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Silage from lawn clippings.

  • 06-08-2020 12:08pm
    #1
    Up Donegal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,236 ✭✭✭


    Theoretically, could silage be made from lawn clippings?


Comments

  • #2
    Gods Gift
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,713 ✭✭✭Gods Gift


    Up Donegal wrote: »
    Theoretically, could silage be made from lawn clippings?

    Yes.
    But big m”s don’t like rockerys, patios or working around bouncing castles and trampolines.


  • #3
    alps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,091 ✭✭✭alps


    Up Donegal wrote: »
    Theoretically, could silage be made from lawn clippings?

    Absolutely NOT....

    Dont leave lawn clippings anywhere near farm animals, particularly bovine..

    Risk of canine neospora is far too high and damage near irreversible


  • #4
    Danzy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,133 ✭✭✭✭Danzy


    Up Donegal wrote: »
    Theoretically, could silage be made from lawn clippings?

    No,disease issues, also it won't "cure" properly.


  • #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 24,714 ✭ [Deleted User]


    alps wrote: »
    Absolutely NOT....

    Dont leave lawn clippings anywhere near farm animals, particularly bovine..

    Risk of canine neospora is far too high and damage near irreversible

    We have fed the grass from the lawn to the cows for many years (as far back as I can remember actually) never had an issue, they go mad for it minute the mower starts they are over to the wall looking in.

    We don’t have dogs either though. Surely it’s not much more of a risk in lawn clippings than dogs running around fields, climbing on silage in at feedbarriers etc which you regularly see.


  • #6
    _Brian
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,618 ✭✭✭✭_Brian


    We don’t have dogs.
    Cattle sometimes eat some of the clippings out under the wire.

    I wouldn’t let them free access to the clippings, you can see how they love them though, would eat a serious belly full if they had the chance.


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  • #7
    kollegeknight
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,327 ✭✭✭kollegeknight


    You can buy a mini round baler for your lawnmower. Bulling money though.


    I’ve a neighbour who’s dogs never leave our silage field, no matter the requests and so far nothing from cattle with poisoning from their dung.


  • #8
    jimini0
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,102 ✭✭✭jimini0


    We lost a cow with her time up carrying twins. She ate a belly full of lawn cuttings that a new blow in neighbour fired over the fence. Now i can't 100% blame the grass but it probablycontributed to it. . She lied down but in an awkward position and rolled over trying to get up.
    By the time I got the call that she was down, she was nearly gone. Another Neighbour who is the next best thing to a vet arrived straight away. He tried to cut the calves out but they were dead along with the cow. The blown in got a very nice visit from me.
    So lesson learned never again will grass cutting be anywhere near my farm


  • #9
    kerryjack
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,579 ✭✭✭kerryjack


    jimini0 wrote: »
    We lost a cow with her time up carrying twins. She ate a belly full of lawn cuttings that a new blow in neighbour fired over the fence. Now i can't 100% blame the grass but it probablycontributed to it. . She lied down but in an awkward position and rolled over trying to get up.
    By the time I got the call that she was down, she was nearly gone. Another Neighbour who is the next best thing to a vet arrived straight away. He tried to cut the calves out but they were dead along with the cow. The blown in got a very nice visit from me.
    So lesson learned never again will grass cutting be anywhere near my farm

    It was nice to be able to take your anger out on someone, neighbour shouldn't have been throghing clippings out over fence ni harm to give him a bolacking, dirty thing, I had a lad through a matrass that he tried to burn over fence, same crowd has a 191 car, wouldn't pay for a skip.


  • #10
    J.O. Farmer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,478 ✭✭✭J.O. Farmer


    kerryjack wrote: »
    It was nice to be able to take your anger out on someone, neighbour shouldn't have been throghing clippings out over fence ni harm to give him a bolacking, dirty thing, I had a lad through a matrass that he tried to burn over fence, same crowd has a 191 car, wouldn't pay for a skip.

    To be fair most people would think feeding the cattle lawn clippings was a good thing.
    Not many people would try to dump a half burned mattress in someone else's field.


  • #11
    9935452
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,787 ✭✭✭9935452


    kerryjack wrote: »
    It was nice to be able to take your anger out on someone, neighbour shouldn't have been throghing clippings out over fence ni harm to give him a bolacking, dirty thing, I had a lad through a matrass that he tried to burn over fence, same crowd has a 191 car, wouldn't pay for a skip.

    I mow silage for a contractor and its amazing how many houses just dump the grass over the back fence even if its into a drain
    A field i was in a few weeks ago one house had a 4ft timber gate in the fence to drive out their ride on lawnmower to dump the grass in a silage field.


