Will you have enough feed for this winter?

whelan2

Did a few silage bales today. We didn't feed anything during the "drought " so we've hopefully enough silage, hay etc to do us. So have you enough feed for winter 2022?

orm0nd

yes

Mooooo

Should be fine. Fed only a few bales and zerograzing grass from outfarm, will make a few bales there next week as well. Quality of silage not great tho. Did a bit on roads this year so will have better access next spring as well

davidk1394

I think so. Made bales a few weeks ago to restock the bales I fed. Zero grazing a load of grass every 2 days to slow down the rotation.

GrasstoMilk

All second cut was fed here. But should be okay have always made sure we have 5 months feed incase we’ve to feed for a month extra

dry cows will be getting a fair bit of straw and soya /barley to stretch what silage is there

Siamsa Sessions

Should be grand here too.

I was measuring grass religiously for a few weeks in early May so I knew how much extra I could cut for silage without running short for grazing.

I assume everyone knows that kinda stuff for their own ground but it’s new to me and worked out well

Danzy

Know people in South county Cork fierce tight and buying in lot's

Grueller

I fed 60% of my second cut. The way the back end has went grass wise I should be OK, but I have bought a month's dry cow feed anyhow. I don't think I'll need it really but it will leave a month's feeding in the pit if I don't and the plus side is the pit is good stuff. Silage is not going to be any cheaper made next year than I paid for the bales so it's as broad as it is long in my view.

funkey_monkey

We'll be okay. We have bales from last year and previous year to use up first. Not sure how much eating is in the 2 year old stuff though.

Might buy in some youngstock later in season when we see how things are panning out.

degetme

How long would a closed silage pit last for?? Last filled in may 2020 and haven't opened it yet and might not need to this winter

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119684875#Comment_119684875

You may have a little bit of waste around the edges but 90% of it will be as good still as the day you put it in.

I remember back in 2001 during the foot and mouth when no stock could be sold, a local dairy man here had over 360 cows at the time. He went so far back into a silage pit that was normally never all used in any year that you could count how many years worth of silage was in the pit based on all the different layers. There was silage there up to 10 years old and it was perfect.

K.G.

Moving culls this week.no matter what price of milk nothing is worth chasing around stressing over trying to get silage.have always had loads of silage and hate being tightest and at end of the day we have had a good year on the milk price front,how much more money do we need to live and a couple of hundred on the culls is going to be the breaking of us

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058265418/will-you-have-enough-feed-for-this-winter

Wouldnt the bales be decent quality considering how mild it has been? Could be a new thing with climate change making more bales later in year due to heatwaves etc

whelan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119685933#Comment_119685933

My opinion is better looking at them than looking for them...

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119685933#Comment_119685933

We've had heatwaves in most decades since I was born and wet years too, I wouldn't be jumping to any conclusions on climate change just yet

_Brian

Should be enough feeding for normal conditions.

jfh

I had to wean most of my sucklers and kept grass for the calves, cows inside on straw, only for that I would be in trouble

Bass Reeves

Places are getting eaten out faster this year than last year. No heavy co ers this autumn. I spread a out 15-20 units N accross the farm as it started to rain after the drought. Had decent growth until now but last rotation starting expect to be fully housed by early November.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119686872#Comment_119686872

I think you need to rotate quicker this time of year. There will be a bit of growth in October.

greenfield21

A year for heavy land it seems but the weather will beat us before we have all grazed round here. Another few weeks of good weather would make all the difference but looking unlikely. Still no silage fed yet which is a big plus.

Mooooo

40 day rotation should be the go of it now, divide the farm by 40 and graze that much a day. The stuff grazed after the first week of Oct shouldn't be grazed again you plan to have stock out early. The paddocks closed early should be for when the stock are used to grazing, early March maybe, the paddocks closed in mid to end of Oct should be for the first grazing as they will the right covers to get em back used to it again and the paddocks closed last will be for the last days of the first round next year. If you can line those up now within reason, in terms of drier fields or fields with better access for early grazing, it should help you to get stock out earlier next year.

Say my name

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687565#Comment_119687565

If there's a benefit to the southern North Atlantic being ravished by hurricanes it's that in such scenarios it often means we get a mild but often wet end of year up to the new year.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687565#Comment_119687565

Any growth from now on will be very light. Maybe on a dairy farm where more fertilizer is used you may get another rotation but on a beef farm covers will be lighter. As well we do not have the benifit of dairy washing which spread during November/ December give a boost of 10+ units N/ acres that helps grass growth.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119687631#Comment_119687631

Slight variation of that on a beef farm. I aim to graze out silage paddocks as early as possible. These will be grazed first in the spring. I have some good quality second cut bales. Cattle will. E sorted next week anything that willbe going off grass in 2-3 weeks will be left outside. I have 10 bullocks that need 6-8 weeks they will go inside on this good silage 5-6 kgs of ration.

The farm is grazed out then when it's gone it's gone. No supplementation to stores so not really worried about 40 days

Mooooo

Every place is different once an effort is made to get out early I think the benefits are there. We do the opposite with silage, graze it last to allow early grazed paddocks to get a cover and as growth comes generally silage is closed then. Doesn't always work put that's what we try, have less dedicated silage ground at home tho.