Monster Crop

locky76

Just up from the fields, 285 bales from 18 acres, mad stuff!!!
I got 150 bales from it last year.
The increase is due to three factors in my humble opinion:

• Better use of fertiliser- soiltests, lime spreading, pig slurry & urea
• Growing longer- not by choice, should really have beeen cut two weeks ago, this was first spell with anything approaching a decent bit of weather
• Poor wilt- i cut it Sunday night, shook it out yesterday and baled it today

The contractor was saying the quality is fairly good although i've over four hundred bales in the yard now, i think i'm overcompensating from getting caught for fodder in late Spring 2010:o

vanderbadger

locky76 wrote: »

Just up from the fields, 285 bales from 18 acres, mad stuff!!!
I got 150 bales from it last year.
The increase is due to three factors in my humble opinion:

• Better use of fertiliser- soiltests, lime spreading, pig slurry & urea
• Growing longer- not by choice, should really have beeen cut two weeks ago, this was first spell with anything approaching a decent bit of weather
• Poor wilt- i cut it Sunday night, shook it out yesterday and baled it today

The contractor was saying the quality is fairly good although i've over four hundred bales in the yard now, i think i'm overcompensating from getting caught for fodder in late Spring 2010:o

serious haul of stuff alright..better have too much than get caught for it

polod

locky76 wrote: »

Just up from the fields, 285 bales from 18 acres, mad stuff!!!
I got 150 bales from it last year.
The increase is due to three factors in my humble opinion:

• Better use of fertiliser- soiltests, lime spreading, pig slurry & urea
• Growing longer- not by choice, should really have beeen cut two weeks ago, this was first spell with anything approaching a decent bit of weather
• Poor wilt- i cut it Sunday night, shook it out yesterday and baled it today

The contractor was saying the quality is fairly good although i've over four hundred bales in the yard now, i think i'm overcompensating from getting caught for fodder in late Spring 2010:o

are they choped bales ?

Tora Bora

I was later cutting compared to normal. Hard dry April. Wet cold windy May. Wet cold June. Little sun. Night frosts in June. Crop left two weeks longer. Walking through before cutting, thought bulk was back good 15 to 20 %. Finished up with 25% more bales. Showry when cutting and showery afterwards. Poor wilt. Little sun. Same baler, tractor and driver.
I'd say the extra stuff is just water. Expensive water.

Grecco

Crops are up a bit due to the delay in the weather, but not by 90% as the OP states. The only man that is happy is the contractor..He`ll have a big year end bonus if he meets many like you!

locky76

Grecco wrote: »

Crops are up a bit due to the delay in the weather, but not by 90% as the OP states. The only man that is happy is the contractor..He`ll have a big year end bonus if he meets many like you!

They're up by more than 90%, the reasons they were up are outlined in the three bullet points.
He chops them for me every year.
It actually finshed with 324 bales this year as against 145 in 2010.

polod

locky76 wrote: »

They're up by more than 90%, the reasons they were up are outlined in the three bullet points.
He chops them for me every year.
It actually finshed with 324 bales this year as against 145 in 2010.

it must be fairly wet stuff is it ? whats the dry matter % would you say you have ?

locky76

polod wrote: »

it must be fairly wet stuff is it ? whats the dry matter % would you say you have ?

I wouldn't know to tell you the truth, we cut it late Sunday night, shook it out yesterday from 12 onwards and raked it today at 12.
It didn't get any rain until around four today (about 1/2 the way through) and they finished baling around six.
Wet compared to last year but there wasn't much i could do we're lucky enough the ground conditions were ok, people with heavy land are under fierce pressure at this stage.

TUBBY

never mind your wet bales, poor wilt etc. the best thing u did was the soil sample. no waste of fertilizer and even if it is a bit fresh, so what. you can sell a good scatter of them and leave it a cheap job for you.

i found same to be honest. might not have had the best of a wilt but the return was up 40% for me on same ground mostly due to soil sampling.

