones and rushes, suffered poaching from years of set grazing while it was let. I'm getting there with it but it's a slow process improving it as a part timer. Currently you'd bust a mower going in there.

So I'm interested to hear how others are fixed.

I'd be inclined to rephrase that question, into how much of our grazing ground is fit for grazing!!!
Answer: not a lot. It's 80% grazed already. Of that 80% is badly poached.
Until yesterday there has been zero re growth.
But we never died a winter yet!!

redzerologhlen

just do it wrote: »

I'd say at the minute only a small percentage of my grazing ground is fit for a mower. Generally it's a bit rough, has stones and rushes, suffered poaching from years of set grazing while it was let. I'm getting there with it but it's a slow process improving it as a part timer. Currently you'd bust a mower going in there.

So I'm interested to hear how others are fixed.

About 40 acres out of 310

Timmaay

Spent the spring getting tangled up in electric fence rope, backing fences, strip grazing etc etc, at the time it was a pain in the ar$e but I can definitely see the benefit now with most of the silage ground in good nick. Two bad patches maybe 5acres in total still rough I'll admit, these were primarily used for access and the floods around Paddys day caught me off gaurd, took a chance with crossing the cows over those wet patches and on hindsight it was a mistake.

My dad did roll the whole lot afew weeks ago also, that wasn't a battle that I couldn't be bothered arguing with him over so I let him go burn diesel for nothing.

Muckit

I could run a mower on most of mine. It's lowlying and floods in winter, but flat and all stones picked

but like most farms around the country, all that's growing green so far this year are plenty of weeds and rushes.

just do it

Got a second hand major 605 topper a few years ago that has trojan work done. Didn't get it into action last year but hopefully will get action again this year. Would like to get to the stage where I could use a mower pretty much everywhere but there is a lot of work incl drainage to be done before getting to that point.

stanflt

im going to shock alot of lads and ladies on here- i dont have it all my own way but sure we do our best with it

90% of the farm could be mowed any month of the year- i have this ground that grows great but needs dry weather- i find that strip grazing is the only way to graze it and utilize it


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just do it

stanflt wrote: »

im going to shock alot of lads and ladies on here- i dont have it all my own way but sure we do our best with it

90% of the farm could be mowed any month of the year- i have this ground that grows great but needs dry weather- i find that strip grazing is the only way to graze it and utilize it

Did you ever try the mole plough on it? Looks to have suitable trenches around it...

stanflt

just do it wrote: »

Did you ever try the mole plough on it? Looks to have suitable trenches around it...

i put the trenches in it last year-its drying out nicely- needs more trenches as still cant drive tractor in most of it

just do it

stanflt wrote: »

i put the trenches in it last year-its drying out nicely- needs more trenches as still cant drive tractor in most of it

What's the soil structure? Peat?

Timmaay

I'd say there is hardly a farm in the country that has escaped rushes growing in over the past few years, 1/2 an acre that they have taken over on here, in a low field that the stone drains are broken in. Another job on the to do list for me ha! Actually Stan I noticed that the grass grew fantastic in that same wet field by me during April when the weather was dry, despite being a very old sward, it was well ahead of many other newer fields. But as ya said, utilization is the problem!

just do it

Agree with you Tim, I mowed the lawn earlier and there are even a few small patches of rushes coming up on it! Not getting great utilisation out of it either since last June, kids nearly out of the habit of going outside at this stage

bbam

About 50% of our ground can be mowed. It's a real farm of two halves. The front half is best and can usually graze early cut silage and graze back end.
Back end of the farm is grazing only. And some of that is very low lying peat based ground, only travelable by machine in the best of weather.

1chippy

I can mow any of it but 2 fields are two awkward as there are parts you can only mow down the hill due to the gradient. A bit i recently bought is in too small of fields to be of any real addition but i hope to sort that out on the 1st September.

milkprofit

99 %

just do it

milkprofit wrote: »

99 %

WOW!

just do it

bbam wrote: »

About 50% of our ground can be mowed. It's a real farm of two halves. The front half is best and can usually graze early cut silage and graze back end.
Back end of the farm is grazing only. And some of that is very low lying peat based ground, only travelable by machine in the best of weather.

Do you feel your getting more out of the wet ground by rearing calves? Still toying with the idea, one of these years I'll buy a dozen and see how it goes