Anyone cut silage yet?

restive

Any one cut silage yet? I will not be ready for 3 weeks but neighbour of mine has a great field ready to go.

Genghis Cant

Knocked ten acres yesterday. Kicked it out today. Baling tomorrow. There might be 4-5 bales an acre. Time will tell.

davidk1394

Made 50 bales for ourselves last week and probably another 50 next week. Few mowers on the mover around here but no big harvesters

Odelay

Seen a big harvester working last week, east cork in view of the sea.

Timmaay

Main 1st cut certainly won't be early this year, slurry from a month ago still sitting on the surface in places, alongside some very unresponsive old swards on the rented land. Kept over a decent amount from last year though, so not hugely pushed, pit silage will all be for drycows (maize and excess paddock bales for milkers), so not pushed if it heads out before being cut

foxy farmer

My contractor has done some baling within the last 3 weeks. First customer for pitting is over 2 weeks away. He's on a committee that has a big day around 3rd week in May and he always cuts before that. Loves a bit of boasting. Wet or dry it makes no difference. Must be cut. Could be a week before the season starts in earnest after him then.

cute geoge

imo lads making bales for first cut will avail of the weather this weekend .It will be a week/10 days sooner to make first cut then the optimum time but this could be our summer .It would not be the first time either

darragh_haven

Had 8 acres of bales on the 22 April and put 15 acres in the pit on the 28 April. Earliest we ever did it but thats the way the spring went.
Have another 15 acres for pit in a weeks time.

Muckit

What are lads views on length of time wilting for pit? Usually mow in the evening, row after 11am the next day and then pick after lunch. Would an extra day be of any benefit? I'm thinking DMD or protein losses?

davidk1394

Muckit wrote: »

What are lads views on length of time wilting for pit? Usually mow in the evening, row after 11am the next day and then pick after lunch. Would an extra day be of any benefit? I'm thinking DMD or protein losses?

It depends on how dry the grass is mowing.
Maybe mow it at 11 in the morning, ted it out straight away, rake it the next day at around 2 and pick in the evening. Tedding it could save an extra 2 loads of grass into the pit and boost the DMD of the grass by a few percent.

MF290

davidk1394 wrote: »

It depends on how dry the grass is mowing.
Maybe mow it at 11 in the morning, ted it out straight away, rake it the next day at around 2 and pick in the evening. Tedding it could save an extra 2 loads of grass into the pit and boost the DMD of the grass by a few percent.

Mowing usually done in the afternoon here if possible. Sugars higher later in the day.

Mooooo

Muckit wrote: »

What are lads views on length of time wilting for pit? Usually mow in the evening, row after 11am the next day and then pick after lunch. Would an extra day be of any benefit? I'm thinking DMD or protein losses?

Protein loss could be an issue if down longer than 24 hours, also some say if pit is too dry can be difficult to manage the faces unless you're moving across it fast

davidk1394

Mooooo wrote: »

Protein loss could be an issue if down longer than 24 hours, also some say if pit is too dry can be difficult to manage the faces unless you're moving across it fast

Its also harder to compact if its too dry as well.

Reggie.

We mow midday, Ted out straight after and then the harvester arrives the next day

Muckit

Read an article there online that said that the pores on the grass only stay open for 2 hours after cutting and that the grass will wilt 5 times quicker if tedded straight after cutting.

Reggie.

Muckit wrote: »

Read an article there online that said that the pores on the grass only stay open for 2 hours after cutting and that the grass will wilt 5 times quicker if tedded straight after cutting.

Supposed to be true. Something like that's how the conditioner works on a mower. It damages the stem allowing more moisture out

Muckit

Anyone have their silage cut with krone big M? The way they condition and each mower leaves swarth in two, is there need for tedding ?

Robson99

Muckit wrote: »

Read an article there online that said that the pores on the grass only stay open for 2 hours after cutting and that the grass will wilt 5 times quicker if tedded straight after cutting.

