Fodder for next winter - how you fixed?

Muckit · 03-07-2015 2:36pm #1

Well how are lads getting on? All contractors seem to be reporting light first cuts. Not surprising really with the harsh weather right up into June effecting growth.

I think most lads have a good bit of stuff left from last year that should help.

How you fixed?

bogman_bass · 03-07-2015 2:42pm

100 bales left over from last year so I should be grand dispite speading less N on silage ground and cutting earlier

mahoney_j · 03-07-2015 3:09pm

Yard stuffed,pits full and running out of space for bales .will stay baling surpluses .better looking at it than for it .

whelan2 · 03-07-2015 3:52pm

going grand 102 bales of silage made today, second cut pit silage in a few weeks

Farmer Pudsey · 03-07-2015 4:03pm

1 bale left over from last year:). That gauging silage for you. Did feed a bit of straw and ration for a week with last of bullocks inside. By this evening will have 250 ish made another 60ish off second cut in a weeks time. Thirt cut and paddocks will bring me over 350 bales which is what I usually make

Mad4simmental · 03-07-2015 4:26pm

Good until 2018, ha

Greengrass1 · 03-07-2015 4:36pm

Yep 800 so far. Second cut should see us up at 1100 and a few more surplus bales thrown in

Deepsouthwest · 03-07-2015 4:46pm

At what point does it become uneconomical to keep making surplus bales? Enough feeding here for at least a winter and half (a lot of left from last yr, and even more made already at this stage this yr). Plan on upping stocking rate to 4 on milking ground nxt yr, so I want to carry a good reserve, but feel like I'm making bales for the sake of it at this stage, with some second cut to come and another 30 acres of cows ground skipped. Grass is absolutely flying, but I'm not a fan of topping, do it I need to become a fan of topping agsin to keep grass right?

mahoney_j · 03-07-2015 4:58pm

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

At what point does it become uneconomical to keep making surplus bales? Enough feeding here for at least a winter and half (a lot of left from last yr, and even more made already at this stage this yr). Plan on upping stocking rate to 4 on milking ground nxt yr, so I want to carry a good reserve, but feel like I'm making bales for the sake of it at this stage, with some second cut to come and another 30 acres of cows ground skipped. Grass is absolutely flying, but I'm not a fan of topping, do it I need to become a fan of topping agsin to keep grass right?

If u don't stay taking surpluses ,you end up pre mowing ,grazing strong grass or topping .also milk yield and solids will drop as a consequence .
Resulting in lower milk price .id stay baling ,maby cut back a bit on manure ??.in a similar situation im cutting back slightly on amount of n going out but will stay baling as often as is needed to keep grass right for milkers .another option if u wanted is to sell to neighbours but make them aware of what high quality feed there getting and charge accordingly .anyone remember 2012/13??!??

Reggie. · 03-07-2015 5:04pm

Pit topped off here. Baling 26 acres of hay this evening to sell. Another 10 acres for haylage or silage in about 2 weeks time and then 16 acres to drop around August

Deepsouthwest · 03-07-2015 5:23pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

If u don't stay taking surpluses ,you end up pre mowing ,grazing strong grass or topping .also milk yield and solids will drop as a consequence .
Resulting in lower milk price .id stay baling ,maby cut back a bit on manure ??.in a similar situation im cutting back slightly on amount of n going out but will stay baling as often as is needed to keep grass right for milkers .another option if u wanted is to sell to neighbours but make them aware of what high quality feed there getting and charge accordingly .anyone remember 2012/13??!??

Never forget 2012/13 around here, that's why I'm gonna carry some surplus silage around every winter from now on. How many units u spreading now? Rotation lenght?

mahoney_j · 03-07-2015 6:07pm

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Never forget 2012/13 around here, that's why I'm gonna carry some surplus silage around every winter from now on. How many units u spreading now? Rotation lenght?

