Reseeding silage ground in Spring

Farmer Pudsey

jersey101 wrote: »

i thought tge hybrid lasted for about 6 yrs??

I find that after 4 yeras they become worn out. Now you could direct drill into them and graze tightly however have never got more than 4 seasons out of any that I planted.

jersey101

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I find that after 4 yeras they become worn out. Now you could direct drill into them and graze tightly however have never got more than 4 seasons out of any that I planted.

good to know. Salesman told me ut lasts 6yrs

jersey101

Robson99 wrote: »

What Hybrid grass would you recommend Jersey. 7 yrs would be excellent

havent a clue atm. Have never sown any only what ive heard off other lads will be looking into in the spring

Farmer Pudsey

Robson99 wrote: »

What Hybrid grass would you recommend Jersey. 7 yrs would be excellent

jersey101 wrote: »

good to know. Salesman told me ut lasts 6yrs

I have planted abereve I think is the name and red clover with it 12hybrid and 4red clover/acre mind it was a salesman advised me on it so:eek:

just do it

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I have planted abereve I think is the name and red clover with it 12hybrid and 4red clover/acre mind it was a salesman advised me on it so:eek:

How demanding are they on fertiliser? From what I see red clover would work well with a 3 cut system with one short graze in Autumn and starts to disappear after 3 years.

How does silage quality of a hybrid compare to PRG?

Farmer Pudsey

just do it wrote: »

How demanding are they on fertiliser? From what I see red clover would work well with a 3 cut system with one short graze in Autumn and starts to disappear after 3 years.

How does silage quality of a hybrid compare to PRG?

For first cut not a lot of difference, Hybrid goes to seed very fast for 2nd cut however 3rd cut will be fairly good again. Will be testing all three cuts soon to see. Red clover next year should improve digestibility and protein. Hoping Red clover will reduce nitrogen bill. Also one issue with hybrids RVP and Westerwolds is that the avaibility of nutrients decides how fast they go to seed. After cutting as you have to wait for grass to be removed anfd it may be 3+ days before you spread N as N from red clover will be available it may well delay the rush to head on second cut and encourage more leaf and less stem in third cut.

just do it

Could be demanding enough on P & K as well I'd have thought. Given with a red clover/ hybrid mix you're looking at 3 years realistically, a soil test at that stage would tell alot. (and of course, not forgetting lime!) I might try it and some permanent silage ground that's up for reseeding next year. I'll be interested to see your silage test results;)

Farmer Pudsey

just do it wrote: »

Could be demanding enough on P & K as well I'd have thought. Given with a red clover/ hybrid mix you're looking at 3 years realistically, a soil test at that stage would tell alot. (and of course, not forgetting lime!) I might try it and some permanent silage ground that's up for reseeding next year. I'll be interested to see your silage test results;)

Yes these are heavy on p&k however my ph is very good 6.5-7. Will be a 2ish weeks before I take samples

bob charles

hybrids/red clover 3 years MAX. Even on year three they can struggle, and struggle on year 1 aswell. Bet the sales figures come from year two.

And to add to that, does anyone know what sward year does the Dept of Ag come from or is it weighted for 5 years or what. Lots of reseed in the first year wont produce as much as in year 2.

grazeaway

what kinda of silage do you do, pit or bales?

there really are 3 options, direct dril, min till (discing/power harrow) and plough and sow.

all have thier positives and negative and really depend on your sitution and needs. have done all 3 over the last few years.

DD does a great fast job but your fields needs to be good and level of if its a case of reseeding a fild that isint rutted, poach or un even then i would go with that (provided there is a good contractor nearby). Very mush a summer job or before teh land gets too soft.

min till is good way to get the top few inchs well tilled to provide a handy seed bed with ot burying the nuertients it already has. can be done with a disc harrow, power harrow or rotovator. good if you have your own gear as the seed can be put out with a spreader or barrow and rolled. if you have access to the harrows, spreader and rolleer you can do it your self over a few days.