The flip side is that if yon leave it for a while in rows it gives the ground a chance to dry out

Reggie.

Robson99 wrote: »

The flip side is that if yon leave it for a while in rows it gives the ground a chance to dry out

I always notice that when tedded out the grass is mostly lifted off the ground and the ground dries regardless. Once it ain't raining mind

Robson99

Reggie. wrote: »

I always notice that when tedded out the grass is mostly lifted off the ground and the ground dries regardless. Once it ain't raining mind

Depends on how heavy the crop and weather before cutting

Reggie.

Robson99 wrote: »

Depends on how heavy the crop and weather before cutting

True but just noticed that in many cases esp if turned a few times.

visatorro

If a mower scatters the swarths, you basically wouldn't know the field was mowed, I presume there's less of a need to tedd out then? that's what happens here. He has a tedder but rarely uses it.

Reggie.

visatorro wrote: »

If a mower scatters the swarths, you basically wouldn't know the field was mowed, I presume there's less of a need to tedd out then? that's what happens here. He has a tedder but rarely uses it.

Yeah but the bit of grass underneath won't get any wilt

Panch18

visatorro wrote: »

If a mower scatters the swarths, you basically wouldn't know the field was mowed, I presume there's less of a need to tedd out then? that's what happens here. He has a tedder but rarely uses it.

Our mower scatters as well.

Usually try to mow after lunch, rake up 24 hours later and then start baling the following morning, so grass is mowed around 40 hours.

weather dependent of course

Hard Knocks

Panch18 wrote: »

visatorro wrote: »

If a mower scatters the swarths, you basically wouldn't know the field was mowed, I presume there's less of a need to tedd out then? that's what happens here. He has a tedder but rarely uses it.

Our mower scatters as well.

Usually try to mow after lunch, rake up 24 hours later and then start baling the following morning, so grass is mowed around 40 hours.

weather dependent of course

Would the end product be Haylage?

RobinBanks

On way to work this morn there was a dairy man at pit silage. On way home this evening his 2 neighbours had mowed and one was mowing. I'm wondering does silage season trigger something in a person that once one man cuts the others have to cut aswell! Especially at the start of the season. If ya didn't know otherwise you would just think it was the one farm they are that close to each other.

freedominacup

restive wrote: »

Any one cut silage yet? I will not be ready for 3 weeks but neighbour of mine has a great field ready to go.

Pit just covered.

minktrapper

How come no one is talking about nitrogen levels?

Timmaay

RobinBanks wrote: »

On way to work this morn there was a dairy man at pit silage. On way home this evening his 2 neighbours had mowed and one was mowing. I'm wondering does silage season trigger something in a person that once one man cuts the others have to cut aswell! Especially at the start of the season. If ya didn't know otherwise you would just think it was the one farm they are that close to each other.

A lactating cow needs as high quality silage as possible, and the most of us by now know to take any weather opportunity we can get during may!

visatorro

I'm not farming at all. Two weeks away yet.

pedigree 6

RobinBanks wrote: »

On way to work this morn there was a dairy man at pit silage. On way home this evening his 2 neighbours had mowed and one was mowing. I'm wondering does silage season trigger something in a person that once one man cuts the others have to cut aswell! Especially at the start of the season. If ya didn't know otherwise you would just think it was the one farm they are that close to each other.

It depends on the contractor too.
Usually the farmer is in line to when they get their silage done.
I know around here it's usually the same farmers in the same order and they are prepared for that.

Reggie.

visatorro wrote: »

I'm not farming at all. Two weeks away yet.

?

visatorro

Reggie. wrote: »

?

Just saying I'm only rooting if I'm not ready for silage. Well I'm only rooting because I was late going with fert. It's hard to get everything done!

