jaymla627 wrote: » It's all farm specific, have 60 acres here that I haven't been able to get out on since the middle of September and will be lucky to get out on in march, 75% of ground farmed at the minute isn't travelable with a tractor, and I live at the foot of a mountain with temperatures below freezing the past 3 weeks at night, would the ole urea work for us in your expert opinion
mahoney_j wrote: » I follow research but I also farm with a bit of common sense and respect for tbf environment and also my pocket ..I went with a bag of urea last janurary cause conditions and weather were favourable ,there anything but atm so I’m using common sense .did I read somewhere else a few weeks back u were dissapointed with winter growth ????,
charolais0153 wrote: » There is also an argument that you should have more slurry storage so that you dont have to pollute the environment
mahoney_j wrote: » Yes and I’ve a question for u is it ok to leave slurry up through slats ???,slurry is more about p and k for me than n at this time of year .farmers seem to be loosing common sense when it comes to doing certain tasks and just follow the speil thrown out by certain journos .grass won’t grow when ground temps are under 6 and when ground is borderline too wet why go out and compact it .ive seen no data yet nor can I see with current weather how soil temps could be any higher .nothing only reckless spreading it ,ei
GrasstoMilk wrote: » Fair enough. I'm following research and I trust it more than someone who hasn't done the research. I'm also doing what has worked here for the last number of years since I started spreading early urea. It might not be working today but the days the soil temps are up my grass will be growing while yours is still in the bag. I've a south facing farm and get good winter growth and got decent winter growth compared to most this year, grass has nothing left in it come this time of the year to keep going.
GrasstoMilk wrote: » So it's okay for slurry but not urea? They are both the same forms of N
mahoney_j wrote: » I’m keeping an eye on weather forum and you would have to be worried looking at it .this is the latest I ever remember having no urea out and this is an early farm .cows are out and slurry just about going out but ground temps still just over 5
jaymla627 wrote: » If the easterly front mt cranium is talking about sets in, lads would be better spending the money on feed, looking like a very late spring, a mountain of feed is already being moved around here too
mahoney_j wrote: » But sure your man in the journal said tis ok so it must be ,grsisce consulting on twitter makes perfect sense on this topic .pure pointless spreading atm .
adam14 wrote: » Absolute waste of time spreading fert in this weather and I'm in the south east.
GrasstoMilk wrote: » Fully agree with you on that mooo. But the lads that are out with slurry should be well able to get urea out. Too wet for urea but it's okay to fire out the slurry. It's the same form of nitrogen in both
Mooooo wrote: » Temps not the problem its wet ground. If temps had been the way they have been but less rain I'd have spread 2 weeks ago
Timmaay wrote: » Most yous still waiting to go out with urea? Sitting in the yard here, ground conditions very good the second, hopefully this band tonight and wed won't be too bad, prb go out later in the week across the full farm.
einn32 wrote: » Maybe use a square to clip and weigh so then you will know for sure what's the figure on each paddock.
cathal irwin wrote: » Thanks a million for that, I knew i was wrong. I contacted the company i bought it from, I contacted my Teagasc rep about measuring grass, Pasturebase and no one could me answer. I knew i was wrong by eye balling what was on the ground. I think the silage ground is too strong and needs to cleaned out before i put slurry out on it. But you are 100% right the rest looks like there is very little grass on it and it needs Urea. Should i Take off 1500 from my figures before entering it into Pasturebase
GrasstoMilk wrote: » Ahhhh I was thinking so. Your plate meter is most likely giving you total cover as apposed to cover available. NZ system use 1500 as residual but it's added into what's available, so your paddocks with a cover of 2400 have a cover of 900 in the Irish system. What make is the plate meter? It would be unlikely that ground closed up in November would have 2400 kgs of dry matter Your farm cover is more likely closer to 400, which would mean the farm is fairly bare. If this is the case. Get urea out if you can travel and start grazing with the youngstock. For grass to grow it needs to be eaten off to stimulate it. Try ration out what grass you until to 10-15 th if April. This will set your farm up for the year and you will be able to start a proper rotation then. Farm cover ideally needs to be c 500kg DM/ha at the start of the second round, you're below that already but i would still start grazing if possible to get grass to grow again. Hope this helps
alps wrote: » If a field looked bare, and you gotta reading of 1250, your meter is measuring total covers... This is normal, but to get an available cover you probably need to subtract 1500 or so from the meter figure.. If you give the make of the plate meter, I'm sure someone here will help with instructions...
cathal irwin wrote: » Thanks for that Moo. I don't have to worry about half or tone bags of fertilizer. Its 50kg bags here, we only have a small farm. I was surprised at the readings when i done the grass cover. I just bought a digital plate meter last November. Some of the paddocks that are set aside for Silage had covers around 1250 kg/dm honestly they looked as bare as bones. The fields that hand 2400 had around 10-12 cms of grass in them all be it old grass. The Fields with 2400 need to be grazed as they are silage fields and i could not spread slurry on them or it would destroy the grass
Mooooo wrote: » Check the make of the meter and the readings, some of the lads here would know better than me, the readings may include the residual which would make it look higher the the way it's done here. Grasstomilk above may know Also don't start them on the very strongest stuff, start in paddocks that will be used for grazing .maybe and then when they are used to being back grazing head for the heavier stuff then. What I try to do is go thru grazing ground first and then do the silage ground and the first paddocks grazed should be fit for grazing then once it's all done
