Silage 2022

You getting the pig slurry for free so far? Zone C here, pig booked to come here for free, so will start looking it any day, it won't be there for long.

That field must of been black with bales. 8 bales chopped, wilted and from a fusion is a good crop here. You must have someone else spreading your fertilizer to make a mistake.

Spreading 3k gallons of slurry on silage ground atm

will spread 80 units N on it in 2 splits and cut it mid may

Yes it was desperate heavy, a kind of garden meadow that I put out 3 bags/acre then the young fella went over it again about 2 weeks after with another 3 bags. Quality was shite too, loads of docks through it but they were as big as jungle plants that the cows don't eat so I'm everyday filling a wheelbarrow full of dock stems.

Plan on going out to silage ground with dribble bar early to mid March and two bags of can a couple of weeks after weather depending. Hope for the best after that. Will only need one cut.

Will you graze it first? Would always try to graze first even the start of April, don't always manage but try to

Aim to get slurry out on as much as ground as possible and graze every thing and fertilise for silage then when situation is clearer

I get it delivered by lorry and tank, its drew free of charge during winter months, when piggery is under pressure, but usually there's an 80 euro charge in summer when every man is looking it.

Maps to cover the slurry leaves it free too, unlike farms that can't supply maps.

Get as much as you can anyway if possible, as you say, first come first served.

No haven’t grazed it the last couple years, it’s away ground and our heifers are contract reared

Lads with no slurry or fertiliser are ya at nothing making bales . I know quantity be down but would quality be bad as in stemy with no base.its a outfarm usually shake a ton of fertiliser on it bout 9 acres.

Intend to graze off silage ground in mid/late March. Then 2.5-3k gallons/ acre with a dribble bar. Follow that with 1.5 bags of urea/ acre parcel n early April. 95-100 units if N. Never use CAN for first cut.

Plan to cut ASAP after the 25th May

It's the calendar farmers that end up making wet sloppy silage. I'd be more flexible with the dates and prepared to wait weeks for a dry spell rather than make up stuff in wet weather.

It's a balance you do not want seed heads, flowering is ok. It's about a weather window from the 20/5-10/6. Ideally yow want it the 25-30/5 but you want +37DM but you do not want seed heads.

When do you get bag manure out to cut so early? What do you spread?

Have to disagree whit that. I think the number one reason lads don’t make a turn from beef is they make crap silage.

”I make great silage” they cry “look how dry it is”

normally it’s dry because it’s stemmy as hell and cut in mid June.

Too much emphasis is put on DM. Yes really wet stuff will decrease intakes but that once you get past 35% DM it just means they need to drink more water. Imagine eating dry bread. You would need a cut of tea to wash it down.

now toast that bread and you would need a big mug of tea.

As for early silage being expensive, if you make bales it’s only your mowing that is more expensive. You are paying per bale for baling and wrapping

I have to disagree, cattle thrive better on higher DM silage. They spend more time lying down. In winter temp drop to an average of less than 10C. Cattle digest at 40%DM. But no matter how low DM is cattle will still intake a certain amount to clean there digestive tract.

An animal eating 40-50%DM silage will not take in much more water than at 40DM due to needing some water to clean digestive tract. However an animal eating 25%DM silage will still take in a certain amount of water to clear digestive tract. Now if the animal is 500kgs it will need 10kgs DM/day. To consume that it needs to take in and dispose of 15L +the extra water it intakes. That water needs to be risen from below 10C to an animal body heat at nearly 40C. That requires a nice bit of energy.

I feed no ration to stores over the winter. They thrive way better on low DM silage. I graze silage ground in late march and ground is closed by April 1st.all ground gets 2.5-3k gallons of slurry by a dribble bar. That should provide about 25units N/acres. After that it will get 1.5bags of N/acre.

At that I will get 8 bales of high DM silage/acre. If it was low DM it would be hitting 11. The extra 3 bales per acre would cost an extra 33-35euro/ acre between contractor charge, plastic and drawing into the yard. Plastic will not be a significant savings as I use 5 layers on higher DM silage compared to 4 on lower DM silage.

Maybe if you are feeding ration which is 85% DM then lower DM silage may be easier for animals to intake. However where silage is fed by itself to stores then high DM is a way better feed.

At present I have cattle in two bay pens. 22 stores eat 2 bales in three days, the feedface is completely cleaned after day three so they would probably eat a tad more. At a guess they are eating 9.5kgs DM/day. Each bale has over 300kgs DM IMO and are about 700kgs in weights. They are made with a Krone Handling heavier bales is a pain as well with great risk of damage when handling. Contractor uses one of the Kuhn balers I think. It can vary the size of the bales.

Ah, the annual debate about the best time to cut Silage. The best time here is anytime when i can get the baler in and out of the fields without ploughing them and burying the baler in one of the numerous “wet spots”.

If the weather is good enough 48 hours is adequate. However I am not afraid to let it down until the afternoon of the third day. A few years ago contractor had the rake moving 10-12 hours ahead of him now it's just ahead of him. That was worth an extra 4-5 hours wilt.

I heard all this about lower P & sugars. Cattle thrive well on it. With the calcium I provide they grow well over the winter anyway. I do not test silage. I have it tested and told I needed to feed 2kgs/ head per day. A few years ago I had wet silage, the pain of drawing it in 3 bales extra per acre, feeding 17-20 bales per week as opposed to 12-14 and I could nothing extra in the cattle

You do not get paid for extra cost in beef when they are hanging.

If you are feeding ration the gap may not be as much as you think. There is a lot of P&K in rations. 5 KGS of P/ ton fed

I use 18-6-12 on second cut. Urea cannot be used on second cut usually. It's the cheapest form of N and is ideal for first cut

I wouldn't agree. On wet land you have a long winter. You are limited to a two cut system. You really need a bulky first cut. I be aiming for the 20tt May to 10th June window. If you have suckler's you are looking for bulk more than quality for cows.

If you cut in late May you have a late July target for second cut.