The trials are used as there is no recommended list available in Ireland. They are used to build up data on the different varieties and are conducted over two to four years before releasing a variety on the market.

Recommended list and candidate varieties of maize, with and without plastic, were all on view. The crops grown without plastic in the most sheltered part of the site had delivered the best yields this year.

Ken Daniels, of Goldcrop, stated that site choice is half the battle with maize establishment. The site should be no more than 300ft above sea level, have a soil pH of 6.5 and P and K indices of three or four. The particular site of the trials was sloped and well sheltered from prevailing southwesterly winds. Growing maize in a livestock system can maximize farmyard manure and slurry use at planting in April. Every 1,000 gallons of slurry spread is the equivalent of five units of P and 30 units of K, resulting in a significant fertiliser cost-saving.

Sowing maize under plastic is a good insurance policy. Plastic really comes into its own in difficult growing years. Grown without plastic, there is a huge variation in yield. It is essential to drill fertiliser alongside the seed when sowing without plastic. This helps the crop to get growing from the start given that the growing season is relatively short (April to October). Starch content, as well as yield, rises or falls depending on the weather in a growing year.

While it is more common to see maize contract-grown, fodder beet works well also. Growing fodder beet is a good use of ground as it has a high yield potential per hectare and it also fits in with reseeding programmes. Its high sugar content is an ideal complement to starch ingredients, such as maize or barley, in a diet.

Fodder crops have a significant role in winter milk production and fattening, as well as a buffer feed for spring-calving herds.

Brian Reidy, of Premier Farm Nutrition, said that farmers require a proper appreciation of cost per tonne of dry matter or energy (UFL value).

Maize at €50/t in terms of dry matter could be grown cheaper on a contract than grass silage. This is especially the case in terms of the second cut as quality is often determined by the date of first-cut silage. According to Brian, some farmers are forgetting how to produce quality silage consistently. He stated that the weather and contractors are not always to blame. Variables such as the level of nitrogen used, closing date and whether to graze a field or not before cutting are all under the farmer’s control.