Birdnuts

The land is so bad now from the no-show of summer on my patch in North Mayo that I won't be cuttin anything for weeks yet:(

reilig

Baled 10 acres this evening and had 130 bales on it. It was well wilted and fairly dry. Had 80 bales off the same piece of ground last year. Put the extra bales down to the same reasons as you. More to do tomorrow and on thursday.

sh1tstirrer

Nothing monster about 15bales/acre I got 23bales/acre once and have heard of crops yielding over 30bales/acre.

jeff greene

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Nothing monster about 15bales/acre I got 23bales/acre once and have heard of crops yielding over 30bales/acre.

Not really something to brag about! I make bales and a good crop would be no more than 12-13, in ideal conditions 10/acre. At €10/bale round figure, you payed €230/acre:eek:, 30 bales to the acre is really taking the piss.

Tora Bora

jeff greene wrote: »

Not really something to brag about! I make bales and a good crop would be no more than 12-13, in ideal conditions 10/acre. At €10/bale round figure, you payed €230/acre:eek:, 30 bales to the acre is really taking the piss.

Couldn't agree more. As I said in my earlier post, my standing crop at cutting looks lighter than previous years. But I am coming out with significantly more bales per acre. In my opinion, all I am getting is more wrapped water:(. For me average per year is 12 bales acre. Old ley well fertilized. Pregrazed and cut 8 weeks after fertilizer. This year I am clearing 15 bales acre, on what looks like lighter crop:eek:
Tisn't for the good of my pocket I expect, but shure twill keep em chewing something:cool:

Min

I got more bales too, but the weather was a lot better for grass, we had an early spring compared to last year and I think this is where the extra bales come from - fertiliser with more grass initially to grow more grass.

My meadows were heavy so I expected more than last year.

sh1tstirrer

jeff greene wrote: »

Not really something to brag about! I make bales and a good crop would be no more than 12-13, in ideal conditions 10/acre. At €10/bale round figure, you payed €230/acre:eek:, 30 bales to the acre is really taking the piss.

Not really bragging I am just referring to the heaviest crops I got I didn't pay €230 an acre as it was in 1997. If you can cast your memory back that far you will remember the excellent growth that year

ihatetractors

Last year our neighbour Doug got 9 20ft redrock loads off 3.5 acres, there's something quite pleasing seeing a jag 900 under pressure in 10ft's i remember him saying .. Field had been closed since Jan got dert and slurry and for one reason or another he didnt get to graze it, cut 5th/6th June after been wilted for 36 hrs!!

babybrian

Crops are way up this year, cut 8 acres last Monday 20th(dry conditions) got on-off rain for a few days and baled it sunday....the field was plastered with bales, 18 bales/acre of good chopped silage with new welger baler. Had 10 bales on the first round. I was sick looking at bales by monday evening with carting and stacking!!!!:p

Soil tests are the way to go in my opinion, gave it 16-5-20 and 2 bags of CAN/acre

stanflt

ihatetractors wrote: »

Last year our neighbour Doug got 9 20ft redrock loads off 3.5 acres, there's something quite pleasing seeing a jag 900 under pressure in 10ft's i remember him saying .. Field had been closed since Jan got dert and slurry and for one reason or another he didnt get to graze it, cut 5th/6th June after been wilted for 36 hrs!!

9 loads of crap- very hard on the soil structure and poor dmd silage

5live

stanflt wrote: »

9 loads of crap- very hard on the soil structure and poor dmd silage

Poor DMD silage ok for maintainance for cows in good condition. Why restrict feed of 80+DMD silage when you can ad-lib 65 DMD and not be listening to cattle roar all winter

ihatetractors

stanflt wrote: »

