How long would leave second cut down for

cacs

I am going cutting second cut at true weekend. Silage contractor said it would be a good idea to leave it for 2.5 - 3 days. He said second cut is soft this year and it needs every bit of wilting. He will cut it out flat and ted it and row it up. My question is it too long. Will it deplete the sugars too much. Am I loosing too much feed value

cute geoge

It definitely was not a baling contractor that told you that anyway .I always ted out and let it wilt for a couple of days for bales and the contractor goes mad because there is considerably less bales!!

cacs

Believe it or not he is a baling contractor really good guy.

50HX

24-36 hrs is enough after mowing & tedded out

Any longer & you'll loose feed value imo

Bass Reeves

50HX wrote: »

24-36 hrs is enough after mowing & tedded out

Any longer & you'll loose feed value imo

While not as sunny and hot as last summer it is still quite hot this year. Hot weather brings N from from low down in the ground. This may mean there was more N available than was spread. If you have not cut it get it tested for N any Teagasc center will do it.

While you may lose some feed value higher DM increases intake into cattle from whjat I see. As well lower bale numbers is a saving of 11-13 euro/bale or maybe 26-30/acre. Assuming cut goes from 9-6.8/bales/ acre and contractor is cutting at 2/bale the saving/acre is 28.60/acre.

In general I would not bother tedding out if cut by a conditioner mower. I let it sit in the rows and get it raked 8-10 hours before baling. Lads often make work for themselves

patsy_mccabe

I can't understand how lads think grass will dry out better in rows than spread out from tedding. Some people never hung up clothes to dry I think.

jntsnk

Teagasc recommends 24-36 hrs down for the perfect wilt.
With leafy grass silage and the excellent weather I cut it down at about 2 in the day, i immediately tedder it and bale it late the the following evening. I’m lucky to have a baling guy that lives next to me and comes on the time I want.

patsy_mccabe

Ideally, I'd like to cut when sugar levels are at their highest. That's around 3pm, I think. Turn it out then early afternoon the following day. Baled then around 11am the next morning. In our normal summer that is fine but in really warm weather bale at 24 hours is better.
I've seen a huge lift in quality since I started tedding it out. Bales are a lot lighter too. Ideal when transporting long distances, which for me is a mile away.

orm0nd

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I can't understand how lads think grass will dry out better in rows than spread out from tedding. Some people never hung up clothes to dry I think.

Bought a secondhand 4 rotor lotus here a few years ago for very handy money.

Wouldn't part with it for any money now.

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I can't understand how lads think grass will dry out better in rows than spread out from tedding. Some people never hung up clothes to dry I think.

There is for and against leaving it in rows. If you have you own tedder or hay bob grand but if you are paying someone (about 8/acre)or spending 2-3 hours collecting and returning one then it is really not worth the effort. In hot dry weather 8-12 hours extra wilt and rowing will still get you to where tedding will. Tedding can leave grass in knots and make bales harder to pack. Finally and its not an issue at present but in Broken weather grass is much safer in the rows it was cut in constant tedding in broken weather damages the grass too much much as it hold water easier.

You see lads making hay and they cannot get in to ted it out fast enough. They are hammering it around the field for a week. I know a lad that only teds it out 2-4 days after cutting and seldom turns hay more than twice. It his opinion it is much safer in rows and suffered less in broken weather as rain runs off it.

patsy_mccabe

I still think anything you can do to make better quality silage is worth it. Look at the price of meal in comparison.

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I still think anything you can do to make better quality silage is worth it. Look at the price of meal in comparison.

My game is finishing off grass I never feed ration during the winter if I have dry well made silage cut early June or second cut early August. Grass dose the rest of the work in General except for ration 7-10 weeks pre slaughter.

If I pay to ted it out it once it costs a euro/bale it near enough that if i borrow a baler. Contractor cuts it with a conditioner and rakes 10-12 hours before baling at 10/bale to cut , rake, bale and wrap. Adding another 1-2 euro/bale to the costs or baling after 24-30 hours and rising bale numbers adds to costs to which there is no return especially with beef at sub 4/kg. An extra 10 kgs DW on an animal is worth 33-38 euro at present it easy to add 20-30c/day to winter feeding costs having everything right not to mind the extra time and slavery involved. No point in being a busy fool producing extra beef that is then used to drop the price to you by a lower beef price due to surplas beef or cattle that are too heavy for processors requirement's

White Clover

Bass Reeves wrote: »

My game is finishing off grass I never feed ration during the winter if I have dry well made silage cut early June or second cut early August. Grass dose the rest of the work in General except for ration 7-10 weeks pre slaughter.

If I pay to ted it out it once it costs a euro/bale it near enough that if i borrow a baler. Contractor cuts it with a conditioner and rakes 10-12 hours before baling at 10/bale to cut , rake, bale and wrap. Adding another 1-2 euro/bale to the costs or baling after 24-30 hours and rising bale numbers adds to costs to which there is no return especially with beef at sub 4/kg. An extra 10 kgs DW on an animal is worth 33-38 euro at present it easy to add 20-30c/day to winter feeding costs having everything right not to mind the extra time and slavery involved. No point in being a busy fool producing extra beef that is then used to drop the price to you by a lower beef price due to surplas beef or cattle that are too heavy for processors requirement's

If you shake it out it will reduce the bale count by 2 bales per acre at a minimum for a cost of 10/acre.

cacs

Great insights there

cacs

Great insights there

Bass Reeves

White Clover wrote: »

If you shake it out it will reduce the bale count by 2 bales per acre at a minimum for a cost of 10/acre.

By my method and with a good bales I had first cut last year down to 8 bales/acre. Cattle on this silage inside were costing about 80c/day (500ish kg stores in the shed). A bunch of friesians 300 days on the farm, 120 days winter eat about 20 euro of ration and gained 0.9kgs/day over the 300 days.

orm0nd

Tedded out straight after mower, will be baled about this time tomorrow

Bales are a convenient way of making small amounts but are also costly, so need to have as few as possible and be of best quality.

patsy_mccabe

orm0nd wrote: »

Tedded out straight after mower, will be baled about this time tomorrow

Bales are a convenient way of making small amounts but are also costly, so need to have as few as possible and be of best quality.

Nice job. Lely Lotus? How do you manage when there is only say 1 or 2 rows laft at the end. Do you double turn some of it?

orm0nd

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Nice job. Lely Lotus? How do you manage when there is only say 1 or 2 rows laft at the end. Do you double turn some of it?

yea , drive on , no worries

as you can see that field the grass is quite stemmy , that's due to dry weather and lack of moisture, the next field in the background is much more leafy

orm0nd

24 hours later and we're ready to gift wrap.

Baler man be here in about 30 minutes

Panch18

orm0nd wrote: »

24 hours later and we're ready to gift wrap.

Baler man be here in about 30 minutes

What Tedder do you have?

Do you rake it as well yourself?

orm0nd

Panch18 wrote: »

What Tedder do you have?

Do you rake it as well yourself?

we've got a lely lotus 600

contractor rakes up , he changed from a claas to a mf rake lately, & seems to be making a better shape bale

66 bales off a bit more than 11 acres in that lot.

K.G.

I ve barley to wholecrop into bales next couple of days but im thinking of not giving it much of a wilt as i find that stuff really sticks to the ground if its left there. Its bone dry and Must be over 30% dm at the moment

cacs

Cut my second cut yesterday morning ted it today. It has really dried out. Great stuff still a nice bit of green in it. Bailing it up in the morning. It’s the best second cut we ever made