Silage thread

kevthegaff · 09-07-2013 10:15AM

going at mine today, is it too dry to spread fertilliser on it, will it just sit on the ground, was gona spread 27 2.5 5

delaval · 09-07-2013 02:48PM

Muckit wrote: »

Is this second cut or strong paddocks? If second cut, how long closed?

Second cut, 25-5 cut first time

bob charles · 09-07-2013 03:13PM

I have second cut that will be going to stem in the next few days, first cut done coming up to 5 weeks ago but if I leave it another week it will be all stem whereas if I cut now there will be no regrowth as it will cake on the land its on. Left grow away it will keep growing all be it with some stem. decisions decisions, failing that I could just go for a beverage, thats a decision which is always right.

kevthegaff · 10-07-2013 05:47AM

halfway through mine 35 loads of 28 acres, prob another 50 off the remainind 42 acres grand looking stuff, wont be finished till thsi evening 10 mile draw! for the 42 acres

delaval · 10-07-2013 06:39AM

kevthegaff wrote: »

halfway through mine 35 loads of 28 acres, prob another 50 off the remainind 42 acres grand looking stuff, wont be finished till thsi evening 10 mile draw! for the 42 acres

Is it wagon or conventional?

kevthegaff · 10-07-2013 08:08AM

delaval wrote: »

Is it wagon or conventional?

conventional so ill have to pay a bit more for the long draw id say

Timmaay · 10-07-2013 12:35PM

http://www.teagasc.ie/news/2013/201307-10.asp national average deficit of 12%, lower than I would have expected, given the amount of negative coverage the whole thing was getting.

What has anyones fodderplan told them anyways? I did out two of them, my dad told me to do it for a full 5months winter, and I also included a 20% buffer, in fairness thats the amount of fodder we'd usually have, we almost always have some to spare and its only recently that we let out the cows in early feb. The teagasc fodder sheet told me I would be 37% short!! I did another one for a 3month winter, and the 20% extra also, this said I was bang on target. I know the pits will be full after 2nd cut and I wont be short based on previous years!

restive · 10-07-2013 11:07PM

I baled a field on 31st May. I then applied 74 units nitrogen 24 p and 48 k to the field. I was going to bale silage again in august. Should i apply more nitrogen or leave as is?

mahoney_j · 10-07-2013 11:13PM

restive wrote: »

I baled a field on 31st May. I then applied 74 units nitrogen 24 p and 48 k to the field. I was going to bale silage again in august. Should i apply more nitrogen or leave as is?

I made pit 2 days later and put on 80 units of n as well as p and k .i cut Tuesday and am putting in pit tomorrow.it will be heavier than first cut and quality should be very good.my advice is cut now whilst weather is favourable it may not be so good when u want to cut in August.

just do it · 11-07-2013 12:38AM

just do it wrote: »

Walked silage field today now 28days after getting 3 bags of CAN & S. I soil tested it this Spring and pH is good and it's Index 4 for both P & K. Very disappointed with yield and need as many bales as I can get for this winter. Had originally planned to cut at ~7wks but now looking at leaving it for 10 weeks (on holidays week 8 & 9).

Was 95% decided on reseeding it before today's walk but now 100%. It's basically knackered! Looking at a 3 way mix of Tyrella, Aberchoice and Aston energy. 12kg/ac?

What a difference a week makes. Walked field today and it has thickened up nicely. Swinging back towards cutting earlier and going for quality

Mulumpy · 11-07-2013 05:57PM

restive wrote: »

I baled a field on 31st May. I then applied 74 units nitrogen 24 p and 48 k to the field. I was going to bale silage again in august. Should i apply more nitrogen or leave as is?

It depends on whether your short silage or not.I cut first of june top quality stuff but I'll be short unless get bit of bulk this time. Gonna wait til early aug to cut. I always think its odd that lads go mad for top quality second cut when its usually fed to dry cows and then they've to add expensive straw bales to stop them getting too fat.

mahoney_j · 11-07-2013 07:25PM

Mulumpy wrote: »

It depends on whether your short silage or not.I cut first of june top quality stuff but I'll be short unless get bit of bulk this time. Gonna wait til early aug to cut. I always think its odd that lads go mad for top quality second cut when its usually fed to dry cows and then they've to add expensive straw bales to stop them getting too fat.

