Too much silage left over.

f140

So I will have a fierce amount of silage left over in the pit. One pit defo wont get opened this year even if the were in for another month. I already have loads of grass to let them out whenever it dries up enough.


Will have to cut down to half of what I always cut for silage this year. Now don't want to sell it as its just not worth the money for other people taking the Ps + Ks of my land.


I'm very tempted to set 20 acres of spring barley. I have all the equipment such as plough , power harrow (going to buy a cheapish mf30 drill to set it) and then get a contractor to cut it. I will be able to spray and fertilise myself. I will keep all the straw and hopefully crimp all the barley and keep it too. Hopefully reseed back into grass then in the end of September and it will be back in rotation next year and I will then do the same with another few fields?


If worst comes to the worst and its an awful year for harvesting the barley can be sent to the coop and the straw can still be kept


Ideas?

99nsr125

What about Hay instead of Silage, will keep longer and take up less space

Or a reseed undersown into the barley.

It doesn't come around very often but Peas and Barely
was always a stomping feed when the spring was dry and early
doesn't look like it's going to be this year with all the rain

blue5000

Thinking along the same lines as you 140, 12 acres though not 20. Needs to dry up a bit first though. We usually give it to a small miller here and bring home a finishing ration for a few yoyo along with the ton of barley. Is there any market for malting barley round you?

f140

blue5000 wrote: »

Thinking along the same lines as you 140, 12 acres though not 20. Needs to dry up a bit first though. We usually give it to a small miller here and bring home a finishing ration for a few yoyo along with the ton of barley. Is there any market for malting barley round you?

Dont know much about malting barley except the lads that grew it found it very hard to get it right. Protein was too high or too low or something. Will have to make a decision fairly soon in order to burn off the ground first before ploughing.

f140

99nsr125 wrote: »

What about Hay instead of Silage, will keep longer and take up less space

Or a reseed undersown into the barley.

It doesn't come around very often but Peas and Barely
was always a stomping feed when the spring was dry and early
doesn't look like it's going to be this year with all the rain

What if you cant get the hay when its at the right stage. I would be stuck with even more silage. I'm not going to undersow I think just incase I decide to keep in the same field for a few years before putting it back to grass.

larrymiller

f140 wrote: »

Dont know much about malting barley except the lads that grew it found it very hard to get it right. Protein was too high or too low or something. Will have to make a decision fairly soon in order to burn off the ground first before ploughing.

Could just do feed barley

Sam Kade

f140 wrote: »

So I will have a fierce amount of silage left over in the pit. One pit defo wont get opened this year even if the were in for another month. I already have loads of grass to let them out whenever it dries up enough.


Will have to cut down to half of what I always cut for silage this year. Now don't want to sell it as its just not worth the money for other people taking the Ps + Ks of my land.


I'm very tempted to set 20 acres of spring barley. I have all the equipment such as plough , power harrow (going to buy a cheapish mf30 drill to set it) and then get a contractor to cut it. I will be able to spray and fertilise myself. I will keep all the straw and hopefully crimp all the barley and keep it too. Hopefully reseed back into grass then in the end of September and it will be back in rotation next year and I will then do the same with another few fields?


If worst comes to the worst and its an awful year for harvesting the barley can be sent to the coop and the straw can still be kept


Ideas?

Why not use the fertilizer spreader instead and cover the seed with a spring harrow or triple k?

Doctor Shivering

How long would properly sealed pit silage last?
We've a span at the back of one pit here that's 4 years old now:eek:

White Clover

Doctor Shivering wrote: »

How long would properly sealed pit silage last?
We've a span at the back of one pit here that's 4 years old now:eek:

In 2013 I saw 13 year old silage fed from the back of a pit. Twas grand.

blue5000

Doctor Shivering wrote: »

How long would properly sealed pit silage last?
We've a span at the back of one pit here that's 4 years old now:eek:

A lot longer than baled silage. I heard of 15 yr old stuff being fed the year of the fodder crisis. If it's well preserved, sealed properly it should be fine.

