Granular lime on silage ground

Matty6270

Hi. I'm going spreading fertilizer tomorrow on my meadows and slurry next week. All fields are low in lime. I was thinking of spreading 2 bags per acre also as my quality of silage was poor last year. Would this be a good Idea or is it to late, wud it cause silage to rot etc

kay 9

Wait until you've taken the silage off it

Matty6270

OK so by putting lime out now it won't make any difference to the silage. Also is it ok to spread slurry the weekend as there is rain promised

turfin

Matty6270 wrote: »

OK so by putting lime out now it won't make any difference to the silage. Also is it ok to spread slurry the weekend as there is rain promised

It will make a difference, it will cause problems with the preservation of the grass. I think you need about 6 months (open to correction on exact time) between lime application and silage harvesting.

Mooooo

Was the ground grazed? How much grass is on it at the minute?

degetme

Matty6270 wrote: »

Hi. I'm going spreading fertilizer tomorrow on my meadows and slurry next week. All fields are low in lime. I was thinking of spreading 2 bags per acre also as my quality of silage was poor last year. Would this be a good Idea or is it to late, wud it cause silage to rot etc

Afaik ground limestone will affect preservation. Granular lime wont

Matty6270

Sheep came off it last week. And it's bare. Just thinking the lime might help for this year's silage but maybe it's to late.

orchard farm

Your safer leave it till after you cut

Farmer

I use it every year, never had any bother.

Granules go straight to ground so it's only the dust you'd have to worry about. The ground would always be bare here when going out and there's always loads of rain in the NW to wash it down

Matty6270

orchard farm wrote: »

Your safer leave it till after you cut

So I guess it will effect preservation

Matty6270

Farmer wrote: »

I use it every year, never had any bother.

Granules go straight to ground so it's only the dust you'd have to worry about. The ground would always be bare here when going out and there's always loads of rain in the NW to wash it down

Hi. Will I'm in the wet North West ere. But is it to late to spread. I hope to cut in 5-6 weeks

Matty6270

Still not sure. Can anyone tell me if its OK to spread granu lime

Farmer

If its grazed bare and you're looking at 6 weeks befode cutting I'd have no worries about the gran lime. I'll be putting out some tomorrow on bare silage ground. Most of the advice you will find out there relates to ground limw which is a definite no no before cutting, but is much better value in the long term

If you're anxiious however, maybe settle for one bag or consider going with ground lime in the autumn

https://grasslandagro.ie/fertiliser-association-advice/

Is it too late to apply bulk lime?
On grazing or silage ground it is now too late to spread lime as it will contaminate the grass.  Where pH is an issue use Granulated Lime as a short term solution as soon as possible and consider a bulk ground limestone programme later in the season.
Lime is essential to maximise the returns from fertiliser as shown in the graph below.
Raising soil pH from 5.5 to 6.5 will increase the efficiency of fertiliser by >25%.
Lime will deliver a return on investment of 7:1

It would be interesting to hear other's experiences

Matty6270

Farmer wrote: »

If its grazed bare and you're looking at 6 weeks befode cutting I'd have no worries about the gran lime. I'll be putting out some tomorrow on bare silage ground. Most of the advice you will find out there relates to ground limw which is a definite no no before cutting, but is much better value in the long term

If you're anxiious however, maybe settle for one bag or consider going with ground lime in the autumn

https://grasslandagro.ie/fertiliser-association-advice/




It would be interesting to hear other's experiences

Thanks for the reply. I might put out 1 bag to d acre. Will it make a difference on this years silage

Farmer

I can't say that I've ever noticed a dramatic improvement except on some poorer ground where it definately brought on the clover and improved the swarth. At least it will help maintain existing levels

I mainly use it on wetter hilly or boggy fields where it would be difficult to get around with a big spreader or where I would be afraid of softening the ground with a full dose of ground lime

In the end a soil sample and ground lime would be the way to go if possible but recent wet autumns and trying to juggle in second cuts and aftergrass grazing has made this more difficult

Bass Reeves

Matty6270 wrote: »

Still not sure. Can anyone tell me if its OK to spread granu lime

Never had qn issue with spreading granular lime on silage ground. Used to spread after grazing in late March early April and cut late May. It is not bulky like ordinary limestone and not as much dust. As well it goes straight into ground as it is virtually completely solable

Mooooo

Cutting date has a big bearing on silage quality as well

Donegalforever

Matty6270 wrote: »

Hi. I'm going spreading fertilizer tomorrow on my meadows and slurry next week. All fields are low in lime. I was thinking of spreading 2 bags per acre also as my quality of silage was poor last year. Would this be a good Idea or is it to late, wud it cause silage to rot etc

"Granular Lime" wont damage your silage provided the lime has washed off the grass before you cut the silage.