Always aim for top quality first cut(75 dmd plus ) and good quality secobd(70 plus dmd).stock will need a lot less high dmd silage to achieve good weight gain.protein will also be a lot higher.whereas poor quality stemmy silage will mean you have to supplement with 18 to 20% protein ration or nut and live weight gain will be a lot less.as for straw I always include it in dry cow diets for 2 reasons 1 to stop cows getting too fat and secondly to set stomach /gut up for post calving .straw is a lot cheaper than ration.have 40 big 8x4x3 bales of wheaten straw ordered at 25 a bale delivered

Mulumpy · 11-07-2013 09:09PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

Always aim for top quality first cut(75 dmd plus ) and good quality secobd(70 plus dmd).stock will need a lot less high dmd silage to achieve good weight gain.protein will also be a lot higher.whereas poor quality stemmy silage will mean you have to supplement with 18 to 20% protein ration or nut and live weight gain will be a lot less.as for straw I always include it in dry cow diets for 2 reasons 1 to stop cows getting too fat and secondly to set stomach /gut up for post calving .straw is a lot cheaper than ration.have 40 big 8x4x3 bales of wheaten straw ordered at 25 a bale delivered

Your prob right on that but as I see it feeding straw needs a diet feeder and that's an extra cost and extra labour time which I don't have. I don't feed meal to milking cows over the winter and have no probs with them getting fat

Timmaay · 11-07-2013 11:59PM

Largely what we do also Mulmpy, no diet feeder either. We most certainly had afew difficult calvings last dec/jan (big calves, or cows retaining clearing etc), and I'm wondering how much of it was down to the drycows getting too much good silage. Annoyingly though, a good few of those same cows lost condition overnight after calving, I'm guess that was due to them calving down on in winter, and being fed exclusivity silage for the 1st 6wks or so of their lactation.

Actually my dad was suggesting we buy in a decent bit of hay now, seeing as there is quite alot saved and its going relatively cheap in our area, my 1st answer was why, and what were we going to feed it to! Would it be an idea to let the drycows eat it, Would I get away without a dietfeeder or would they just go for the silage and leave the hay behind? Or will the hay have too much energy over straw?

Mulumpy · 12-07-2013 10:17AM

Timmaay wrote: »

Largely what we do also Mulmpy, no diet feeder either. We most certainly had afew difficult calvings last dec/jan (big calves, or cows retaining clearing etc), and I'm wondering how much of it was down to the drycows getting too much good silage. Annoyingly though, a good few of those same cows lost condition overnight after calving, I'm guess that was due to them calving down on in winter, and being fed exclusivity silage for the 1st 6wks or so of their lactation.

Actually my dad was suggesting we buy in a decent bit of hay now, seeing as there is quite alot saved and its going relatively cheap in our area, my 1st answer was why, and what were we going to feed it to! Would it be an idea to let the drycows eat it, Would I get away without a dietfeeder or would they just go for the silage and leave the hay behind? Or will the hay have too much energy over straw?

Im spring calving so usually go straight to grass asap. Only use hay here for few days when drying cows off late november and also mix a bit with straw to feed to calves while housed.

hugo29 · 16-07-2013 10:04AM

last of the first cut knocked yesterday, going to be a long evening drawing bales this evening after work:(

delaval · 16-07-2013 10:07AM

hugo29 wrote: »

last of the first cut knocked yesterday, going to be a long evening drawing bales this evening after work:(

Would your contractor be willing to do it, for a fee of course?
Our guy will do it if needed

Sami23 · 16-07-2013 10:16AM

delaval wrote: »

Would your contractor be willing to do it, for a fee of course?
Our guy will do it if needed

Why pay someone when you can do it yourself

hugo29 · 16-07-2013 10:18AM

delaval wrote: »

