best time to spread fert for

NewBeefFarmer

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

99nsr125

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

If it's for grazing roughly one bag of CAN per acre per month while soil temperatures are above 6 degrees will spur on growth very well.

If you're medium to lightly stocked two bags per acre of 18-6-12 applied in mid march will give you extra early grass and maintainence levels of P and K.

Most co-ops/agri merchants will spread this in bulk if you don't have your own equipment.

99nsr125

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

If it's for grazing roughly one bag of CAN per acre per month while soil temperatures are above 6 degrees will spur on growth very well.

If you're medium to lightly stocked two bags per acre of 18-6-12 applied in mid march will give you extra early grass and maintainence levels of P and K.

Most co-ops/agri merchants will spread if you don't have your own equipment

delaval

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

What I will be doing is spreading 1 bag of Urea mid Aug weather permitting or 2xCan. This may be followed (prob will) by another bag of Can early Sept. Spreader will be washed and put away then.

The reason is that I want to take advantage of the longer growing days in Aug to build up as much grass as possible for the winter. I am a believer in front loading fert.

I will then spread .5 Urea in Jan/Feb for Spring grass. I didn't do this early enough this Spring and as a result had to purchase extra soya hulls in March. Had I done it we would probably have got away with 1 poad of soya less but you live abd learn. Mahoney did and I chastised him at the time:o.
If you recall with the exception of May Jan was the only real rain we got this Spring and it was actually mild so the response was excellent. You may recall the benifit grass got from early slurry this year, imagine what urea would have done.

I wpild suggest transferring this thread to Grass measuring and also copying whatever mahoney is doing:):)

You are right to ask this question now, as the decisions we take now will have more of a bearing on grass availability next Feb than anything else

I hope this answers some of your questions

mf240

In a not heavily stocked situation like I think the op is. I would be in favour of the 18 6 12 in march April to warm up ground and keep p and k topped up.

Your not going to be in trouble for grass then untill sept oct.

You could put a bag to the acre of can around aug to keep things moving untill you sell your cattle.

jomoloney

you're talking about fert costing up to €1k a pallet , get soil tests to see what you need and spread accordantly

just do it

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

Reseeding is the best thing for grass growth in the shoulder months. If this challenging Spring did nothing else, it highlighted the benefits of reseeding.

delaval

just do it wrote: »

Reseeding is the best thing for grass growth in the shoulder months. If this challenging Spring did nothing else, it highlighted the benefits of reseeding.

Reseeding with the correct varieties, some only grow late spring and earl fall.
Reseeding can mask a lot of other probs. Soil fert and ph should be first priorties.
Never buy seeds based on price only variety.

bob charles

A bag of Urea christmas week was a sure way of having early grass long, long ago

just do it

delaval wrote: »

Reseeding with the correct varieties, some only grow late spring and earl fall.
Reseeding can mask a lot of other probs. Soil fert and ph should be first priorties.
Never buy seeds based on price only variety.

Soil testing is so cheap I'm amazed more of it isn't done!

Farmer Pudsey

just do it wrote: »

Soil testing is so cheap I'm amazed more of it isn't done!

A lot of farmers are afraid that they might learn something. We are going through a change in farming practise over the next few years. With the high cost of nitrogen fertilizer farmers will again have to start using optimum amounts of lime P&K and other base elements.

An earlier poster made a point about reseeded ground this spring it really paid off not just from the early grass but also those farms with a high % of reseeded ground managed good crops of silage. I consider that I have as much if not more silage than this time last year and will be cutting Italian/hybrids for the second time in the next ten days. However to maximise crops you have to fertilize right and cut at optimum time.

Yes choose your varities to suit ground and what you want them for.

Muckit

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I consider that I have as much if not more silage than this time last year and will be cutting Italian/hybrids for the second time in the next ten days.

Does that Italian stuff have to b reseeded every 2 years puds? Are you using it in a crop rotation setup?

just do it

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

helping grass growth in Sept/Oct and Mar/Apr. .

would spreading in Aug be a good idea?. . .

or just leave it till early march?

In fairness NBF I didn't really answer your question. Soil test to establish your need for lime, P & K. Nitrogen in August for Autumn growth and as soon as soil temp is >5oC in Spring. Cattle aren't that fond of ground lime so blanket spreading at time of housing is a good idea if you've good land.

Farmer Pudsey

Muckit wrote: »

Does that Italian stuff have to b reseeded every 2 years puds? Are you using it in a crop rotation setup?

this is the first time using Italian look goo and thick this is second season with hybrids I get about 4 seasons however Italian seems leafier.

Robson99

Farme Pudsey which do you find makes the better silage Italian or Hybrid and how many years do you get out of each? Have some Italian ourselves. Find the sward fairly open. Need good dry land for it. Yields seem to fall off after 3 seasons.

Farmer Pudsey

Robson99 wrote: »

Farme Pudsey which do you find makes the better silage Italian or Hybrid and how many years do you get out of each? Have some Italian ourselves. Find the sward fairly open. Need good dry land for it. Yields seem to fall off after 3 seasons.

4 seasons is max, I have good dry land sward tends to be open as I said I only used Hybrids before this is the first time I used hybrids. Looking at 2nd cut Italian seems not to be as fast to go to seed seems to be a weeks to 10 days in it so would expect better quality hard to compare quanity as hybrid is in its 4th season.

Robson99

Is the Hybrid sward any denser than the Italian? Do you find that they make good quality silage for finishing cattle? I find it makes top class haylage for horses

bob charles

would I get 5 cuts a season out of a Italian ryegrass sown in autumn and having the kitchen sink thrown at it in a two year rotation or would I realistically only get 4 cuts over the season. It would be grown in a rotation with beet/maize. Killing off the Italian is what I would be afraid of as I have some still in cereal ground that keeps reappearing.

Im thinking that the italian would give a higher DM and energy per ac than red clover and hybrid ryegrass which would be much cheaper to grow but im constricted on land area. must say I used to love the RC/hybrid ley I used to have