Silage ground not really moving

cacs

Walked my silage ground today. Not happy with it at all. I would say i have 8-10cm of grass light enough cover. I grazed it too hard last back end left the cattle on it too long with the dry autumn. I will suffer for it now. Put 4000 gallons per acre of slurry on it around paddies day to try and give it a kick. Gave it 3.5 bags of Richland to the acres around week.. just hope for some softer weather to get it moving

Bullocks

cathal irwin wrote: »

Walked my silage ground today. Not happy with it at all. I would say i have 8-10cm of grass light enough cover. I grazed it too hard last back end left the cattle on it too long with the dry autumn. I will suffer for it now. Put 4000 gallons per acre of slurry on it around paddies day to try and give it a kick. Gave it 3.5 bags of Richland to the acres around week.. just hope for some softer weather to get it moving

Sounds like plenty of fert . Like you said once the weather turns growthy it will probably fly it .
We don't even have fert all out yet !

cacs

Bullocks wrote: »

Sounds like plenty of fert . Like you said once the weather turns growthy it will probably fly it .
We don't even have fert all out yet !

I dont feel so bad,The grazing ground is booming ahead i have covers over 20cm.

Danzy

I'd say it will take off soon enough, sounds like ground that is well fed.

For all the talk of great grass cover this year, and it is there, there has been some quare weeks gone where growth has been slow.

I had more grass this time last year than now. It is only in the last few days that I've felt a bit more comfortable with covers going ahead. There was a hard grazing last year on much of it but that has often happened.

cacs

Danzy wrote: »

I'd say it will take off soon enough, sounds like ground that is well fed.

For all the talk of great grass cover this year, and it is there, there has been some quare weeks gone where growth has been slow.

I had more grass this time last year than now. It is only in the last few days that I've felt a bit more comfortable with covers going ahead. There was a hard grazing last year on much of it but that has often happened.

Good point thanks

Mooooo

cathal irwin wrote: »

Walked my silage ground today. Not happy with it at all. I would say i have 8-10cm of grass light enough cover. I grazed it too hard last back end left the cattle on it too long with the dry autumn. I will suffer for it now. Put 4000 gallons per acre of slurry on it around paddies day to try and give it a kick. Gave it 3.5 bags of Richland to the acres around week.. just hope for some softer weather to get it moving

Have you put lime out in the last few years? Grazing cattle late last year wouldn't be an issue at all it would be better if anything unless they poached it.was it only last week the fert went out? Give it a chance if so

blue5000

Still fairly cold, especially in the East side of the country. Growth is slow.

stanflt

blue5000 wrote: »

Still fairly cold, especially in the East side of the country. Growth is slow.

Going cutting this week- reseeded last sept and grazed till mid dec

Got a bag of superstart 34% in Jan
4000 gal of slurry in early Feb
And another 3/4 bag of urea with sulphar in early march

It's about 10 days ahead of the rest of my silage ground

Bullocks

stanflt wrote: »

Going cutting this week- reseeded last sept and grazed till mid dec

Got a bag of superstart 34% in Jan
4000 gal of slurry in early Feb
And another 3/4 bag of urea with sulphar in early march

It's about 10 days ahead of the rest of my silage ground

Any issue spreading that much slurry in one go ? I'm noticing the fields we tend to spread most slurry on seem to have developed a pan and hold rain longer than they used to .
I suppose ploughing / subsoiling would help but I dont want to be reseeding if I can help it .
Any fertiliser that helps loosen out soil ?

rangler1

Bullocks wrote: »

Any issue spreading that much slurry in one go ? I'm noticing the fields we tend to spread most slurry on seem to have developed a pan and hold rain longer than they used to .
I suppose ploughing / subsoiling would help but I dont want to be reseeding if I can help it .
Any fertiliser that helps loosen out soil ?

Same here when i used to be using slurry.....every hollow held water, Is yours heavy land, took about five years here without slurry to get the land porous again...

stanflt

Bullocks wrote: »

Any issue spreading that much slurry in one go ? I'm noticing the fields we tend to spread most slurry on seem to have developed a pan and hold rain longer than they used to .
I suppose ploughing / subsoiling would help but I dont want to be reseeding if I can help it .
Any fertiliser that helps loosen out soil ?

Slurry applied via dribble bar- no heavy machinery aloud in the field- slurry tankers park at gate and pump to an umbilical system

visatorro

stanflt wrote: »

Slurry applied via dribble bar- no heavy machinery aloud in the field- slurry tankers park at gate and pump to an umbilical system

Spread silage ground with pipes this year. Pumped over 2 km. Was a pump in the middle. Serious difference in the field. Got to it earlier, you wouldn't know they was a tractor in the field. loads of grass, no muck on road. Normally when your mowing you'd still see tracks of tanker. And half an acre around the gap would be in a mess. 3000 gallons with splashplate.

OP maybe a soil sample would tell you more if burst of grass doesn't come when the heat comes.

