Arable silage - too late?

Milton09

I have 4 acres of peaty soil being harrowed today, was thinking of sowing an arable mix. for silage, but is it too late now for that, anybody know?
Also if still time what mix, would be best? thanks.

whelan1

sowed mine last wednesday... its starting to come up... used spring wheat and lupins, sprayed it last night with pre emergence spray

Farmer Pudsey

Putting in peas and barley at present look like will not be harvesting until september. Biggest issue is if you plan to reseed ground after will you have time after harvest. If you have access to slurry pea's and barley are a cheap crop even though you should spread before harrowing 5-6K gallons/acre and 100kg gran lime, then top dress with 20 units of can ( or till in 1/2 bag of urea)

I used to undersow but not no longer as if crop is heavy grass can fail now I am going with going with 8 stone/acre barley and peas and 6-8/kgs Westerwolds. Hoping to get in to reseed in mid september oe else I might go with forrage rape or stubble turnips.

Milton09

Was definately planning to under-sow as chances of getting in in Sept will probably be slim based on previous years weather

Muckit

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

I used to undersow but not no longer as if crop is heavy grass can fail now I am going with going with 8 stone/acre barley and peas and 6-8/kgs Westerwolds. Hoping to get in to reseed in mid september oe else I might go with forrage rape or stubble turnips.

Very interesting. I know little about alternative fodders, so am always enquisitive when i hear about lads that sow them.

Do you make baled silage of the peas and barley? Would the barley be ripe or green when cutting? Does the crop have to be sprayed? How long approx from time of sowing til harvest? What are it's advantages over say good grass silage from reseeded ground?

Thanks
Muckit

le la rat

Hard to bate the smell a ****e lads love this time of year. Any one know of a good sheppard in the midlands region?

Muckit

whelan1 wrote: »

sowed mine last wednesday... its starting to come up...

God isn't there a very quick take compared to grass seed. Is the pre emergence spray for weeds?

Farmer Pudsey

Muckit wrote: »

Very interesting. I know little about alternative fodders, so am always enquisitive when i hear about lads that sow them.

Do you make baled silage of the peas and barley? Would the barley be ripe or green when cutting? Does the crop have to be sprayed? How long approx from time of sowing til harvest? What are it's advantages over say good grass silage from reseeded ground?

Thanks
Muckit

I bale it, cut it and if a lot of grass in it will wilt it for 48 hours unless sun splitting the rocks. This year and last have been unable to source my prefered pea (profit ) and because of this the grass failed last year, the present pea is crackerjack and it is a vining pea as opposed to a forage pea. Other issue I found with undersowing was could not spray for seedling weeds so afterwads if you had an issue with weeds you lost the clover.

Used to sow at 5/stone/acre (think it was a little strong) and cut when peas pods at top had started to form this was at about 13 weeks. With the vining pea last year it was nearer 15 weeks. The only spray needed is for aphids I forget at what stage you do it at. If you get a good crop it is reckoned to be about 17% protein at 11ME. One disadvantage is I find thta ubless the cattle eat the bale within 48 hours it goes sour. I buy the peas and barley and mix myself as it is more expensive to buy mixed ( barley 27 euro peas 38 euro peas and barley combined 40 euro) and mix 60% barley to 40% peas.

Also have to keep poisen out to feed the little f##kers.

Milton If you go with peas and barley no more than 4 stone/ acre and cut at 13 weeks no matter what, your other choice is barley 4-5 st/acre you have to watch the barley when the seed is like a cottage cheese you cut. You can also use oats b ut it has poor feed value compared to barley.

Muckit

some great info Pudsey. 17% Protein sounds good. Is ME about Energy? Not that I know alot, but should that be 1.1 instead of 11? It sounds high in Energy, good for fattening so?

Much food for thought. Thanks for posting

6480

Muckit wrote: »

some great info Pudsey. 17% Protein sounds good. Is ME about Energy? Not that I know alot, but should that be 1.1 instead of 11? It sounds high in Energy, good for fattening so?

Much food for thought. Thanks for posting

i stopped undersowing its a rank damp feed ,costly now with the price of grass seed , its too hard on new grass mowing it the first time and also u kind of have to cut it when ripe and the weather might not be the best at the time and u end up marking the field after all the good leveling that was done a few mounths ago

sh1tstirrer

Milton09 wrote: »

I have 4 acres of peaty soil being harrowed today, was thinking of sowing an arable mix. for silage, but is it too late now for that, anybody know?
Also if still time what mix, would be best? thanks.

If you want to reseed the field why don't you put in grass seed with a light seeding of oats 4 stone to the acre. If it germinates quickly you could be grazing it a month after sowing.

jimmy G M

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

If you want to reseed the field why don't you put in grass seed with a light seeding of oats 4 stone to the acre. If it germinates quickly you could be grazing it a month after sowing.

We sometime reseed ground this way but get a cut of round bales of silage off it also - works well if you don't go too heavy on the oats otherwise you can crowd out the grass. Cut and wrap in august - oats will give the bales a bit of bulk and grass will come on in Aug/sept. Barley will work as well. Good feed and means you only have to plough & till the once.

DMAXMAN

as a mixed farmer i have tried arable silage . my opinion is that you need to sow it at the same time as you would sow just a crop of peas,i.e.mid to end of march.having done this we have cut a fresh yield of 20 tons per acre.my way of growing it is as follows;sow as mentioned and undersow next day. probably needs to be rolled twice after. if sowing after grass watch for frit fly and spray with dursban if needed. this covers aphids also. i also apply 30 units of nitrogen at or soon after sowing.i aim to cut after 13 weeks as mentioned above. if the crop starts to lodge it needs to be mown IMMEDIATELY.i find it hard to preserve and always apply 5 gallons per ton of molasses. as regard feed value it analyses well but i never got the performance out of beef cattle. we make it in a pit. great aftergrass after though

Farmer Pudsey

When there is enough grass in it and you cut at early podding stage wilt it if you can. Because I bale it I put powder on it. Even after wilting I always get 14+ bales/acre and have got up over 20.If you wilt it should not be rank damp. I never feed it to finishing cattle but to weanling bulls and store bullocks. I only feed one kg of ration with it to get lime and minerals into cattle. I reckon they do a bit with half a kg/day gain on it and grow well over the winter.

It trying to get it into a reseeding plan got caught this year usually have it planted by mid april.

countryjimbo

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

If you want to reseed the field why don't you put in grass seed with a light seeding of oats 4 stone to the acre. If it germinates quickly you could be grazing it a month after sowing.

In this scenario does it matter what type of oats you sow?

I'm battling the auld lad at the moment as he wants to sow standard feed oats and I want to go with seed oats. Does it make much difference?

sh1tstirrer

countryjimbo wrote: »

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

If you want to reseed the field why don't you put in grass seed with a light seeding of oats 4 stone to the acre. If it germinates quickly you could be grazing it a month after sowing.

In this scenario does it matter what type of oats you sow?

I'm battling the auld lad at the moment as he wants to sow standard feed oats and I want to go with seed oats. Does it make much difference?

doesn't make much difference when grazing it. I used feed oats for a linnet crop when it was impossible to get seed oats a few years ago and it did the job. You can also get undressed seed cheaper for the job as well.