Drought 2020

patsy_mccabe

I have silage ready to cut now, but neighbour was saying it's way too dry. He said it would be better to wait for some rain and then cut. Moisture way too low he says. I'm not set up to handle hay.

Mooooo

Mow and pit/ bale the following day. Line up the contractor. Every day it goes on quality will be dropping. If going in the pit make sure it's being well rolled.

Still waters

You'd be as well to cut it if its ready no matter how light, what if this continues for a fortnight or more

GrasstoMilk

Mooooo wrote: »

Mow and pit/ bale the following day. Line up the contractor. Every day it goes on quality will be dropping. If going in the pit make sure it's being well rolled.

Or pit/bale straight away after mower
It'll be nice stuff (25% DM) and itll only be it's own sap.
Not a fan of over dry silage here. 30% dm is plenty

patsy_mccabe

Ya, I was thinking of mowing and baling straight away. Thanks for the advice.

endainoz

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Ya, I was thinking of mowing and baling straight away. Thanks for the advice.

Not sure where your based in the country Patsy but I see a small bit of rain forecast for North Clare later on in the week. Temps are definitely dropping from Wednesday by a good 8 to 10 degrees for a few days.

Castlekeeper

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Ya, I was thinking of mowing and baling straight away. Thanks for the advice.

If it still looks green it'll be perfect.

YFlyer

Still waters wrote: »

I was near the bog yesterday working and the amount of hay made around is unreal, made in land you couldn't travel a lot of years, i was talking to one man in his 70s he can't remember a spell of weather like this since he was a young man, men like him have awful heavy land and this spell of weather is suiting them, he said he could do another month without rain and it wouldnt matter to him, this weather isn't suiting everyone but working to others benefit not having to be pulling tractors out of soft holes all summer

He is just missing the bottles of Harp.

CHOPS01

Just walked ground to be cut later in the week. Disgusted to say the least. Gone stemy since I walked it last week and the bulk has gone out of it completely.

SouthWesterly

endainoz wrote: »

Not sure where your based in the country Patsy but I see a small bit of rain forecast for North Clare later on in the week. Temps are definitely dropping from Wednesday by a good 8 to 10 degrees for a few days.

Hopefully it will come down over the estuary.

TooOldBoots

CHOPS01 wrote: »

Just walked ground to be cut later in the week. Disgusted to say the least. Gone stemy since I walked it last week and the bulk has gone out of it completely.

Same as that, I made silage this weekend, it was starting to wilt growing. I reckon it was starting to reduce with this heat. I was lucky enough to have the meadows closed early, they were still back a bit from every other year but had bulked up enough to justify cutting

Tileman

TooOldBoots wrote: »

Same as that, I made silage this weekend, it was starting to wilt growing. I reckon it was starting to reduce with this heat. I was lucky enough to have the meadows closed early, they were still back a bit from every other year but had bulked up enough to justify cutting

I have some hay meadows under Glas. They are wilting away. It will be all second growth by the tine they are allowed to cut.

richie123

memorystick wrote: »

What about the nitrogen

Good dry well wilted grass nitrogen not as big an issue in that scenario.though it was borderline cutting so early.

Danzy

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I have silage ready to cut now, but neighbour was saying it's way too dry. He said it would be better to wait for some rain and then cut. Moisture way too low he says. I'm not set up to handle hay.

You'll be waiting I fear, I'd lean to cut.

Bass Reeves

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I have silage ready to cut now, but neighbour was saying it's way too dry. He said it would be better to wait for some rain and then cut. Moisture way too low he says. I'm not set up to handle hay.

Another problem with that is that after rain any N in the roots will be released up into the plant. Grass that is often borderline for N before rain has very high N for s while after rain

duffysfarm

Parked jeep and 8x4 builders trailer in field for about a week and moved it yesterday. About an inch or inch and half of lovely dark green grass under where the jeep and trailer was parked as compared to absolutely nothing around it.

greenfield21

Hopefully with reduced sun over next few days we have a better chance of growth even with the little rain in the forecast. Very little rain needed here to get things moving, heavy land...

Buford T. Justice XIX

https://twitter.com/ofenton/status/1267837869491662853?s=19

whelan2

Last load of silage coming in now. Few rain drops falling. Can see the forest fires in the distance. Some smoke from them

SouthWesterly

Some nice clouds rolling in. Was fascinating watching the wall of cloud over Clare this afternoon.