Matty6270

Donegalforever wrote: »

"Granular Lime" wont damage your silage provided the lime has washed off the grass before you cut the silage.

Is it a good time to spread fertiliser first thing in the morning

Shauny2010

Matty6270 wrote: »

Hi. I'm going spreading fertilizer tomorrow on my meadows and slurry next week. All fields are low in lime. I was thinking of spreading 2 bags per acre also as my quality of silage was poor last year. Would this be a good Idea or is it to late, wud it cause silage to rot etc

I wouldn't have gone with 2 bags/acre keep it to a single bag and go again later in the year with the other bag if you think it needs it.
Granuler lime is fair potent and acts very quickly. I know from experience having spread it at 2 bags/acre I made the ground extremely rich but also very soft like a garden

MFdaveIreland

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/granulated-lime-versus-ground-limestone.7806/
Have a read at this,
I think the only thing gran lime wins vs ground lime is the fact you can spread it yourself.
In theory it is no more concentrated than pure ground lime, it is simply a pelleted version of said product.
So recommending someone to spread 2 tons of ground lime/acre to cover 3/4 years vs 100/150kg acre seems not to add up .
Im only slowly starting to understand it as im keen to use something handy if possible.

Bass Reeves

MFdaveIreland wrote: »

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/granulated-lime-versus-ground-limestone.7806/
Have a read at this,
I think the only thing gran lime wins vs ground lime is the fact you can spread it yourself.
In theory it is no more concentrated than pure ground lime, it is simply a pelleted version of said product.
So recommending someone to spread 2 tons of ground lime/acre to cover 3/4 years vs 100/150kg acre seems not to add up .
Im only slowly starting to understand it as im keen to use something handy if possible.

There is a few way granular limes wins over ground lime.

It can be spread at any time on fields with grass on wet ground and on silage ground.

The real miscalculation on ground lime V granular is availability. Granular is 100% available . Lads assume that because you spread 2ton of ground that you need to spread the same of Granular. However it is acknowledged that the actual value is about 3/4-1. However the real hidden difference is lime loss during the winter. I saw figure that at a rate of 2T/acre on spring/summer spread ground that the loss by leeching during the first winter alone is 350kgs. I would presume that the leeched lime is the smaller particles which is the most valuable part of the lime. For the autumn spread lime losses may even be higher.

I have seen a good few lads move away from ground to granular and stay with the granular.

MFdaveIreland

in what way does making it into a prill/ pellet increase availability, if anything is let as less surface area compared to the dust .
I think ease of spreading is the only reason to use gran lime,
would be astronomical figures to use it on a big area. odd paddock maybe but at the price compared to ground it doesn't make sense,
Neutralising value of it is no higher than ground at all and if applied at lower rate due to the perception of it being more concentrated , the hit is even less.

J.O. Farmer

MFdaveIreland wrote: »

in what way does making it into a prill/ pellet increase availability, if anything is let as less surface area compared to the dust .
I think ease of spreading is the only reason to use gran lime,
would be astronomical figures to use it on a big area. odd paddock maybe but at the price compared to ground it doesn't make sense,
Neutralising value of it is no higher than ground at all and if applied at lower rate due to the perception of it being more concentrated , the hit is even less.

While ground lime might seem like all dust there will be larger particles which aren't available to neutralise.

The granlime pellet will disintegrate the same as any other fertiliser and become 100% available.

The neutralizing potency of the granlime might be no higher but if 100% is available then all of it is neutralizing. If say only 25% of the ground lime is available then out of the 2T then that's only 500 kg. Then if 350kg leaches away there's only 150 kg left.

The figures above are for illustration as I'm not sure of the correct available value but that's where the higher neutralizing value comes from.

Granlime also doesn't make land as soft which on heavy land is a plus.