Silage 2022

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119110915#Comment_119110915

If not too heavy crop, good weather, be perfect

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119110915#Comment_119110915

It depends on how heavy the crop is and the weather you get. If it’s a sunny windy day and it’s an 8-10 bales per acre crop then it’ll be plenty of time for wilting. There’s a fine line between too wet and too dry for silage in my opinion.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119111023#Comment_119111023

Silage cannot be too dry for stores for an extent. Cost is the enemy of the beef man no matter the perfection of the product.

I would much prefer 50+ DM than 20DM. Above 49 DM ideally at least IMO.

On a side note. Local fairy farmer cut his put silage on Monday evening Tuesday morning. It rained on what was cut Monday night and again yesterday. More rain on it last night. All for the sake of 48-72 hours. He was cutting 70+ acres probably above 100 acres

Jb1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119111291#Comment_119111291

Contractor may have pushed him to go before the busy weekend.

Its alright all these dates, but some farmer will be a fortnight down the list of the contractor, and so may be wet silage again.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119111291#Comment_119111291

Each to their own but if I had silage at 50%dm I’d probably use it for bedding. Somewhere in the high 30’s for dm is the sweet spot in my opinion. And that’s after many years of having it either too dry or too wet but getting it sampled all the time to see what it is and after learning from all the different samples over the years my aim now would always be for around 35 - 40% max.

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119110915#Comment_119110915

In good drying conditions, that’s pretty much ideal. But mowing it dry is the key there.

If Thursday comes wet and Friday morning is a slow day, then I’d hold off on mowing until it’s dry (assuming you’re following the forecast for this week?)

weatherbyfoxer

90 acres of first cut to shake out for a customer in the morning was mowed today will be in the pit Friday,plenty of drying in the wind and sun at the minute

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119113868#Comment_119113868

It’ll be good and wet in the morning will it not.

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119113885#Comment_119113885

not giving much rain up here so far anyway,will be shaken out regardless once it stops

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119114183#Comment_119114183

None given for here either so I knocked 16 acres for bales. Just finished now

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119114183#Comment_119114183

What's a good tedder these days? Are lely still rated highly.

Next weeks weather seems to change very often. Hard to say how many dry days we will get at this stage. Contractor not answering my calls, not a good sign that he will be on.

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119114597#Comment_119114597

€12/acre,we run lelys at the moment purely for the fact that customers were mad about them the way they throw grass 4ft in thr air behind them..looks very impressive..wont do any better of a job than a claas,krone or kuhn to be honest

Bass Reeves

That silage is still down. He rowed it yesterday but it will not be able to be collected today. It's still wet here. A lot of rain last night overcast now with bits of showers.

cute geoge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119116499#Comment_119116499

I would not really be worried about neighbours wet silage ,when will you cut yourself ?

I am thinking of choping tomorrow evening ,the weekend looks ok but rain again next week

roosterman71

I'm going to tackle the first lot on Saturday, and bale Sunday evening or late morning Monday. Will leave the next lot for a few days

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119116939#Comment_119116939

I’d say lots of people will be thinking the same looking at the current forecast, not much rain given for the next seven days. Pity it rained so much this week, wet ground isn’t in great shape around here.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119116499#Comment_119116499

Hope they get it okay in the end. Wouldn't like to see anyone get screwed over by a bad decision or weather.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119117101#Comment_119117101

I have being watching the weather since late last week. I could not understand why they decided to cut. The forecast was not any way good on our area and was not set to clear either. When it rained Monday night he should not have allowed the rest to be cut. About 30-40% cut Monday night. It would be different if you were facing the 7th or 10th of June. But the forecast was looking okish for this weekend.

Even at that if he left in in the original row he would have been better off rather than tedding it. Rowing it yesterday made no sense either unless you were picking it up.

funkey_monkey

Local hire place is hiring out a 10ft mower for equivalent of €6/acre. How does paying that work? Surely a day rate would be easier to bill.

Siamsa Sessions

Contractor is mowing 18 acres for me here now. Never had such a big first cut. Paddocks and growth rate are king for small part-timers!

We had a few drops of rain this morning but not enough to wet your head. No rain forecast for the coming days so aiming to bale on Saturday

Nice bit of the grass has headed out but fairly happy overall.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119117044#Comment_119117044

Spreading final split of second cut fert here and ground is just about trafficable, tractor on low profile Michelin x-bibs with the pressure right down and still tracking

20220526_170411.jpg

roosterman71

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119118163#Comment_119118163

Yer steering needs adjustments 😁

The wobbles reminds me of driving the Nuffield. Serious steering wobble in it and ya'd be full time turning the wheel from one side to the other to keep her straight on the road. The old JCB 3C, even with power steering, was worse

Jb1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119118215#Comment_119118215

Never mind the Nuffield, what about the Leyland? Are we due another 'sit back and brace yourselves' silage story where the fendt lies down and the Leyland is hooked into the fusion?

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119118163#Comment_119118163

Ground as dry as bone in West cork

roosterman71

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119120098#Comment_119120098

Very good. If there's no stories then everything went grand. I doubt the leyland will be pulled out of the shed but I might knock a few gardens for people with the Nuffield and 5'6" bamford (bought new in 1985!) for nostalgia purposes. Plus the father would probably like to see them out working again and would get a bit of a lift from seeing it.

Every year though I get a dose of the nerves around this time. What is going to break? What is the backup plan if something does break?

mr.stonewall

Pit silage being knocked as we speak. Pick up this evening. Serious pressure on silage crews at the moment

Dozer1

knocking here today, contractor doesn't seem too busy which is good news!

