Improvement of silage quality by cutting earlier?

morphy87

Just wondering, I usually cut my silage around the 9 or 10th of June,it would only be starting to shoot out, I am planning on cutting the 31st or 1st of June this year,should there be much of an improvement in my silage quality by cutting earlier? Never got it tested before but will be this year, it gets 2000 gallons of slurry in February and 4 bags of cut sward the first week of April, usually mown in the morning and picked up in the evening

blackdog1

morphy87 wrote:

Just wondering, I usually cut my silage around the 9 or 10th of June,it would only be starting to shoot out, I am planning on cutting the 31st or 1st of June this year,should there be much of an improvement in my silage quality by cutting earlier? Never got it tested before but will be this year, it gets 2000 gallons of slurry in February and 4 bags of cut sward the first week of April, usually mown in the morning and picked up in the evening

We usually cut mid May and while the bulk isn't as much as cutting in June quality is excellent. Dmd usually mid to high 70's. What's your silage testing like at the moment?.

leoch

This is a great and interesting thread i am trying to cut mine earlier ever year aswell isnt it that its better to cut before the heads appear at all or could someone put up pictures of the grass before and after headed out

squinn2912

Interested to see responses here too. We cut in late June but take an extra graze from it

tanko

Always aim to bale the first cut the first week of June but the main consideration here is whether or not the mower and baler can travel the ground without getting buried to the axles.
Roll on the "drought" i say.

morphy87

blackdog1 wrote: »

We usually cut mid May and while the bulk isn't as much as cutting in June quality is excellent. Dmd usually mid to high 70's. What's your silage testing like at the moment?.

.

Never got it tested but going to start this year,if I was going to cut the end of May what should I be exsptecting dmd figures wise? Would store cattle over a winter of 150 days put on much extra weight with silage of a dmd of say 75 to say 69

morphy87

Like everyone else here I would like to see if anyone had photos of grass on the brink of heading out and headed out

Angus2018

I don't graze my silage fields in the Spring and put out fertiliser start of April. I'd like to cut end of May but it never goes that way with the weather, holidays and contractors being busy. I usually cut first or second week at latest in June. Then slurry goes out and it gets grazed in August or so.

Mushy06

Very interesting thread. Always cut round 1st to second week in June depending on weather/contractor but my silage was very poor this year so going to try and cut in mid May this year. nothing grazed and all fertilizer out since 21st of march. Also will need grass coming back sooner as increased stock.

morphy87

Mushy06 wrote: »

Very interesting thread. Always cut round 1st to second week in June depending on weather/contractor but my silage was very poor this year so going to try and cut in mid May this year. nothing grazed and all fertilizer out since 21st of march. Also will need grass coming back sooner as increased stock.

That’s one of the main reasons why I would like to cut early,to have after grass back early to spread around the cattle,

High bike

I saw silage freshly baled a week ago,I’m not joking by the way

_Brian

Grass growth has stalled here in Cavan, hopefully the weekend will kick it off again.

farawaygrass

We cut this silage in 2017. It wasn’t locked for silage, but went very heavy for grazing. 6 acre field and it got 500kg of replenish on the 5th of April. It was cut on the 9th of may, baled on the 11th and returned 35 bales. We tested it the following February. Can’t attach picture of results from phone? Anyhow:
Dm 32.5
Ph 3.9
Dmd 74.3
Me 10.7
Crude protein 15.3
Ufl 0.84
Ufv 0.8.

jntsnk

Used to cut in June for 1st cut for more bales but did a late cut last year in September. The grass wasn’t strong. The silage quality was fantastic. Going to cut this type of grass from now on. Cattle did eat better.

GrasstoMilk

We would always cut lateish may -around the 25th silage would be low 70s or in the high 60s for dmd and low protein which is fine for dry cows but no good for milkers or young stock.
Switching to making half of it in mid may with the hope it will be mid to high 70s.

morphy87

jntsnk wrote: »

Used to cut in June for 1st cut for more bales but did a late cut last year in September. The grass wasn’t strong. The silage quality was fantastic. Going to cut this type of grass from now on. Cattle did eat better.

Late or early June? Did the cattle thrive better?

morphy87

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

We would always cut lateish may -around the 25th silage would be low 70s or in the high 60s for dmd and low protein which is fine for dry cows but no good for milkers or young stock.
Switching to making half of it in mid may with the hope it will be mid to high 70s.

My grass heads out late I think,would it decrease that much by the 25?

Wildly Boaring

High bike wrote: »

I saw silage freshly baled a week ago,I’m not joking by the way

Forage harvester flat out near clonmel last week. 3 or 4 decent fields knocked. Out the kilkenny road on the left.

Looked pretty light but no ground problems

GrasstoMilk

morphy87 wrote: »

My grass heads out late I think,would it decrease that much by the 25?

Yes, best quality grass given to milking cows would very rarely be over 85 dmd and that's only growing for 3 weeks. You wouldn't get anywhere near that if you left a crop of silage grow for over 8 weeks

morphy87

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Yes, best quality grass given to milking cows would very rarely be over 85 dmd and that's only growing for 3 weeks. You wouldn't get anywhere near that if you left a crop of silage grow for over 8 weeks

So if you cut before the end of May before it heads out would it be realistic to get a dmd of 75?

uck51js9zml2yt

What's a DMD ?

grange mac

Konnor Kind Limo wrote: »

What's a DMD ?

It's just like a tracker mortgage for Grass... All linked to the weather...

Mooooo

Konnor Kind Limo wrote: »

What's a DMD ?

Dry Matter digestibility. The higher the figure the better the silage. Generally cutting before the grass starts to head out will give higher dmd, more leaf and less stem

kay 9

Always try cut here by the end of May. Less bales but top quality and the ground has more time to recover.
Cut the 18th may last year but it'll be a bit later.
2 day wilt and couple of shakes and it's like a fine wine.

Danzy

Lot of silage fields in Cork will be cut in April and early May if there is any reasonable growth.

Even with the last 2 coldish weeks it is a .month ahead.

morphy87

kay 9 wrote: »

Always try cut here by the end of May. Less bales but top quality and the ground has more time to recover.
Cut the 18th may last year but it'll be a bit later.
2 day wilt and couple of shakes and it's like a fine wine.[/quot

Do you test yours? If so what normally would be your dmd when cutting the end of May?