Wildsurfer

Could I ask the lads with silage cut like Freedom what is your protocol for having early silage. Is it outside ground cows dont graze, is it very dry ground that gets one early grazing? In my situation all my silage ground is a long walk for cows across a public road which means I have to wait untill I have a good proportion of cows calved to make it worthwhile. I am heavily stocked so that means I had to graze it, and the way the weather went this spring I wasn't out of it till April 15th. If we had got the rain&heat last week I would be making bales now but as growth is slowing again I will have to keep them in the rotation. So how do ye do it, badly need to get more of this type of silage for milking off in the shoulders.

charolais0153

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Could I ask the lads with silage cut like Freedom what is your protocol for having early silage. Is it outside ground cows dont graze, is it very dry ground that gets one early grazing? In my situation all my silage ground is a long walk for cows across a public road which means I have to wait untill I have a good proportion of cows calved to make it worthwhile. I am heavily stocked so that means I had to graze it, and the way the weather went this spring I wasn't out of it till April 15th. If we had got the rain&heat last week I would be making bales now but as growth is slowing again I will have to keep them in the rotation. So how do ye do it, badly need to get more of this type of silage for milking off in the shoulders.

Eat it and put out 4k gallons of slurry and 2.5 bags of urea;)

freedominacup

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Could I ask the lads with silage cut like Freedom what is your protocol for having early silage. Is it outside ground cows dont graze, is it very dry ground that gets one early grazing? In my situation all my silage ground is a long walk for cows across a public road which means I have to wait untill I have a good proportion of cows calved to make it worthwhile. I am heavily stocked so that means I had to graze it, and the way the weather went this spring I wasn't out of it till April 15th. If we had got the rain&heat last week I would be making bales now but as growth is slowing again I will have to keep them in the rotation. So how do ye do it, badly need to get more of this type of silage for milking off in the shoulders.

Any reason not to put heifers on "silage ground". Everything grazed here mp and outfarm. Some as early as Jan some as late as Apr 1st.

With the exception of one block there is no designated silage ground here. Second cut will come off a different block than first. The designated block is an out farm and it got 3 bags of 10-10-20 when the rest of the farm got it's second bag of urea. This was based on soil tests which we try to do every two years. We needed around .25 tonnes of lime per acre over the whole farm in average based on this year's analysis. No extra fert spread for silage outside of the fert listed above compared to grazing blocks. Why would silage fields need more N over a set period of time than grazing ones? N was tested for on tues. Mostly clear apart from the last block on outfarm but not high enough to be a concern in these conditions esp as it was being tedded. This was the ground last grazed and simply hadn't grown enough to use up the available N imo. Target cutting date here is May 10th in an average year but as they often say in punditry you have to play the game that's in front of you which is not necessarily the game you planned for. We apply N based on this cutting date. Don't forget my silage is bulking away grand as I type it's just going to be in the second cut in six weeks time.

Tbh we have advantages in the early season. We're two miles or less from the coast between tramore and dungarvan on very dry soils. We're going to start hurting because of these soils in the next few days but that's swings and roundabouts.

Last thing is we use a contractor who set his stall out based on providing a service to farmers trying to make quality silage. He charges for the wagon and loader by the hour. They won't have cost me €30/acre on this cut incl vat. Mowing, tedding and raking would be at similar rates to everyone else in the area. Silage harvesting has been around the €60/acre mark for the past few years. This means that the idea of spreading contracting costs over tonnes never enters your head.

Wildsurfer

Thanks for that Freedom. My driest ground is around parlour and silage area is a bit heavier so putting heifers on it early in Spring could cause too much damage. That and I needed it to extend first rotation to second week in April. Guys around me here with silage ground closed early were feeding silage at end of march when I was at grass so that doesn't make sense either. One option I'm looking at is moving to bales and stagger the cutting as getting circa 80 acres of first cut together for pit does delay things but then that's a lot of bales to be handling.

Timmaay

Wildsurfer wrote: »

Thanks for that Freedom. My driest ground is around parlour and silage area is a bit heavier so putting heifers on it early in Spring could cause too much damage. That and I needed it to extend first rotation to second week in April. Guys around me here with silage ground closed early were feeding silage at end of march when I was at grass so that doesn't make sense either. One option I'm looking at is moving to bales and stagger the cutting as getting circa 80 acres of first cut together for pit does delay things but then that's a lot of bales to be handling.