Spread bag per acre of Richland 23 2.5 5 plus s and trace elements last sat .rotation length about 23 days.expecting big bounce in growth next week with rain on way and all the nutrients in ground waiting to burst grass back into life ..going to knock 2 very light paddocks now and bale tomorrow .only 2 bales per acre max on it but was under moisture stress and gone stemmy .Carrying a yearly surplus is no bad thing as feed could now be needed as much during summer droughts ,at shoulders than during winter

Miname · 03-07-2015 7:14pm

Winter requirements are all in. I've about 15 acres of second cut to bale up that will be all surplus and two paddocks that will be taken out soon enough. Most lads around have layers of feeding, there's even a few lads that are always short with surpluses building.

I said · 03-07-2015 7:24pm

Have about 25% surplus of winter feed required for a normal year.

White Clover · 03-07-2015 9:03pm

mahoney_j wrote: »

Spread bag per acre of Richland 23 2.5 5 plus s and trace elements last sat .rotation length about 23 days.expecting big bounce in growth next week with rain on way and all the nutrients in ground waiting to burst grass back into life ..going to knock 2 very light paddocks now and bale tomorrow .only 2 bales per acre max on it but was under moisture stress and gone stemmy .Carrying a yearly surplus is no bad thing as feed could now be needed as much during summer droughts ,at shoulders than during winter

Is 23 day rotation very long ? Paddock one bunch of bullocks here went into last Tues am had 5 bales/ acre taken 15 days previous. Got a bag 18 6 12 to the acre. Generally 14 to 17 days here atm

KatyMac · 03-07-2015 9:14pm

I've enough from last year to feed for this winter. Am going to get meadow cut this coming week, it's a bit light but it will be nice to have it done and dusted.

Brown Podzol · 03-07-2015 9:17pm

C. 2 ton dm/lu in the pits, 1.4 ton would suffice for a normal winter. Mowed 15% grazing block yesterday and baled today. Growth for the last week was 113 kg/dm demand only 70. No second cut planned but will be taking a lot of surplus bales from out farm. Only growing 10 acres maize this year, down from around the usual 17.

frazzledhome · 03-07-2015 9:41pm

Brown Podzol wrote: »

C. 2 ton dm/lu in the pits, 1.4 ton would suffice for a normal winter. Mowed 15% grazing block yesterday and baled today. Growth for the last week was 113 kg/dm demand only 70. No second cut planned but will be taking a lot of surplus bales from out farm. Only growing 10 acres maize this year, down from around the usual 17.

Growth 40kg here for two weeks running. Part of farm actually shut down

That said we've >10 tonne grown to date. Rain will right the shop not too worried. If promised rains arrive I may not have to feed out bales, lets see

visatorro · 03-07-2015 10:10pm

Brown Podzol wrote:

C. 2 ton dm/lu in the pits, 1.4 ton would suffice for a normal winter. Mowed 15% grazing block yesterday and baled today. Growth for the last week was 113 kg/dm demand only 70. No second cut planned but will be taking a lot of surplus bales from out farm. Only growing 10 acres maize this year, down from around the usual 17.

was growing less maize planned or just because you have surplus feed?

kevthegaff · 03-07-2015 10:18pm

Grass slowing here but understocked will be fine, bringing in a cut of 50 acres in nxt 2 weeks from rented ground(my second cut but wont be charged that way i reckon!!)prefer to import p&k!! Also neighbour has bale silage i buy every year, not sure will i need but ive always dealt with him after helping me out through the bad years so will continue to buy off him, hate cutting pit silage here, hilly and trying to improve indexes:-)

Brown Podzol · 03-07-2015 10:31pm

visatorro wrote: »

was growing less maize planned or just because you have surplus feed?

Planned. Low milk price and carry over from last year. Also bought and pitted some sugar beet last April washed and chopped @ €45.

Brown Podzol · 03-07-2015 10:35pm

frazzledhome wrote: »

Growth 40kg here for two weeks running. Part of farm actually shut down

That said we've >10 tonne grown to date. Rain will right the shop not too worried. If promised rains arrive I may not have to feed out bales, lets see

Raining away here now. Got c. 10 mils last weekend which drove on growth. Was growing 70 the previous two weeks even though suffering drought. I think it may have been down to the high organic matter retaining moisture . Organic matter here now is 12%, due I think to a high stocking rate over a long number of years.