Full tilling is the best way to reseed if you are putting rutted, poached or tillage land back into grass or if you just want to turn the sod. if you are goign this route its best to do it in the spring. also can be one easy easy enough if you have your own gear, plough, harrow, seeder/spreader, roller. if your are gogin this route then arable sialge (barley and grass seed mix) is great. time it to be ready durign you silage cut and you can mix it it the pit. we actually took 2 cuts of ours this year as the barly regrew after teh 1st cut so there was a nice mix of barly inthere. will use it to feed cows when they into the beet later this month. very nice cover of grass on it and we are grazign it a second time this week.

most imporatnt thing for resseding it timign your burn off of old grass and doing a post emergance spray it kill off docks and other weeds.

freedominacup

grazeaway wrote: »

what kinda of silage do you do, pit or bales?

there really are 3 options, direct dril, min till (discing/power harrow) and plough and sow.

all have thier positives and negative and really depend on your sitution and needs. have done all 3 over the last few years.

DD does a great fast job but your fields needs to be good and level of if its a case of reseeding a fild that isint rutted, poach or un even then i would go with that (provided there is a good contractor nearby). Very mush a summer job or before teh land gets too soft.

min till is good way to get the top few inchs well tilled to provide a handy seed bed with ot burying the nuertients it already has. can be done with a disc harrow, power harrow or rotovator. good if you have your own gear as the seed can be put out with a spreader or barrow and rolled. if you have access to the harrows, spreader and rolleer you can do it your self over a few days.

Full tilling is the best way to reseed if you are putting rutted, poached or tillage land back into grass or if you just want to turn the sod. if you are goign this route its best to do it in the spring. also can be one easy easy enough if you have your own gear, plough, harrow, seeder/spreader, roller. if your are gogin this route then arable sialge (barley and grass seed mix) is great. time it to be ready durign you silage cut and you can mix it it the pit. we actually took 2 cuts of ours this year as the barly regrew after teh 1st cut so there was a nice mix of barly inthere. will use it to feed cows when they into the beet later this month. very nice cover of grass on it and we are grazign it a second time this week.

most imporatnt thing for resseding it timign your burn off of old grass and doing a post emergance spray it kill off docks and other weeds.

That's it in a nutshell.

jersey101

bob charles wrote: »

hybrids/red clover 3 years MAX. Even on year three they can struggle, and struggle on year 1 aswell. Bet the sales figures come from year two.

And to add to that, does anyone know what sward year does the Dept of Ag come from or is it weighted for 5 years or what. Lots of reseed in the first year wont produce as much as in year 2.

whats the benefit of hybrid over Italian if it lasts no longer?

Farmer Pudsey

jersey101 wrote: »

whats the benefit of hybrid over Italian if it lasts no longer?

As far as I know it is less prone to drought and also tends not to get to seed as fast( not much in it) and even if it goes to seed will not shed the seed as fast (again I think). Italian can be ver hard to get out of a sward if you change the field back to PG.

Now I kinda drag 4 years out of the Hybrids is first time I have the full Italain stallian planted. If you are going to keep a field for continous silage then it will not matter if seed remains in the ground and germinates later

jersey101

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

As far as I know it is less prone to drought and also tends not to get to seed as fast( not much in it) and even if it goes to seed will not shed the seed as fast (again I think). Italian can be ver hard to get out of a sward if you change the field back to PG.

Now I kinda drag 4 years out of the Hybrids is first time I have the full Italain stallian planted. If you are going to keep a field for continous silage then it will not matter if seed remains in the ground and germinates later

i wonder would you get 4 good cuts off Italian if you cut it before it started to ge too stemmy. Have mainly leaf that is well wilted?

just do it

grazeaway wrote: »

there really are 3 options, direct dril, min till (discing/power harrow) and plough and sow.

Don't forget the cheapest option of all, no till (chain harrow) and broadcast with your fertiliser spreader

GrandSoftDay

Didn't want to start a new thread so said I'd uproot this one . Is it a bit early to be thinking about reseeding? Have never done any here but have a 20 acre field of fairly good land performing poorly. Never reseeded in my lifetime. Was thinking about doing the poorest 4 acres and I know a lot of people say an autumn reseed is a better job but this time of year would suit better. How long give or take a week would you be talking about from burning off to first grazing?

Greengrass1

GrandSoftDay wrote: »

Didn't want to start a new thread so said I'd uproot this one . Is it a bit early to be thinking about reseeding? Have never done any here but have a 20 acre field of fairly good land performing poorly. Never reseeded in my lifetime. Was thinking about doing the poorest 4 acres and I know a lot of people say an autumn reseed is a better job but this time of year would suit better. How long give or take a week would you be talking about from burning off to first grazing?