9 loads of crap- very hard on the soil structure and poor dmd silage

Trailers rolling on 480 Michelin cargo's, nearly less gp than the tractor and the fact the fields are on a slope with predominately shalely soils.
Teagasc man tested it at 76% Dmd, WSC was 320g/kg iirc as weather had been good around here as he mowed 3 days after weather took up from few drizzly days and he uses a tmr mix of straw/maize/ silage as he winter milks half his herd. Fields in question are 2 mile from milking parlour, too far to graze with the moo's..

stanflt

ihatetractors wrote: »

Trailers rolling on 480 Michelin cargo's, nearly less gp than the tractor and the fact the fields are on a slope with predominately shalely soils.
Teagasc man tested it at 76% Dmd, WSC was 320g/kg iirc as weather had been good around here as he mowed 3 days after weather took up from few drizzly days and he uses a tmr mix of straw/maize/ silage as he winter milks half his herd. Fields in question are 2 mile from milking parlour, too far to graze with the moo's..

it couldnt possibly test 76%dmd if the grass was that old and heavy- it would have been headed out for weeks

there may have been other grass in the clamp that was younger and sweeter and this tested 76-as for soil structure im on about the heavy swath taking all the nutrients out of the ground and the grass taking a really long time to recover

ihatetractors

stanflt wrote: »

it couldnt possibly test 76%dmd if the grass was that old and heavy- it would have been headed out for weeks

there may have been other grass in the clamp that was younger and sweeter and this tested 76-as for soil structure im on about the heavy swath taking all the nutrients out of the ground and the grass taking a really long time to recover

How, grass had been reseeded only 2 years after been in maize, recieved dung either side of been inverted.. It was this field as it was furthest away field from pit, hence cut last and so was tipped onto top few feet of pit all over front/top. Got slurry in the last of ice end of Jan as we spread at same time, was injected with 2,250 gallons per acre after as weather at time would have caked it. Field had recieved lime/soil test was ok at time of re-seeding, field turned out an average 2nd cut after in end of July as well

stanflt

ihatetractors wrote: »

How, grass had been reseeded only 2 years after been in maize, recieved dung either side of been inverted.. It was this field as it was furthest away field from pit, hence cut last and so was tipped onto top few feet of pit all over front/top. Got slurry in the last of ice end of Jan as we spread at same time, was injected with 2,250 gallons per acre after as weather at time would have caked it. Field had recieved lime/soil test was ok at time of re-seeding, field turned out an average 2nd cut after in end of July as well

i take silage samples for breeders club comp and the tool that takes it goes over a foot into clamp thus missing this top layer

on another note
Grass Quality Not Yield Key to Silage Making

Author:
Dr D. Davies, IBERS


More milk and meat from good silage.
The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.



The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.
Quality and yield alter rapidly during May. Studies have shown that early May grass had 25% crude protein (CP) and 75% digestibility (D-value) so of high quality, but the yield was only 3 T of DM. Two weeks later yield had increased to 6 T of DM with a crop quality of 18 % CP, and 68% D-value. By the end of May the grass only had 12% CP and a D-value of 60%, but with an impressive yield of 8 T of DM.
Further studies compared the milk yields from feeding high and low D-value silages. Two grass silages prepared from similar swards were harvested 3 weeks apart. At feed-out the early cut silage had an ME of 12.6 (MJ/Kg DM) (75% D-value) and a CP of 19%, compared to an ME of 10.4 (64% D-value) and CP of 13.5% for the later cut. When fed to dairy cows with 6 kg of concentrates/day the cows fed the early cut silage produced over 2 litres of milk/cow/day than fed the later cut silage.
This study, and there are many more like it, highlights the importance of harvesting the grass when there are high concentrations of nutrients to optimise animal production.
There are some field based visual assessments that can be made prior to mowing to indicate grass nutritional value. Young and leafy grass will have a D-value of 70% or greater, the target for high quality grass silage. Once grass stems begin thickening and lengthening the D-value will drop to 67%. As the flowering heads begin emerging the D-value will be 64% or lower and finally once seed heads begin setting the D-value will at best be 60%.
So remember high performing livestock require high quality silage which will compromise your forage yield but will enhance your saleable milk and meat product.

sh1tstirrer

stanflt wrote: »

i take silage samples for breeders club comp and the tool that takes it goes over a foot into clamp thus missing this top layer

on another note
Grass Quality Not Yield Key to Silage Making

Author:
Dr D. Davies, IBERS


More milk and meat from good silage.
The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.