Would your contractor be willing to do it, for a fee of course?
Our guy will do it if needed

no, he wouldnt have time, couple lads around I could ask, i always find no one minds yer bales like yerself, anyway 5-6 hours on the tractor with headphones on is always a break

dzer2 · 16-07-2013 10:22AM

hugo29 wrote: »

no, he wouldnt have time, couple lads around I could ask, i always find no one minds yer bales like yerself, anyway 5-6 hours on the tractor with headphones on is always a break

11 yr old twins had bales drew to house as I was baling.:D:D

hugo29 · 16-07-2013 10:24AM

dzer2 wrote: »

11 yr old twins had bales drew to house as I was baling.:D:D

are they available this evening,

did ya blindfold their mother

Dampintheattic · 16-07-2013 10:26AM

Have 11 acres of ground fertilized for second cut. 3 bags Sul CAN plus slurry.
Nitrogen would be used up mid next week, based on 2 units per day rule of thumb.
I already have enough fodder in store, and thinking of going for hay with the second cut, as hay stores longer / better than silage.
Of course I'm banking on the weather holding up.

Would this kind of pure grassy second cut stuff, be very difficult to save / preserve as hay? Should I stick with the silage plan?

Dampintheattic · 16-07-2013 10:30AM

hugo29 wrote: »

no, he wouldnt have time, couple lads around I could ask, i always find no one minds yer bales like yerself, anyway 5-6 hours on the tractor with headphones on is always a break

Nothing, but nothing drives me more mental, than seeing lads working / operating machinery, and wearing headphones. But I'm a dinosaur:rolleyes:

hugo29 · 16-07-2013 10:43AM

Dampintheattic wrote: »

Nothing, but nothing drives me more mental, than seeing lads working / operating machinery, and wearing headphones. But I'm a dinosaur:rolleyes:

seriously, would you not drive the car with the radio on, do you have a radio in the tractor,
maybe its just me but I find it breaks the boredom of drawing bales

Dampintheattic · 16-07-2013 11:20AM

hugo29 wrote: »

seriously, would you not drive the car with the radio on, do you have a radio in the tractor,
maybe its just me but I find it breaks the boredom of drawing bales

Drive car with radio on. Tractor way too noisy to hear radio.
The dinosaur in me, just thinks listening through ear phones, would make a person far less aware of other things going on around you, than listening to normal radio. I guess, I think, the earphones block out everything else.
Does that make sense? I think so .... but I was wrong once before:rolleyes:

dzer2 · 16-07-2013 02:03PM

hugo29 wrote: »

are they available this evening,

did ya blindfold their mother

Gone shopping:eek:

freedominacup · 18-07-2013 01:20AM

First silage in pits for this year yesterday (Wed). Grass undersown with 4 stone barley 10 weeks ago. Contractor reckoned it did around 12-13 tonnes per acre based on weighings he did last week with wagon. DM close to 30% IMO. We didn't wilt for long as we were concerned barley would start to go strawey(?) if that's a word? if we wilted too long.

Wholecrop in around 10 days which should get us most of the way over the line for next winters requirements.

I'm debating whether to stop second cut or blanket spread all grass with 50 units and lift the surpluses as they appear if/when the rain comes. Any thoughts?

bob charles · 18-07-2013 01:29AM

Second cut was very very light here, got a big blast of slurry and 40units of n, but all heading to seed and first cut was under 40 days ago. god only knows when 3rd cut may happen given that there aint much going to grow for weeks

freedominacup · 18-07-2013 01:40AM

bob charles wrote: »

Second cut was very very light here, got a big blast of slurry and 40units of n, but all heading to seed and first cut was under 40 days ago. god only knows when 3rd cut may happen given that there aint much going to grow for weeks

10 days is more than enough to get seed heads around here and has been for at least a forthnight.

darragh_haven · 18-07-2013 09:41AM

Going knocking second cut tomorrow. It'd do with 3 or 4 more days but there is talk of thunder storms here on monday/Tuesday. I think its better to have it in the pit dry and in great condition rather than taking the chance with it after the weekend

Silage thread

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