I took a look under my wood chips in the veggie garden. Ground is still wet where they are. Rest of the garden is cracking.
My grass will be getting cut in the next week or so for hay.

visatorro

whelan2 wrote:

Last load of silage coming in now. Few rain drops falling. Can see the forest fires in the distance. Some smoke from them

You get much rain? Nothing here

Kevhog1988

whelan2 wrote: »

Last load of silage coming in now. Few rain drops falling. Can see the forest fires in the distance. Some smoke from them

the ones in Kildare?.

whelan2

visatorro wrote: »

You get much rain? Nothing here

A few drops.

whelan2

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

the ones in Kildare?.

In the cooley mountains

_Brian

whelan2 wrote: »

A few drops.

Same here.

whelan2

_Brian wrote: »

Same here.

You know that smell when rain falls on very dry ground

148multi

Nice soft rain now

Thepillowman

whelan2 wrote: »

You know that smell when rain falls on very dry ground

Petrichor is what it's called believe it or not.

dePeatrick

Thepillowman wrote: »

Petrichor is what it's called believe it or not.

I never once thought to look it up and I can always smell the rain coming sometimes as much as several hours beforehand, it is a very distinctive smell. Yer a gas man for knowing that

Lime Tree Farm

I have just been to the front door and back door, nothing smells any different here. No rain on the wind. I felt like that chap in the add selling umbrellas - out beckoning clouds in his direction.

charolais0153

dePeatrick wrote: »

I never once thought to look it up and I can always smell the rain coming sometimes as much as several hours beforehand, it is a very distinctive smell. Yer a gas man for knowing that

Ozone is the chemical

Doctors room ghost

Raining nicely in east Galway.closheens on the road

Tileman

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Raining nicely in east Galway.closheens on the road

Not a drop here. Cracks in the ground now. Unbelievable heat today again but turned very cool in the evening. Was lovely actually. No rain smell in the wind here .

Lime Tree Farm

What's a closheen

Doctors room ghost

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

What's a closheen

A puddleen only bigger

Reggie.

Hold on I can hear rain on the roof

Still waters

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

A puddleen only bigger

So........ a puddle

Reggie.

Still waters wrote: »

So........ a puddle

Dont try to understand the galway crowd

Base price

We just had a nice shower that lasted 10mins, the concrete got wet.

Dickie10

raining in the last 5 mins here in south west Meath, great smell.

Doctors room ghost

Still waters wrote: »

So........ a puddle

Once a puddleen goes over a certain size or joins up with another puddleen it becomes a closheen.
Closheens are often found at the butt of a hill and make a hurrrrrrrr sound when you hit them in a car.
Hubcaps and mudflaps are often found in closheens

Lime Tree Farm

I'll do a rain dance in the morning, if it doesn't arrive overnight.

Still waters

Heavy rain here with an hour

Bleating Lamb

Still waters wrote: »

Heavy rain here with an hour

Where’s that?.....had good 5 minute shower here around 9pm....N Leitrim but more needed.

Track9

The wind shifted around this evening & freshened up. ( In West Cork )
Got a few spits of rain only & now it's dry again.
This evening there's talk of Dairymen near Cork on the super dry ground, put cows back in the sheds today, as the grass was dried out & growth had stopped.
There's no fear that would happen in the South West.

Thepillowman

dePeatrick wrote: »

I never once thought to look it up and I can always smell the rain coming sometimes as much as several hours beforehand, it is a very distinctive smell. Yer a gas man for knowing that

Too many table quizzes.

longgonesilver

Bo dearg wrote: »

can you connect two different wells into the one water system. wells are about 3 quarters of a mile apart

_Brian wrote: »

Sure.
I’m thinking Stick a non return valve on the supply from each and they won’t interfere with each other.

Bo dearg wrote: »

yea that was my fear that one would be interfering with the other. Non return valve is probably the way to go

They could both pump into the one system but to have them both working simultaneously and automatically you will have to get very inventive with the controls or one will end up doing all the work.

Tileman

longgonesilver wrote: »

They could both pump into the one system but to have them both working simultaneously and automatically you will have to get very inventive with the controls or one will end up doing all the work.

We had 5 minute shower . Ground bone dry again this morning

Lime Tree Farm

Got a decent shower of rain here, ground surface slightly damp this morning.

Reggie.

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

Got a decent shower of rain here, ground surface slightly damp this morning.

Same as that. Only thing is weather is cooler so may last longer and not evaporate away