The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.
Quality and yield alter rapidly during May. Studies have shown that early May grass had 25% crude protein (CP) and 75% digestibility (D-value) so of high quality, but the yield was only 3 T of DM. Two weeks later yield had increased to 6 T of DM with a crop quality of 18 % CP, and 68% D-value. By the end of May the grass only had 12% CP and a D-value of 60%, but with an impressive yield of 8 T of DM.
Further studies compared the milk yields from feeding high and low D-value silages. Two grass silages prepared from similar swards were harvested 3 weeks apart. At feed-out the early cut silage had an ME of 12.6 (MJ/Kg DM) (75% D-value) and a CP of 19%, compared to an ME of 10.4 (64% D-value) and CP of 13.5% for the later cut. When fed to dairy cows with 6 kg of concentrates/day the cows fed the early cut silage produced over 2 litres of milk/cow/day than fed the later cut silage.
This study, and there are many more like it, highlights the importance of harvesting the grass when there are high concentrations of nutrients to optimise animal production.
There are some field based visual assessments that can be made prior to mowing to indicate grass nutritional value. Young and leafy grass will have a D-value of 70% or greater, the target for high quality grass silage. Once grass stems begin thickening and lengthening the D-value will drop to 67%. As the flowering heads begin emerging the D-value will be 64% or lower and finally once seed heads begin setting the D-value will at best be 60%.
So remember high performing livestock require high quality silage which will compromise your forage yield but will enhance your saleable milk and meat product.

I think everyone on here already knows that information

ceannfort

as a wise old neighbour said during a similar discussion - Theres no point in telling a hungry cow in january to shut up you got top quality silage in decemeber!
For suckler cows its quantity over quality for me

Tipp Man

There is no doubt Stanfit is correct that exceptionally heavy silage which has been growing for a long time is hard on the soil and does drain the nutrients. It is also much slower coming back and does nothing for the quality of the pasture

However i would have to disagree Stan with the quality over quantity arguement. Not saying that quality isn't relatively important but for a lot of people quantity is key. Suckler cows and all spring calving dairy herds should place more emphasis on quantity as it is purely a maintainence diet. Last year we produced maybe 2% of our milk from silage so its quality really isn't that important (within reason obviously) to our milk cheques. where the expense occurs for us is when you would have to fork out 30 Euro a bale in Feb as you have run out

I'm certainly not advocating making crap silage but in my opinion you have to have the quantity first

whelan1

we had this discussion last week at our discussion group meeting... in the end quantity won out as theres no use looking at an empty pit in the middle of winter...

Min

I would rather have the quantity and a less stressed animal, also think they would rather be full in -16C temperatures than being restricted due to silage quality being really really good but then not enough to last the winter if fed ad-lib which might make calving a problem depending on bulls used.

I just want something to maintain them and let them eat as much as they want.
The most important thing is a happy cow.

jeff greene

A large quantity of quality silage FTW!

whelan1

jeff greene wrote: »

A large quantity of quality silage FTW!

what does ftw mean

jeff greene

whelan1 wrote: »

what does ftw mean

For the win! Seen it elsewhere on boards, don't worry I didn't know either:D

whelan1

i asked my 10 year old son , he didnt know either:rolleyes:

jeff greene

whelan1 wrote: »

i asked my 10 year old son , he didnt know either:rolleyes:

