Silage 2022

On one bit of ground (5 acres) I got 50 bales this year. It was given 3000g/ac pig slurry only, last grazed in November by sheep. Last year it got 3000g/ac cattle slurry (from a fattening shed) and 1.5bags/ac CAN+S. It yielded 44 bales then.

What is the trigger for the difference? Weather? Soil temp? Slurry quality? There's so many things that make up the equation of inputs to get outputs that it's too simplistic to say using less fert = more output. In my situation I got more bales/ac with a complete cut of chemical fert. vs. the quoted post who got less on half the fert.

I say its beacuse there was exceptional growth there for the last few week, remember last May 2021 the growth was very slow.

Also field has been rested for 6 months

In this locality it has been the first season ever that there's been a very noticeable difficulty for contractors in finding drivers. Often heard lads from elsewhere talk about it but only seeing it first hand this year.

Last year we had a terrible Spring, one of my silage fields turned into a lake and every ditch was overflowing. We then had a poor May which resulted in a lower yield again. Thankfully we had a great month of May this year, despite the small period of drought that pushed the silage crop to seed head earlier than it should have.

I was more just pointing out how I ended up with almost the same amount of bales this year compared to last year with half the fertiliser. The fertiliser bill last year was also a third the price. I understand its not good to count by the bale since you could have a field of stemmy wet silage that will give you a lot more bales to the acre.

He's not even a very naughty boy these days

I may have gone against the trend and put out the usual fertiliser amount on my silage ground. Resulted in 13 bales/acre of dry wilted grass. A bit of stem but not completely headed out. Happy enough that it’s baled dry.

Completely agree with you. Tedding is a no brainer. Reduce the bale count by even one bale/acre will pay for it and the quality of the crop wrapped will be higher.

It's been difficult in my area the last few years. It's getting rare to see younger lads in tractors and sometimes we are looking to the next county for drivers.

Would ye spread slurry now (splash plate job) with it looking dry for the next few days or hold off till the rain is forecast to come?

I presume it's me you are referring to. There was a discussion going on at the time. Lads cut on the Friday with a fairly dodgy forecast and they got there silage. The quote was'' it was worth the risk''

This is what happens when the risk goes wrong. He got his silage on Thursday evening Friday morning. He rushed picking it up. He did not ted it again but row d it up and picked it. The silage was tested at 18%DM.

That is what happens when it goes wrong. It happened to me two years ago. Tried to grab it in a weather window the end of June panicking.

Local baler man says it was crazy and this guy always cuts early. He said that a contractor told him it takes nearly twice the diesel to bring in really wet silage.

The harvester has to work harder picking it up, the tractors burn more drawing it, the loader burns away more on the pit as well and finally for the farmer you are feeding twice as long drawing 80% water to your cattle.

An older dairy farmer said as well that cows for the last few weeks before calving can go downhill fast on that type of silage as they cannot take in enough as there stomach size has shrunk due to tbe calf increasing in size.

On tedding I am hearing prices of 18-20/acre for it. That the cost Inc plastic of 1.5 bales per acre. I priced tedders for the pig iron. 3-4k for a second hand 20'. A new Jarmet is 4800 but they are a light machine. Minos new 5.8 k. Over a ten year life span the capital cost of second hand if for yourself (35-40 acres of silage over two cuts) is equivalent to about 10/ acre. New would be much the same over twenty years. That is before you get up and add tractor or diesel costs

Local contractors are all starting to charge 15/ acre for raking. However most only want to rake 2-3 hours before the baler at most they are even happy to have it just before the baler, that suits them not me

Local baler man again reckons that this is a waste of time. Tedding and raking is costing to 33-35/ acre. His and my opinion is that forget about tedding, rake 6-8 daylight hours before baling and watch the weather. But contractors will need to get rakes into fields 6-8 hours before baling if we have to pay for it. Other than that they can f@@king bale the 10' mower swarts.