Grazing 2021

DBK1

lakill Farm wrote: »

what sort of quality would that silage be ?


24 acres of grass offered to me. Got fertiliser and slurry mid march 2020 and never touched then


Its not fenced for sheep and owner doesn't want cattle


Option is take it for silage soon or may hay but run the risk of a second growth coming through it

The silage cut last weekend would only be average quality I’d say. DM would be low and there’d probably be a certain amount of dead grass on it after the winter. It will probably feed out ok but you wouldn’t be giving it to your prime stock. It would have been cut for silage last July so would only be growing since then.

What you’ve been offered is a totally different product. If nothing has been done since it was fertilised last March then it’s probably growing since October 2019. Feed value in that would be very poor, about the same as newspaper I’d say!! You mentioned about second growth, that would have happened last July, it’s a third or fourth growth that would be coming through that now and the first and second growth are probably standing tall as a dead white grass.

The only way I would accept that type of grass would be if I was getting it for nothing and getting the field for the rest of the year for small money in return for taking that mess off it. The only animal I’d consider feeding it to would be a dry cow and at that i would only feed it along with better stuff.

Mooooo

lakill Farm wrote: »

what sort of quality would that silage be ?


24 acres of grass offered to me. Got fertiliser and slurry mid march 2020 and never touched then


Its not fenced for sheep and owner doesn't want cattle


Option is take it for silage soon or may hay but run the risk of a second growth coming through it

Growing for over 12 months, wouldn't touch it tbh

Bass Reeves

lakill Farm wrote: »

what sort of quality would that silage be ?


24 acres of grass offered to me. Got fertiliser and slurry mid march 2020 and never touched then


Its not fenced for sheep and owner doesn't want cattle


Option is take it for silage soon or may hay but run the risk of a second growth coming through it

TBH it worth nothing. Ideally it would want to be cut and dumped cattle would lose weight either eating it as is or making it into hay or silage. If you cut it you will end up with 12-15 bales per acre or over 350 bales of sh!the.

If you had a lad with a mulcher it would be the job it would act as a fertlizer and keep it grazed then for this year

I says

lakill Farm wrote: »

what sort of quality would that silage be ?


24 acres of grass offered to me. Got fertiliser and slurry mid march 2020 and never touched then


Its not fenced for sheep and owner doesn't want cattle


Option is take it for silage soon or may hay but run the risk of a second growth coming through it

Sour scutter that not even goats would eat. That needs to be cleaned off as was mentioned earlier mulch it.

Bass Reeves

whelan2 wrote: »

How's the grazing going now? There's a gale blowing here atm and rain

They are happy out. Plenty of grass and have stopped running around. Cattle are good to go for shelter if it is available. O e Friesian bullock has nearly coated. Can even see the thrive on a few of them.

Will let the rest out when the weather clears

Green farmer

Just had a peak at the weather forecast. Seems to be turning a little milder next week. Daytime temperatures creeping up to 13 degrees on occasions and evening stretching out bit by bit. Place turns a bit greener every day. Cannt come fast enough to leave winter behind.

lakill Farm

7 heifers ran on the ground till early Feb 2020 . Silage cut on some of it and hay on other parts in 2019. uncle died heifers sold no one had any plan it seemed


I was asked to sort it and it would suit me to keep it on lease if im honest


So although some lads are saying mulching im not going to the expense of that and neither will she and kick on me


Strongly thinking of mowing it and baling it up and selling it even at cost and clearing the place off for this year . Its clear it soon or a bigger mess

DBK1 wrote: »

The silage cut last weekend would only be average quality I’d say. DM would be low and there’d probably be a certain amount of dead grass on it after the winter. It will probably feed out ok but you wouldn’t be giving it to your prime stock. It would have been cut for silage last July so would only be growing since then.

What you’ve been offered is a totally different product. If nothing has been done since it was fertilised last March then it’s probably growing since October 2019. Feed value in that would be very poor, about the same as newspaper I’d say!! You mentioned about second growth, that would have happened last July, it’s a third or fourth growth that would be coming through that now and the first and second growth are probably standing tall as a dead white grass.

The only way I would accept that type of grass would be if I was getting it for nothing and getting the field for the rest of the year for small money in return for taking that mess off it. The only animal I’d consider feeding it to would be a dry cow and at that i would only feed it along with better stuff.

Mooooo

Fair enough but if selling on you'd want to be saying what's in the bales or twud be bad form

lakill Farm

Mooooo wrote: »

Fair enough but if selling on you'd want to be saying what's in the bales or twud be bad form

Oh I would. I might double wrap them and that way I would have a longer shelf life.