NALOPKT

whelan1

:D

stanflt

lads you are all on about running out of silage-this is not a worry if you make enough of it:D
ill be milking 100cows every day during the winter and wintering about another 140heifers and a few bulls

ill cut 160acres of light cuts(own company outfit which makes it cheap)
grow 55acres maize(under plastic as its all about tonnes of DM)
this year ive 22acres of wholecrop barley
will feed 100tonne approx of brewers
and the cows will get 3kg 28high protein course ration in the tmr and a further 2kg in parlour

now your all going to critise me over cost but if you do your sums it works out

plus cows are healthier
calving interval reduced
and less recycled cows

oh and more of a milk cheque as money is what were after at the end of the day:)

ihatetractors

stanflt wrote: »

i take silage samples for breeders club comp and the tool that takes it goes over a foot into clamp thus missing this top layer

on another note
Grass Quality Not Yield Key to Silage Making

Author:
Dr D. Davies, IBERS


More milk and meat from good silage.
The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.



The most important aspect in making high quality silage is the quality of the grass at harvesting. This in turn is affected by stage of grass growth, but there is a compromise between high quality and high yield. However with high producing livestock quality should never be compromised for yield.
Quality and yield alter rapidly during May. Studies have shown that early May grass had 25% crude protein (CP) and 75% digestibility (D-value) so of high quality, but the yield was only 3 T of DM. Two weeks later yield had increased to 6 T of DM with a crop quality of 18 % CP, and 68% D-value. By the end of May the grass only had 12% CP and a D-value of 60%, but with an impressive yield of 8 T of DM.
Further studies compared the milk yields from feeding high and low D-value silages. Two grass silages prepared from similar swards were harvested 3 weeks apart. At feed-out the early cut silage had an ME of 12.6 (MJ/Kg DM) (75% D-value) and a CP of 19%, compared to an ME of 10.4 (64% D-value) and CP of 13.5% for the later cut. When fed to dairy cows with 6 kg of concentrates/day the cows fed the early cut silage produced over 2 litres of milk/cow/day than fed the later cut silage.
This study, and there are many more like it, highlights the importance of harvesting the grass when there are high concentrations of nutrients to optimise animal production.
There are some field based visual assessments that can be made prior to mowing to indicate grass nutritional value. Young and leafy grass will have a D-value of 70% or greater, the target for high quality grass silage. Once grass stems begin thickening and lengthening the D-value will drop to 67%. As the flowering heads begin emerging the D-value will be 64% or lower and finally once seed heads begin setting the D-value will at best be 60%.
So remember high performing livestock require high quality silage which will compromise your forage yield but will enhance your saleable milk and meat product.

Oh god it must be such hardship being such a mighty man as yourself to quote using google what we learn as basics:rolleyes: commenting on how to make silage by the book in a proper and rosey w9rld where hold ups etc.. dont happen, ah here gluck off to suffolk til sept gluk

sh1tstirrer

jeff greene wrote: »

For the win! Seen it elsewhere on boards, don't worry I didn't know either:D

Originated from some Hollywood game show, typical :rolleyes:

stanflt

ihatetractors wrote: »

Oh god it must be such hardship being such a mighty man as yourself to quote using google what we learn as basics:rolleyes: commenting on how to make silage by the book in a proper and rosey w9rld where hold ups etc.. dont happen, ah here gluck off to suffolk til sept gluk

just posted it for you really:)


Last year our neighbour Doug got 9 20ft redrock loads off 3.5 acres, 76dmd-do you still believe it was 76:)

case 956

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

Nothing monster about 15bales/acre I got 23bales/acre once and have heard of crops yielding over 30bales/acre.

are you sure now it is round bales ur talking bout and not 30 square bales:D. very seldom you get over 15 bales/ac nd ur saying u got double that i say u better off ta go nd learn ta count nd dream later

sh1tstirrer

case 956 wrote: »

are you sure now it is round bales ur talking bout and not 30 square bales:D. very seldom you get over 15 bales/ac nd ur saying u got double that i say u better off ta go nd learn ta count nd dream later

I'd say you are too fresh out of you nappies to remember what a heavy crop of silage yields When did I say that I got 30 bales an acre?

