Silage 2022

Don't let it head out would be the first step anyway.

There is a Silage 2022 thread already, maybe @blue5000 could merge this in with it?

There is an analysis you can get done on grass before cutting but it’s not something a lot of lads would do. Usually it’s a service that might be provided by an additive supplier if you are using a reasonable amount of their product but how accurate the results might be from someone trying to sell you a product they claim will improve your silage could be questionable!

A test like that is not really necessary. If you want high dmd silage you need to be cutting before it’s headed out. Heading date for the majority of grasses grown in Ireland would be around the 20th May. So if you want high dmd silage you need to be mowing it around that time. Heading date stays practically the same regardless of the amount of fertiliser used.

While dmd is important it’s not the be all and end all on silage quality as some advisory organisations will try to persuade you! Dry Matter is also as, or possibly more, important and for young stock and weanlings protein is equally as important. To have the best balance between quality silage and bulk it needs to be well fertilised, cut when less than 25-30% of the grass has headed out and dried and baled as quick as possible then.

If it’s cut in 25 degrees plus and lovely breezy days then that’s a very simple job and spread wide with a conditioner mower, left for 24-36 hours, raked up and left half a day in the rows then that should be sufficient. If the weather is not as favourable it will need to be tedded out. This will help to dry it. Some lads will tell you tedding is only wasting money and if they weather is right I’d agree with them but if the weather isn’t right then it’s a job that has to be done. Leaving the cut grass any longer than 48 hours on the ground starts to quickly reduce the protein content and while you dm and dmd may still be sufficient you will still need expensive soya or ration in the winter to balance for the lack of protein.

Somewhere in the mid 30’s I find the best for dm%. Under 30 and it’s too wet and creates a lot of work handling them along with it going sour if bales aren’t used relatively quick after opening in winter. Over 40 and you’re getting towards haylage more than silage and that might be fine for your dry cows but not as good for young stock that need the power to grow.

The other thing I try and get customers who want quality silage to do is not to be trying to cut all the silage at one time. Aim to have your silage spread over a few weeks and that way if weather turns bad you won’t get caught with it all. Also try and make your priority silage first, ie. the best silage you need. At least then if you get enough of that at the beginning of the season your’re not as worried about getting it in later cuts. I’d have lads that decide to cut their dry cow silage first to get bulk, they leave it grow til mid June and get a heavy poor quality crop that they're delighted with for cows. Then they aim for a quality second cut for young stock, the weather could go against them and it ends up as poor quality silage as well. Now you have a whole winter of buying extra ration to compensate for the silage. So that’s why I’d be saying to lads to aim for their best quality silage first.

That's exactly correct, and the one piece of info as regards fert that I forgot to put into my post.

Check your local co op. They might test it for you and give you an idea of what it’s like. When it’s gonna be costly, you might as well do it right.

Going mowing 9 acres for the BIL as soon as weather sorts itself out after this cold spell

One day. It hardly even needed it as it very dry. You’d probably get away with mowing and baling on the same day.

Measured some swards of standing grass at 25 and 26% DM this week.

I was shocked, but that's what sun, frost and an east wind can do at this time of year.

Not my call

Got another Silage field finished grazed today. I went out with 3k Gallons of Slurry / acre. It's on good land so I'm hoping the slurry might be enough to get a crop. If not I'll just let it grow away until July and take a crop of hay instead weather permitting.

You’d want a real heat wave to kill meadow grass that got slurry for hay

Slurry on 10 days and has dried on now.

Any thoughts?

Will it was wash down with enough rain in time, sit on the grass and come back in the silage, damage the reseed underneath?

Can burst it up with a grass harrow, or is it just harmless?

Same happened a neighbour here and he left it last year and cut away on his silage after. No harm seems to have been done even though you could still see the traces of the lines of slurry on the ground after mowing.