Taking out surplus grass

roosky

Hi all,

I have a field of grass (3 acres) that I am going to take for silage as its gone too strong for the ewes,

I had to walk ewes and lambs through it last weekend to get to another field and now the auld lad reckons we cant take silage off it because its dirty....is this the case or should I mow away

Username John

roosky wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a field of grass (3 acres) that I am going to take for silage as its gone too strong for the ewes,

I had to walk ewes and lambs through it last weekend to get to another field and now the auld lad reckons we cant take silage off it because its dirty....is this the case or should I mow away

When were you planning on cutting it?
Would it be tedded?

I would have thought it would still be ok. Especially if twas tedded...

If twas me, I'd chance it away.

arctictree

A neighbour of mine baled a field for hay that had sheep in it all season. Didn't seem to care. Maybe silage is different?

roosky

I suppose I could throw it out,,,they only walked up through it so like they tramped it as much as anything but its just gone to wild to graze

I assume he is worried about it being dangerous like having clay in silage

sea12

roosky wrote: »

I suppose I could throw it out,,,they only walked up through it so like they tramped it as much as anything but its just gone to wild to graze

I assume he is worried about it being dangerous like having clay in silage

Say ure OK.

White Clover

Get it thrown down as quick as you can. The bit of aftergrass will push on the lambs too.

Jack180570

I think you should be fine... we cut all the fields here for silage at some stage of the year and all would have been grazed by sheep and some would qualify as being dirty due to long grazing and high stocking.
What we have found is that if you can make silage in good weather after 3-4 days of wilting (ted twice and row), then extra wrap on bales... we find that any dirt in the bale does not cause mould because its so dry...
Current weather should really suit this

Tail painter

Dairy farmers regularly cut paddocks that have been grazed 3 weeks previously and it makes excellent silage. I cant see a problem with sheep walking across it. If you can get a good wilt it will be fine.

roosky wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a field of grass (3 acres) that I am going to take for silage as its gone too strong for the ewes,

I had to walk ewes and lambs through it last weekend to get to another field and now the auld lad reckons we cant take silage off it because its dirty....is this the case or should I mow away

Username John

Put my ewes into a field o grass a few days ago and 'twas half on its way to silage...
The quality am sure is terrible for the lambs... An awful lot of it is lid on now... Will leave the ewes there for a while, and then put in the dry hoggets after that to try to bare it down another bit...

Overall, have the dry hog running after the ewes and lambs in some kinda half attempt to clean up fields and stretch out the rotation...

How are other lads doing with grass? Do ye all cut hay or silage off the surplus?

Not really interested in cutting grass here. No machinery to do so. And fields are nearly too high for machinery any ways...

ganmo

Whole place is gone to seed just took them out of field that was too strong for them going into it and the field they went into is probably too strong for them and the next field is too strong which might get baled, but we have bales left over so we don't need them.

Green farmer

[quote="Username John;100006176

How are other lads doing with grass? Do ye all cut hay or silage off the surplus?

s...[/quote]


ive started doing abit of topping .

eorna

Sheep in grass thats too strong for them, next field strong too and so is next... Dont need more bales so topping tight after sheep have eaten it ( i move them quick so they eat best bits and are not too long in stemmy grass) ...probably not ideal as there is loads of seed/stem in what they graze but all i can do for now..the regrowth after topping should b good..

rangler1

eorna wrote: »

Sheep in grass thats too strong for them, next field strong too and so is next... Dont need more bales so topping tight after sheep have eaten it ( i move them quick so they eat best bits and are not too long in stemmy grass) ...probably not ideal as there is loads of seed/stem in what they graze but all i can do for now..the regrowth after topping should b good..

I mow it too when they have it half eaten and then leave them on it 24 to 48 hrs....surprising how quick they clean it off.
but i'd have a lot of sheep on the paddock and they clean it off quicker when it's cut

eorna

rangler1 wrote: »

I mow it too when they have it half eaten and then leave them on it 24 to 48 hrs....surprising how quick they clean it off.
but i'd have a lot of sheep on the paddock and they clean it off quicker when it's cut

Thanks will try that as there is a fair amount of clippings left in the field after topping .. They will rot eventually but might stop growth in places for a while..
Dont know if i run enough animals x padfock for them to eat it but they might..

rangler1

eorna wrote: »

Thanks will try that as there is a fair amount of clippings left in the field after topping .. They will rot eventually but might stop growth in places for a while..
Dont know if i run enough animals x padfock for them to eat it but they might..

It's not a miracle solution, but might work for you, can't make it any worse.
Unreal week for growth gone by, i never saw ground temperature at twenty degrees for a week before and then the grass shot out due to stress......all we can do is try to get rid of the stem to improve quality