Silage

Even though many farmers are still feeding silage, and struggling to find enough, thoughts are turning to making next year’s silage. Most people are late closing silage ground and spreading silage manure. There would have to be exceptional growth over the next four weeks for silage fields to have normal yields by 1 June. If there is 1,000kg on silage fields now and you expect to cut a 5t/ha DM crop on 1 June, it would need to grow 95kg/day on average between now and then. This sounds high but it’s not impossible. In really good growing conditions, silage fields could be growing up to 200kg/day for a period if they have a good cover of grass, perennial ryegrass varieties and plenty of fertiliser spread. The normal rule of thumb is to spread 100 units of nitrogen per acre for silage ground and the equivalent of three bags/acre of 0:7:30 on fields that didn’t get slurry. Lower index fields will need extra P and K but don’t spread more than 60 units/acre of K now, to reduce the risk of milk fever next spring. About 20% of the fertiliser and slurry spread in January and February is retained for silage. Even though higher silage yields are a priority this year, spreading more nitrogen is not advised, particularly in old swards as the nitrogen will not be used up in time before harvesting and it can affect fermentation. Silage fields require 20 units/acre of sulphur. Delaying cutting date into mid-June is probably a false economy. While there will be more bulk, the quality will reduce dramatically and subsequent regrowth will be slower. Considering the bad spring, one would hope that we will get good growing conditions this summer which should enable a good second cut of silage. Running a high stocking rate on the grazing block for the summer, spreading more fertiliser and closing up extra ground for silage is a good strategy to replenish stocks.

Heifers

Some farmers start breeding heifers before breeding cows. Having them calved earlier gives more time for them to recover and have an extra cycle before going back in-calf next season. But the problem is that the calving season gets very dragged out. Whatever the start date, the important thing is to get them bred early in the time and only use easy-calving sires on heifers. Heat detection is critical. Tail paint isn’t as effective on heifers as they haven’t got the weight to rub it off when mounting. Heifers are notorious for chewing and licking off Kamars and other physical aids. Scratch cards work best. Use spray-on carpet glue to help stick them on. Don’t just rely on the self adhesive.

TBC problems

A milking machine fitter told me there are four samples to be taken when trying to solve a high TBC problem. The samples should be taken mid-milking. Collect one from the filter sock before the plate cooler. Collect one sample as the milk goes in the tank. Collect one sample from the tank itself and collect another sample from the outlet. Testing these for TBC will highlight where the problem is. Sometimes, it can be the hose on the milk lorry that can be the cause of the problem.