I would be fit to do all the work on them myself so I wouldn't be massive out of pocket I hope

cute geoge

That ****e in silage would only be slow poison ,10 bales of it would be too much no one will buy it unless there is starvation .What I would do is chance hay the first chance you get .If weather does not play ball gather it up and let it rot in corner of field .Even the feeding value of rhe hay would only be so so but at least it would maintain cattle with a bit of meal

lakill Farm

oh and that was my other option was to try make hay and if it didn't work bale it and corner of a field

cute geoge wrote: »

That ****e in silage would only be slow poison ,10 bales of it would be too much no one will buy it unless there is starvation .What I would do is chance hay the first chance you get .If weather does not play ball gather it up and let it rot in corner of field .Even the feeding value of rhe hay would only be so so but at least it would maintain cattle with a bit of meal

DBK1

cute geoge wrote: »

That ****e in silage would only be slow poison ,10 bales of it would be too much no one will buy it unless there is starvation .What I would do is chance hay the first chance you get .If weather does not play ball gather it up and let it rot in corner of field .Even the feeding value of rhe hay would only be so so but at least it would maintain cattle with a bit of meal

I actually done the very same thing for a proper rooter last year. We baled the hay on the 16th April. Not man or beast was in the field for about 18 months before that.

There was a right good spell of weather in April last year and the type of stuff it was it saved very quick after cutting. It was plenty dry being baled and while feed value would be very poor I think making hay from it was a much better option than silage.

Funnily enough the bales are still in the field and not man or beast was in the field since either but that’s more a story for the rooter thread I think!!

DBK1

lakill Farm wrote: »

Oh I would. I might double wrap them and that way I would have a longer shelf life.


I would be fit to do all the work on them myself so I wouldn't be massive out of pocket I hope

I’d say double wrapping them would be only wasting money. If it’s sh**e going into the bale it’ll be sh**e coming out no matter how much wrap is on it.

Say my name

DBK1 wrote: »

I’d say double wrapping them would be only wasting money. If it’s sh**e going into the bale it’ll be sh**e coming out no matter how much wrap is on it.

You'd have to run over the sward with a molasses dribbler before baling to make anything of it.

Say my name

Lakill have you no topper yourself to start off the sward yourself?

I'd be with others and just get it mulched someway.

I've often went into fields at this time of year with the topper to get the swards set for silage in May.
Feck what the neighbours think.:p

endainoz

Say my name wrote: »

Lakill have you no topper yourself to start off the sward yourself?

I'd be with others and just get it mulched someway.

I've often went into fields at this time of year with the topper to get the swards set for silage in May.
Feck what the neighbours think.:p

I've done it myself, aul lads would think it's a mortal sin to do something that's so seemingly counter productive. Never seen it negativity affect growth though.

Mulchers can be expensive to get in but if you know someone with a major cyclone, they can run off a smaller tractor and not nearly as severe on diesel.

Dickie10

just go in and top it low now and might rot away and actually help the humus of the soil maybe

lakill Farm

The hay option probably looks the way forward so


If weather is good ill aim for hay, if weather breaks ill find a big corner in one of the fields.


Its so sad to see the land sitting there at nothing at the moment the uncle would never have allowed it

DBK1 wrote: »

I actually done the very same thing for a proper rooter last year. We baled the hay on the 16th April. Not man or beast was in the field for about 18 months before that.

There was a right good spell of weather in April last year and the type of stuff it was it saved very quick after cutting. It was plenty dry being baled and while feed value would be very poor I think making hay from it was a much better option than silage.

Funnily enough the bales are still in the field and not man or beast was in the field since either but that’s more a story for the rooter thread I think!!

cute geoge

Say my name wrote: »

You'd have to run over the sward with a molasses dribbler before baling to make anything of it.

Where could see or how would you make a molasses drible bar for silage swards .I have some marshy ground away from house mostly make hay and graze later in year .But get caught to make silage any wet summer .The dry cows eat it but slowly and you could almost see them losing condition .The hay would always be better .I was thinking molasses on the rows of silage like years ago would be the job before baling

farawaygrass

I know a farmer near me who let the grass go to maybe august, sept before cutting, and he could skip a year too. Never fertilised and it would be horrible looking stuff. He always gets a buyer for it, and I think the same lad is buying it for a few years. I’d assume it’s very cheap but don’t know he price. There’s always someone out there that will buy it

Say my name

cute geoge wrote: »

Where could see or how would you make a molasses drible bar for silage swards .I have some marshy ground away from house mostly make hay and graze later in year .But get caught to make silage any wet summer .The dry cows eat it but slowly and you could almost see them losing condition .The hay would always be better .I was thinking molasses on the rows of silage like years ago would be the job before baling

I saw one on fb before of a barrel with a dribble bar type thing on a 3 point linkage. I think it was a homemade job. Don't know if it's something commercially available.
Have no pictures or plans. I think it was just flowing into a pipe and holes drilled in the pipe to dribble on the sward.