Why totally move to bales, just stagger the pit cutting dates instead? Use to do one massive 1st cut of anything up to 70ac here before, was a disaster 2bh, we'd spend several days covering the 3pits. We rarely put more than 35ac in a pit in one go now. Number of bales we use is well up, existing pits still get used but I've no real plans to build new pits as numbers expand here.

visatorro

Where would I get grass tested for nitrogen?

Mooooo

visatorro wrote: »

Where would I get grass tested for nitrogen?

Coop should do it give the rep a ring or else your teagasc advisor.

visatorro

Mooooo wrote: »

Coop should do it give the rep a ring or else your teagasc advisor.

Rang teagasc, he said there's no panic testing for nitrogen if the sugar levels are high in this weather. We agreed the nitrogen was probably gone from it anyway.

CloughCasey1

My due date for cutting is Thursday 18th. Got 81units N on April 8th. Bulling to cut this week but afraid too much N. Was planning to cut shake it out rake and bale in about 30-36hrs. so tomorrow cut for Wed. Rang Teagasc office in Tuam but got a lady giving out for ringing and not to bring in grass today and defo not to bring it in without freezing overnight. And the lads finding it hard to get the juice out of it to test anyway. And you have not gone past your 2 units per day quota. Christ i could have told her all that....i just want my flipping grass tested...

stanflt

Pitted the second cut- nah second part of 1st cut yesterday- stuff I cut two weeks ago smelt really good when we took the sheets off

3 the square

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

My due date for cutting is Thursday 18th. Got 81units N on April 8th. Bulling to cut this week but afraid too much N. Was planning to cut shake it out rake and bale in about 30-36hrs. so tomorrow cut for Wed. Rang Teagasc office in Tuam but got a lady giving out for ringing and not to bring in grass today and defo not to bring it in without freezing overnight. And the lads finding it hard to get the juice out of it to test anyway. And you have not gone past your 2 units per day quota. Christ i could have told her all that....i just want my flipping grass tested...

see a lad near me spreading fert on silage ground 3 weeks ago and going into the silage pit to day with it !!

freedominacup

3 the square wrote: »

see a lad near me spreading fert on silage ground 3 weeks ago and going into the silage pit to day with it !!

Depending on how much he spread there's probably nothing wrong with it. Dry makes a huge difference to the N equation making silage .

Muckit

And we're off

Reggie.

stanflt wrote: »

Pitted the second cut- nah second part of 1st cut yesterday- stuff I cut two weeks ago smelt really good when we took the sheets off

:mad:

Reggie.

Muckit wrote: »

And we're off

What's with the two small rows

visatorro

stanflt wrote: »

Pitted the second cut- nah second part of 1st cut yesterday- stuff I cut two weeks ago smelt really good when we took the sheets off

Had to roll back pits here on my own last year, bastard of a job, pits were steeper than normal. Lad beside me is always cutting silage. He has eleven pits so he's not too bad!!

cute geoge

Reggie. wrote: »

What's with the two small rows

I guess cut with the BIG M

CloughCasey1

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

My due date for cutting is Thursday 18th. Got 81units N on April 8th. Bulling to cut this week but afraid too much N. Was planning to cut shake it out rake and bale in about 30-36hrs. so tomorrow cut for Wed. Rang Teagasc office in Tuam but got a lady giving out for ringing and not to bring in grass today and defo not to bring it in without freezing overnight. And the lads finding it hard to get the juice out of it to test anyway. And you have not gone past your 2 units per day quota. Christ i could have told her all that....i just want my flipping grass tested...

Said not to cut. Started on about 2 units per day if CAN and that no good weather would change that. Fecking bollix to that anyway. Will be full of seed heading in a wk!!