Milked out · 03-07-2015 10:41pm

Brown Podzol wrote: »

Raining away here now. Got c. 10 mils last weekend which drove on growth. Was growing 70 the previous two weeks even though suffering drought. I think it may have been down to the high organic matter retaining moisture . Organic matter here now is 12%, due I think to a high stocking rate over a long number of years.

Plenty slurry available or do you use alot of dung / straw bedding also?

Brown Podzol · 03-07-2015 10:58pm

Milked out wrote: »

Plenty slurry available or do you use alot of dung / straw bedding also?

I don't put out a lot of slurry on the grazing block, about 3 to 4k gallons dilute slurry a year and only use about 1 bale straw per acre bedding plus waste silage spread on the grazing block. I think the high o/m is more the high stocking rate and cows crapping,can't ever remember being less than 3.

frazzledhome · 03-07-2015 11:11pm

Brown Podzol wrote: »

I don't put out a lot of slurry on the grazing block, about 3 to 4k gallons dilute slurry a year and only use about 1 bale straw per acre bedding plus waste silage spread on the grazing block. I think the high o/m is more the high stocking rate and cows crapping,can't ever remember being less than 3.

OM not an issue here. Lashings of dung with every where getting min 6k slurry.

My problem is no rain since June weekend with 35% of farm gravel. Add to that the constant NE wind we had for most of June. Rain hopping off the window as I type, hope it lasts a week

Brown Podzol · 03-07-2015 11:31pm

frazzledhome wrote: »

OM not an issue here. Lashings of dung with every where getting min 6k slurry.

My problem is no rain since June weekend with 35% of farm gravel. Add to that the constant NE wind we had for most of June. Rain hopping off the window as I type, hope it lasts a week

The only reason I mention om in conjunction with drought is that during the last major drought in NZ farmers were advised to try and increase om to combat future dry periods.Of course the downside might be more poaching during wet weather, a bigger problem here. The following is a piece from Google.

"The addition of organic matter to the soil usually increases the water holding capacity of the soil. This is because the addition of organic matter increases the number of micropores and macropores in the soil either by “gluing” soil particles together or by creating favourable living conditions for soil organisms. Certain types of soil organic matter can hold up to 20 times their weight in water (Reicosky, 2005). Hudson (1994) showed that for each 1-percent increase in soil organic matter, the available water holding capacity in the soil increased by 3.7 percent. Soil water is held by adhesive and cohesive forces within the soil and an increase in pore space will lead to an increase in water holding capacity of the soil."

RightTurnClyde · 03-07-2015 11:36pm

frazzledhome wrote: »

l. Add to that the constant NE wind we had for most of June.

That cold NE wind in June did a lot of damage. It was like turning on the air con in a car. Dried the sh1t out of the ground. We got 2 showers over last weekend and a dew most mornings this week. Things are turning around rapidly. Any grass with a bit of cover is hopping out of the ground since Wed.
Had estimated that I was going to be short 30 acres of 2nd cut. But blanket spread the place today with 40N+S. Im putting the mower on the tractor on Wednesday, going on 16days holidays and will be mowing the day I come back. And I have silage coming from the heifer rearer's place while I'm gone. All going according to plan that will put us into 20% extra silage. Definitely don't want to be low in fodder if there's a long winter with current/forecasted milk prices.

kay 9 · 04-07-2015 9:24am

Should have our quota cut, baled and stacked next week. Quality hay very scarce West of the Shannon this year with the feckn weather. Tis brutal

dzer2 · 04-07-2015 9:28am

Have enough for the winter Already sold 100 bales of hay and got order for 50 more last night
Will cut last of hay next fine spell as grazed the field in may so its not heavy yet as only spread slurry on it.

solwhit12 · 04-07-2015 10:15am

Bought 200 bales of a neighbour start of June for £18 have my own stuff in the pit and a few strong paddocks to cut next week.didn't bother taking ground this year as it wouldn't pay.

50HX · 04-07-2015 6:23pm

currently at 40% surplus and that's with already selling 15 acres for 1st& 2nd cut, heaps of it and more to come

Fodder for next winter - how you fixed?

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