Cavanjack

There were fellows feeding rushes to fattening bulls in 2018. All they needed was some form of roughage. This would do the same job if someone was stuck but there is plenty of feeding in the country this year.

minerleague

lakill Farm wrote: »

what sort of quality would that silage be ?


24 acres of grass offered to me. Got fertiliser and slurry mid march 2020 and never touched then


Its not fenced for sheep and owner doesn't want cattle


Option is take it for silage soon or may hay but run the risk of a second growth coming through it

Pity you cant convince owner to allow cattle, I am strip grazing similiar ( not growing quite as long ) with dry sucklers since Feb 1 and they' re thriving. Cows removed as they spring up

lakill Farm

minerleague wrote: »

Pity you cant convince owner to allow cattle, I am strip grazing similiar ( not growing quite as long ) with dry sucklers since Feb 1 and they' re thriving. Cows removed as they spring up

she doesn't want cattle , it would have been a better job I think but unfortunately im not the king of the cattle.


14 months ago I had a buyer for the silage . ended up giving it away over the winter to clear the corner

jimmy G M

lakill Farm wrote: »

The hay option probably looks the way forward so


If weather is good ill aim for hay, if weather breaks ill find a big corner in one of the fields.


Its so sad to see the land sitting there at nothing at the moment the uncle would never have allowed it

If you could get it dry enough for hay it could do as bedding as well..... we sometimes bed some cows with old hay mixed in with straw around calving time, soakage not as good granted, but they eat some of it, lie on the rest.... cheaper than paying €25/ bale for straw.... might be an option.... no matter how bad the quality I wouldn't let it rot in the corner of a field

Bass Reeves

lakill Farm wrote: »

Oh I would. I might double wrap them and that way I would have a longer shelf life.


I would be fit to do all the work on them myself so I wouldn't be massive out of pocket I hope

lakill Farm wrote: »

oh and that was my other option was to try make hay and if it didn't work bale it and corner of a field

Either of these choices the silage especially you are taking s lot of nutrients off the land for no apparent value. In the case of silage even if doing the contracting part yourself it's still costing 5-7/ bale. Nutrient value is 10/ bale. While mulching might seem expensive you are returning a lot of nutrients back into the ground.

Throwing bales in the corners achieving the same thing. If there was a lat with a straw shredder you could cut it if we get a good spell of weather and shred it when it had reduced down. Even giving it a turn it two after shredding will stop it lying dead on the ground and stopping growth

DBK1

jimmy G M wrote: »

If you could get it dry enough for hay it could do as bedding as well..... we sometimes bed some cows with old hay mixed in with straw around calving time, soakage not as good granted, but they eat some of it, lie on the rest.... cheaper than paying €25/ bale for straw.... might be an option.... no matter how bad the quality I wouldn't let it rot in the corner of a field

I got caught with a field of hay about 3 years ago. The rain came a day earlier than forecast and rained for a week on it. There was no way I was wrapping it and forcing something to eat it just to get it off the field so i left it there during all the rain. 2 or 3 dry and real windy days came after that, I turned it twice to get it dry. It was pure black on the ground, thank god it was down a lane and not near the road where anyone could see me turning it!! I chopped it when baling and used it all for bedding mixed in with straw over the next few winters.

While not as good as straw it was better than the other options of wrapping it or dumping it and a current prices it would certainly be better than paying €25+ a bale for straw so as long as you get it dry you do have options.

memorystick

Was fencing yesterday morning and couldn’t believe how wet it had got. This week is to be good so it’ll be all forgotten about next Sunday.

Timmaay

65% grazed but enough damage done to get to that. Very lucky with the weather the 2weeks, nowhere near what many you's got down the country. Cow's out day and night but some night's that was because of not enough cubicles for milkers, I'm at the point now where the idea that teagasc tell me I'm a good dry farm who gets to graze fulltime for 300days of the year, nope not a hope anymore, I may the clubicles in and be done with it.

memorystick

Land after soaking great. I didn’t need the 4wd on at the gaps. Progress