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

locky76 wrote: »

They're up by more than 90%

90% on last year, but last year was a terrible year for growth! We bailed 270 bales over the weekend, averaged 10-11 bales per acer, bales got a belt of the tedder as well so a lot of dry matter. only got around 6 bales per acer last year!

Sam Kade

case 956 wrote: »

are you sure now it is round bales ur talking bout and not 30 square bales:D. very seldom you get over 15 bales/ac nd ur saying u got double that i say u better off ta go nd learn ta count nd dream later

Back in the old days before the nitrates directive and when fertilizer was cheap crops were heavier than they are now

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Sam Kade wrote: »

Back in the old days before the nitrates directive and when fertilizer was cheap crops were heavier than they are now

were they buns or bales :P i know one contractor that makes tiny bales

Sam Kade

Jazlynn Rancid Ozone wrote: »

were they buns or bales :P i know one contractor that makes tiny bales

Yeah they were buns:rolleyes:

Atilathehun

Sam Kade wrote: »

Yeah they were buns:rolleyes:

My contractor got a michelin star for the buns he made last year:D
He actually made perfectly formed donughts:rolleyes: Hole down the middle.
When we opened them last winter, we discovered he had even gone to the trouble of icing them. There was this white stuff coated all round the bales, that looked like icing:eek:
He doesn't work in my kitchen any more. Can't afford to pay michelin star wage levels:D:D
Plain BLT, for the cattle this winter. None of this fance icing:o

reilig

we got 60 bales to the acre, and our tractor is bigger than yours, and our cows eat more than yours, that's why we have bigger calves than you and better land than you

Lads, its like a primary school playground!!!!!

jonnynitro

reilig wrote: »

Lads, its like a primary school playground!!!!!

ha ha ha very true

funny man

stanflt wrote: »

lads you are all on about running out of silage-this is not a worry if you make enough of it:D
ill be milking 100cows every day during the winter and wintering about another 140heifers and a few bulls

ill cut 160acres of light cuts(own company outfit which makes it cheap)
grow 55acres maize(under plastic as its all about tonnes of DM)
this year ive 22acres of wholecrop barley
will feed 100tonne approx of brewers
and the cows will get 3kg 28high protein course ration in the tmr and a further 2kg in parlour

now your all going to critise me over cost but if you do your sums it works out

plus cows are healthier
calving interval reduced
and less recycled cows

oh and more of a milk cheque as money is what were after at the end of the day:)

plus cows are healthier ;healthier than what?
calving interval reduced;reduced from what?
and less recycled cows; what percentage?

oh and more of a milk cheque as money is what were after at the end of the day:)
Totally agree, but at what cost, would have to get at least a 5c/l bonus on every litre of milk supplied to cover that feeding regime. owned machinery dosn't make it cheap!

whelan1

was amazed the first year we got contractor in to do the silage how much money we actually saved.... wear and tear on the man and machine where well reduced ... the opinion that you save by doing it yourself , especially now that fuel prices are gone mental is a fantasy in my opinion , but thats just my opinion:rolleyes:

jeff greene

funny man wrote: »

[/B]
plus cows are healthier ;healthier than what?
calving interval reduced;reduced from what?
and less recycled cows; what percentage?

oh and more of a milk cheque as money is what were after at the end of the day:)
Totally agree, but at what cost, would have to get at least a 5c/l bonus on every litre of milk supplied to cover that feeding regime. owned machinery dosn't make it cheap!

What is wrong with that feeding regime, mostly forage and only 3 kgs of meal with some brewers, come on, that diet is only possible with excellent forage, which at €100-120 acre for contractor is only possible with own machinery. I'd challenge anyone to make a winter diet more competitive.

This is Stan question but I have similar setup except bales and no brewers, the production and health benefits of good forage need to be seen to be believed, unfortunately most of ours this year won't be spectacular