Burnt off ground last Saturday. Turning yellow yesterday.
Be another week before it gets mucked and disced I'd say. Hope to cut silage off it before end of may

Miname

i have spread muck and ploughed ground for reseeding. i will hopefully get seed in within the next forthnight. i like leaving the ground open for a while rather than a straight in plough and reseed.

GrandSoftDay

Miname wrote: »

i have spread muck and ploughed ground for reseeding. i will hopefully get seed in within the next forthnight. i like leaving the ground open for a while rather than a straight in plough and reseed.

Ploughing wouldn't work around here anyway, I'd still be picking stones in 2015!

munkus

All depends on weather and how well it gets disked. You could be left with an awful haype of dead grass and root on the surface which is a nightmare to deal with. Had to rake it off on one field last year before could till properly. I find ploughing more reliable/predictable but you're burying the good soil down.

Get a soil test done straight away so you know what index it is for P and K. P needed for root development.

GrandSoftDay

munkus wrote: »

All depends on weather and how well it gets disked. You could be left with an awful haype of dead grass and root on the surface which is a nightmare to deal with. Had to rake it off on one field last year before could till properly. I find ploughing more reliable/predictable but you're burying the good soil down.

Get a soil test done straight away so you know what index it is for P and K. P needed for root development.

Should be no bother discing it, have done plenty of it when I was working with contractor, current sward is very open at the moment anyway and there is no grass worth talking about on it. Was going to get soil tested alright. Don't think p and k was a problem a few years back when we did it for reps but lime was an issue. Have been spreading gran lime the last few years on it though. Ironic considering we are surrounded by limestone :rolleyes:

agriman27

Do any of you lads use old mounted disc harrows or do ye use a big heavy contractor yolks

Greengrass1

agriman27 wrote: »

Do any of you lads use old mounted disc harrows or do ye use a big heavy contractor yolks

Have a lad with a big heavy mounted one.
20hr. Say he'll do my 16ac in 6 he's as it just needs to be kicked up

grazeaway

Put it in arable silage, barley under sown with grass seed. Did it last year and got 2 good cuts off it and some nice authunm grazing. Cows are out in that field and it's looking well.

freedominacup

If it's level and unpoached then why bother turning it at all? Just burn it off, throw out 2T lime and direct drill. Slurry and 2 bags of 10-10-20 to get it going. We won't plough for re-seeding again here unless the ground has been badly poached or rutted with machinery. DD every time.

sheebadog

freedominacup wrote: »

If it's level and unpoached then why bother turning it at all? Just burn it off, throw out 2T lime and direct drill. Slurry and 2 bags of 10-10-20 to get it going. We won't plough for re-seeding again here unless the ground has been badly poached or rutted with machinery. DD every time.

What machine do you use for DD?

freedominacup

sheebadog wrote: »

What machine do you use for DD?

Contractors machine. I can't remember what type of coulters it had but pneumatic seeder similar to a one pass. It worked well here but a few neighbours pushed the envelope with all of the dry weather last autumn and the take was poor at times. Everything was to blame from the seeds to the machine husbandry was perfect of course.

simx

freedominacup wrote: »

If it's level and unpoached then why bother turning it at all? Just burn it off, throw out 2T lime and direct drill. Slurry and 2 bags of 10-10-20 to get it going. We won't plough for re-seeding again here unless the ground has been badly poached or rutted with machinery. DD every time.

decided to try out DD last aug/sept., going burning it off next week, didnt take at all, any other lads that did it the same time as me wil have to do again also, im going to power harrow amd seed this time though, it was a moore drill, dont know whether it was machine or what but i would probably reckon the dry spell done some of it too, that was my experience with it and might try it again but only on a small paddock as i now have 13 ac to do and thats an expense that shouldnt be, all an experience i suppose

Greengrass1

simx wrote: »

decided to try out DD last aug/sept., going burning it off next week, didnt take at all, any other lads that did it the same time as me wil have to do again also, im going to power harrow amd seed this time though, it was a moore drill, dont know whether it was machine or what but i would probably reckon the dry spell done some of it too, that was my experience with it and might try it again but only on a small paddock as i now have 13 ac to do and thats an expense that shouldnt be, all an experience i suppose

Is there any grass at all?

simx

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Is there any grass at all?

very little new grass, mainly old grass in patches and weeds