Sam Kade

Doctor Shivering wrote: »

How long would properly sealed pit silage last?
We've a span at the back of one pit here that's 4 years old now:eek:

If it's sealed properly, I would imagine forever.

f140

Sam Kade wrote: »

Why not use the fertilizer spreader instead and cover the seed with a spring harrow or triple k?

you would have no tramlines then and I don't have a GPS. And I have never seen it being done that way so dunno would it work or be a disaster.


TO others yes I could leave the silage but my problem is that it will only keep increasing if I don't do something else with the other feeds. In any case the barley should make for a cheap feed. Straw would be handy also

larthehar

f140 wrote: »

you would have no tramlines then and I don't have a GPS. And I have never seen it being done that way so dunno would it work or be a disaster.


TO others yes I could leave the silage but my problem is that it will only keep increasing if I don't do something else with the other feeds. In any case the barley should make for a cheap feed. Straw would be handy also

More stock an option?

f140

larthehar wrote: »

More stock an option?

It is but I don't want to draw anymore work upon myself than I already have. The barley would be something different I'm thinking and should drive on what animals I have more. You have to draw a line somewhere on the amount of stock you keep

Sam Kade

f140 wrote: »

you would have no tramlines then and I don't have a GPS. And I have never seen it being done that way so dunno would it work or be a disaster.


TO others yes I could leave the silage but my problem is that it will only keep increasing if I don't do something else with the other feeds. In any case the barley should make for a cheap feed. Straw would be handy also

But a cheapish drill won't have tramlines either. It would be a bit of trial and error with the spreader. What I did was spread half the seed in one direction then the rest at a right angle to the first run using a slightly higher seeding rate than the drill.

larthehar

f140 wrote: »

It is but I don't want to draw anymore work upon myself than I already have. The barley would be something different I'm thinking and should drive on what animals I have more. You have to draw a line somewhere on the amount of stock you keep

I grow 10-15ac per year and do most of the bits myself bar drilling and cutting.. keep all grain and straw.. rotation around fields is great to shake up the ground.. if you are keeping it you need decent storage facilities.. it brings down the feed costs significantly alrigh.. guaranteed high quality if you do it right.. you certainly won't lose anything doing it..

99nsr125

f140 wrote: »

What if you cant get the hay when its at the right stage. I would be stuck with even more silage. I'm not going to undersow I think just incase I decide to keep in the same field for a few years before putting it back to grass.

Ok
Well the hay alternative is the lowest cost option instead of the close on
€1000/ha for cereals

Don't sow wheat, it's not really worth it, quality is a problem and
Septoria is a BIG problem soaking a load of money in fungicides

Triticale and Rye are easy grown
Oilseed Rape will provide a high protein feed and reduce compaction
Fodder beet is an excellent feed few think about

We like oats, good straw, good to increase fat cover, easy grown
and likes the Irish climate

tismesoitis

Increase stocking rate! This year it was just as cheap to buy barley as it was to grow it.

charolais0153

Lease some land and get the Monet tax free

f140

charolais0153 wrote: »

Lease some land and get the Monet tax free

thats the last thing I would do. That's not breed into me. In anycase sprayed it off this evening. Going setting barley and ordered a variety called "quench" or something. Putting a bag and a half to the acre of seed

charolais0153

f140 wrote: »

thats the last thing I would do. That's not breed into me. In anycase sprayed it off this evening. Going setting barley and ordered a variety called "quench" or something. Putting a bag and a half to the acre of seed

I was only ribbing you...its what everybidy says but they don't have a hope of doing it themselves the majority of the time

MFdaveIreland

hi OP. my 2cents would be to cut it for wrapped haylage and sell to horsey types. big money earner there for haylage with no fert/ slurry etc.
in terms of straw, could you produce straw bales for less than the 6-8 euro or whatever the large men in Carlow/ Kildare laois etc are selling them for in the summer?