James2022

I had the mower ready for hay, now the weather forecast has changed to rain. At least I'll get the silage made this weekend.

Bass Reeves

It's being knocked at the moment. Looks like a good crop. One field that was grazed last is a bit light but rest are ok.

mr.stonewall

Pit in and covered. Massive crop and was all grazed tight up to April. All it got was 2500k slurry and 1 ¼ bags of urea in early April. Pit will drop a bit.

Have enough fodder now for a 5 month winter, with what's left over from last from last year.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124006#Comment_119124006

Great feeling enjoy a few pints over the weekend!!!!!

Danzy

Drove by swarts today in Blarney that were as high and wide as I have ever seen.

funkey_monkey

Aiming for mid/late June depending on the weather. Nothing cut around here, but a few of the diary lads nearby have gone for it. June into July is the main silage time.

Going to get it sprayed for docks within the next few days.

Grueller

16 acres yielded 131 bales here. Grazed tight and 3500 gallons of slurry and a bag and a half of CAN. Growing 6 weeks.

Mooooo

Some mown, rest in the morning. Bulky enough with a share of older fields after heading out. Hope to be in Sunday hopefully. Finish off a busy week

Contractor is on about cutting Sunday and baling on Monday. Will get rained on lightly, 3-5 mm. Should I go with that?

Pussyhands

Some amount of knowledge needed to be a farmer. How is someone supposed to learn it all and remember it. What fertiliser to put on and the amount of it in addition to slurry, how long after spreading manure you can cut, how dry it needs to be to cut, how long it needs to be left to dry out, how to know estimate of DM%, what makes up different quality of silage, what type of silage needs to be given to types of cattle and when.

Fair play to you all

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124765#Comment_119124765

Lots of jobs require specialist knowledge. However a lit is repetitive. The amount of fertlizer and slurry are just calculations. Of the nutrients involved.

It's very rewarding from the fact you are working with living things whether it animals or plant's. A lot can go too technical in measuring grass or wanting to cut in a very specific time period.

However it's often getting on with it. Contractor had a problem yesterday evening so he just cut in the fields ( cut the first few rows and the headlands. I had to hop up and do the centers if the fields. Nothing too stressful just getting it done.

He collected the tractor this morning and headed off again

Dunedin

I’d say the real reason for the champions league final delay is to allow everyone to finish their silage. Delivered by Beef Plan. 👏👏👏

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124765#Comment_119124765

As the local co op owner says, the farmers are more worried about the DM% in silage than the suckler cow who actually eats it.(obviously more critical for dairy)

Get the soil tested for what it needs, anyone that thinks they know what they are at without measuring is bluffing.

Cutting silage is mostly in God's hands because of the uncontrollable variables.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119128597#Comment_119128597

How much does it cost to get soil tested? Would you do it on all your land or just silage ground?

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119128697#Comment_119128697

Its poc money to get it done.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119128697#Comment_119128697

Testing is no problem. The question is whether it's economical to correct the imbalances. Farming is a technical, non technical business. It's not about efficiency all the time, often it's about economic return.

On one side you have farmers working 60-70 hours weeks running a business, mainly dairy or tillage that may or may not have a decent return.

On the other side you have smaller farmers running beef and sheep enterprise's where the main factors should be return per hour of work input

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124419#Comment_119124419

87 bales from 11 acres here. Grass was heavy as half of it was reseeded ground. My man is well known for packing the bales. Cut 1pm Friday, tedded straight away and baled 4pm yesterday.

grass was in perfect order. Great comfort in that weather.

K.G.

We seem to have had fairly heavy cuts off little fert this year.ground wasn't grazed and only got2k slurry and 45units of cut sward, meant to top it up but it was too far a long when I looked at it again.i m just wondering do I need to put out extra for second cut to compensate for less on the first cut.has reserves of npk of some kind been used so do indeed to replace them.put out 2 slurry and 45 units again for cutting first week july

Siamsa Sessions

Got 200 bales from 18 acres here. Strange thing to say but I’d have preferred less than 11 bales/acre!

Good stuff thou I think. Flew thru the baler the contractor said.

Grazed in mid-March to early April. Most got 2 bags of 18-6-12 but some were paddocks that were gone too strong.

Can’t get anyone to draw them in so at myself with bale handlers on front and back of the tractor. Two at a time. Painful stuff.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119129340#Comment_119129340

Can you get a young lad with a handy tractor and a single bale handler behind it.

We are.lycky to have a second tractor. It's a two wheel drive. As the lad on the other tractor has only the loader and a single handler as well it really speeds it up. The 2wd will bring in as many bales as the 4wd. One of my young lads would alway be around. They usually go on the .4wd. I be flying bring in with the 2wd. It's more more nimble around the yard and turning

mr.stonewall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119129138#Comment_119129138

The question to ask is how are currently fixed with fodder in the yard for winter 22. If you have enough with a buffer you have the option of going with less, if not you will have to feed it. Moisture and heat are the key conditions for growth. We have heat in the ground now and moisture is ok. P and K are being maintained by slurry. The pit here has a serious crop and only got 55units of urea and 2.5k of slurry all grazed this spring

Background N can be released by cracking in the soil after drought conditions or after ploughing grassland. This may have helped from last year with the 1st cut.

I'm not stocked heavily here with beef cattle. Won't be running with N until late August to build covers, even then it will be about 10units/AC. Otherwise I will have a serious bale stack

Siamsa Sessions

Question for ye: I’m lining up bales outside for weanlings that’ll be out wintered on rape. Does it matter if the bales are flat on the ground as they are off the wrapper, or should I tip them up on their side?