Bullocks

rangler1 wrote: »

Same here when i used to be using slurry.....every hollow held water, Is yours heavy land, took about five years here without slurry to get the land porous again...

It is heavy in spots , unfortunately I cant stop the slurry . So I'm thinking maybe an aerator or something . Lime is helping too because we were lacking it

Bullocks

stanflt wrote: »

Slurry applied via dribble bar- no heavy machinery aloud in the field- slurry tankers park at gate and pump to an umbilical system

That would ease it alot alright . Is the tank enough to pump to the umbilical or do you need a pump there aswell ?

tellmeabit

What part of country does this tanker operate. Have field few miles away I'd love to be able to use similar to get slurry out there

visatorro

Bullocks wrote: »

That would ease it alot alright . Is the tank enough to pump to the umbilical or do you need a pump there aswell ?

Seen tanks with a pump on them that will pump 800 metres directly from tank. Two 3500 gallon tanks and lad in field with dribble bar 150/hour.

cacs

Bullocks wrote: »

It is heavy in spots , unfortunately I cant stop the slurry . So I'm thinking maybe an aerator or something . Lime is helping too because we were lacking it

Would you aerate this early. Would it help to move grass along. I know it really is a separate tread but is aerating any good or a waste of diesel

Bullocks

cathal irwin wrote: »

Would you aerate this early. Would it help to move grass along. I know it really is a separate tread but is aerating any good or a waste of diesel

I've never done it but it would have to help a bit

Bullocks

visatorro wrote: »

Seen tanks with a pump on them that will pump 800 metres directly from tank. Two 3500 gallon tanks and lad in field with dribble bar 150/hour.

I knew it wouldnt be cheap , was half afraid to ask

Reggie.

Bullocks wrote: »

Any issue spreading that much slurry in one go ? I'm noticing the fields we tend to spread most slurry on seem to have developed a pan and hold rain longer than they used to .
I suppose ploughing / subsoiling would help but I dont want to be reseeding if I can help it .
Any fertiliser that helps loosen out soil ?

Maybe just tine harrow the slurry afterwards as I find it really breaks up the slurry about a week after its applied

Reggie.

cathal irwin wrote: »

Would you aerate this early. Would it help to move grass along. I know it really is a separate tread but is aerating any good or a waste of diesel

I aerate in Dec/ jan

Reggie.

tellmeabit wrote: »

What part of country does this tanker operate. Have field few miles away I'd love to be able to use similar to get slurry out there

East meath. Any contractor with the umbilical system should be able to do it with tankers

stanflt

Reggie. wrote: »

East meath. Any contractor with the umbilical system should be able to do it with tankers

Tankers have to have a specially adapted Garda pump and easy fill spout

Reggie.

stanflt wrote: »

Tankers have to have a specially adapted Garda pump and easy fill spout

Is that not just the hydraulic quick attach. Any tank can hook up to a umbilical pipe as it has the same connection as the pipe that draws up the slurry from the tank or just fill the reservoir at the headland

stanflt

Reggie. wrote: »

Is that not just the hydraulic quick attach. Any tank can hook up to a umbilical pipe as it has the same connection as the pipe that draws up the slurry from the tank or just fill the reservoir at the headland

No it's not the same it has to be a special end because it's pumping rather then sucking- the normal fill ends have a rubber outer ring so they can form a suction seal- the pumping one has a locking mechanism so that it mechanically clamps the unit going out to the field so it doesn't blow off

Tanker has to have a Garda sludge pump to apply consistently flow to the dribble bar

Muckit

Reggie. wrote: »

Maybe just tine harrow the slurry afterwards as I find it really breaks up the slurry about a week after its applied

No need if using dribble bar

Reggie.

Muckit wrote: »

No need if using dribble bar

Obviously. I'm on about the splash plate. Dribble bar shouldn't seal the ground so as a result no panning should take place. Hence no need for any intervention

Muckit

One of the best things to come out of Glas. I wouldn't go back to splash plate now after using dribble bar. Great job from that point of view. And on the back of umbilical is the ultimate job.

charolais0153

Muckit wrote: »

One of the best things to come out of Glas. I wouldn't go back to splash plate now after using dribble bar. Great job from that point of view. And on the back of umbilical is the ultimate job.

Your getting the slurry spread for free basically

cacs

cathal irwin wrote: »

Walked my silage ground today. Not happy with it at all. I would say i have 8-10cm of grass light enough cover. I grazed it too hard last back end left the cattle on it too long with the dry autumn. I will suffer for it now. Put 4000 gallons per acre of slurry on it around paddies day to try and give it a kick. Gave it 3.5 bags of Richland to the acres around week.. just hope for some softer weather to get it moving

Boom we are there. Grass jumped out out of the ground the last few days

Danzy

cathal irwin wrote: »

Boom we are there. Grass jumped out out of the ground the last few days

Thank God for that.

It is an interesting April, there is still growth but nothing like previous years, many have plenty of grass because it grew fast and early.