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  • #12
    Up Donegal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,236 ✭✭✭Up Donegal


    O.P. here.

    Thanks for all the replies.

    I understand that clippings from a lawn that was grown from lawn seed might be dodgy but what about clippings from lawns that weren't seeded but were left to grow in naturally with the same grass that's all around the place?. Would silage made from that be the same as silage that's made in an adjoining field?


  • #13
    Hard Knocks
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,077 ✭✭✭Hard Knocks


    Up Donegal wrote: »
    O.P. here.

    Thanks for all the replies.

    I understand that clippings from a lawn that was grown from lawn seed might be dodgy but what about clippings from lawns that weren't seeded but were left to grow in naturally with the same grass that's all around the place?. Would silage made from that be the same as silage that's made in an adjoining field?
    If a tractor and mower is used you should be fine
    It’s the lawnmower that caused the issue more than the grass type


  • #14
    SouthWesterly
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,930 ✭✭✭SouthWesterly


    Hard Knocks wrote: »
    If a tractor and mower is used you should be fine
    It’s the lawnmower that caused the issue more than the grass type

    What do you mean?


  • #15
    Hard Knocks
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,077 ✭✭✭Hard Knocks


    SouthWesterly wrote: »
    What do you mean?
    Grass cut with a lawnmower heats and causes it to rot


  • #16
    893bet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,152 ✭✭✭893bet


    Hard Knocks wrote: »
    Grass cut with a lawnmower heats and causes it to rot

    Why does it heat more from lawnmower? As the lawnmower damages it more rather than cutting it cleanly?


  • #17
    Buford T. Justice XIX
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,633 ✭✭✭✭Buford T. Justice XIX


    Up Donegal wrote: »
    O.P. here.

    Thanks for all the replies.

    I understand that clippings from a lawn that was grown from lawn seed might be dodgy but what about clippings from lawns that weren't seeded but were left to grow in naturally with the same grass that's all around the place?. Would silage made from that be the same as silage that's made in an adjoining field?

    If it's thrown in with cattle in the field, it's bad enough for causing disease risks from dog fouling in the lawn.

    If there's a few cuts thrown in on top of each other, it heats while breaking down. The grass on the inside will preserve but the grass on the outside, being exposed to oxygen, will begin to rot. Animals, and especially sheep, will nose through the rotting stuff to get at the preserved grass and will end up getting listeriosis.

    https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/listeriosis-in-sheep-and-goats

    So just don't throw your clippings over the wall. It's your waste and your responsibility to dispose of it properly. And properly means not over the wall.


  • #18
    johnb25
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 503 ✭✭✭johnb25


    Kind of a related question.
    I have accumulated a heap of lawn clippings in a corner.
    If thrown in with farmyard manure would they be beneficial when spread on the land. Thinking nitrogen would be good for grass. Lawn is never sprayed.


  • #19
    gozunda
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    Best idea for lawns is to buy a mulching lawnmower. No need to dispose of lawn clippings at all.

    A good one will leave virtually no visible residue and the mulched grass helps feed the lawn and cutting time is reduced considerably.


  • #20
    893bet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,152 ✭✭✭893bet


    gozunda wrote: »
    Best idea for lawns is to buy a mulching lawnmower. No need to dispose of lawn clippings at all.

    A good one will leave virtually no visible residue and the mulched grass helps feed the lawn and cutting time is reduced considerably.

    But you gotta cut every 4-5 days is the catch when mulching.


  • #21
    gozunda
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    893bet wrote: »
    But you gotta cut every 4-5 days is the catch when mulching.

    no - cutting interval will vary considerably with rate of grass growth and weather.

    I've used both types and the non mulching lawnmowers are just a pain in the hole by compsrison.


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  • #22
    893bet
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,152 ✭✭✭893bet


    gozunda wrote: »
    no - cutting interval will vary considerably with rate of grass growth and weather.

    I've used both types and the non mulching lawnmowers are just a pain in the hole by compsrison.

    Of course but peak summer it’s every 4-5 days for mulching.


  • #23
    johnb25
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 503 ✭✭✭johnb25


    893bet wrote: »
    Of course but peak summer it’s every 4-5 days for mulching.

    The mower I have is dual purpose, has a shutter to close the chute for mulching. If you don't get the grass while short and dry the clippings just clog the deck. Very hard to get grass dry over the past few weeks. Robot is on the wish list, but for the moment I have a pile of old clippings to deal with.


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