First-cuts out, round two

An early spring resulted in a lot of earlier first cuts of silage. For anyone cutting around now, growing a second cut is more than likely part of the plan. Here we look at the nutrient requirements of second-cut silage, the value of cattle slurry (Table 1) and we talk to four of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm participants about silage cutting on their farms.

Martin Downes – Westmeath

First cut

Sixty acres were closed for a first cut in the second week of April. As things stand, I’ve got two-thirds of it in the pit a week ago, but there are another 20 acres to cut. Unfortunately, the weather broke last weekend and put a halt to the work. I’m very pleased with what has been cut though; it bulked up very well. I also got the grass tested and the sugars were high.

Second cut

At the moment, I’m planning to take out another 60 acres for a second cut. This may change if I feel I’m going to have enough fodder. To get it growing, ground will receive 2,500 gallons/acre of well-diluted cattle slurry, spread with a splashplate, as soon as possible after cutting. I’ll follow this with a bag and a half per acre of 18:6:12+S. Then in another two to three weeks, I’ll know for sure what I’m taking out for the second cut and I’ll top this up with CAN. I’d usually target 70 units of N/acre for the second cut. Cutting paddocks that get too strong will be an ongoing process throughout the summer as well.

Gerard and John Grieve – Donegal

First–cut

“Our first-cut silage ground was closed on 10 April this year. There were 40 acres in total. We got it cut on Monday 27 May, which means it was growing a day shy of seven weeks. To be honest, it’s wetter than we would have liked. The weather has been very changeable up here for the last fortnight, so it was hard to find a dry window to cut. I walked the crop the weekend before and it was just perfect for cutting – a nice leafy crop, still standing and no yellow-butt or stem. We decided to cut it and although it got a few showers of rain, I’m still glad we did. Quality would have taken a serious hit if it was left to grow on.

Second-cut

With bumper grass growth in 2018, we have plenty of fodder left in the yard. Usually we would make a similar-sized second cut, but I think this year we will just take out another 12- 15 acres into bales instead of opening the pit. Ground will get 3,000 gallons/acre of very thin cattle slurry, spread with a splashplate. There is some 0:7:30 still in the yard so this will be spread on lower-index ground. It will all be topped-up then with CAN. We will aim for around 70 units/acre.

Peter and Cathal Breen – Wexford

First cut

We will be making it as soon as possible. Forty acres were closed on 14 April so the target cutting date was 2 June. We were very close to cutting over the bank holiday weekend, but unfortunately the weather just looked too unsettled. We walked the crop a week ago and it looked perfect. Unfortunately, DMD is probably going to drop a bit with the delay, as grass starts shooting out, but we can’t do anything about that. We would still be hoping for a DMD of 67-70%.

Second cut

The plan is to take out another 33 acres for the second cut, plus 10-12 acres of surplus grass for bales over the summer. We have very little slurry in the yard – most of it was spread in spring – so we will have to use fertiliser instead. We are thinking of going with two bags per acre of 18:6:12 and then topping this up a few weeks later with urea or CAN. Since DMD will be slightly down in the first cut, we will be aiming for a really good second cut.

Ger McSweeney – Cork

First cut

I make all bales here. To date, around half of the 25 acres of first-cut silage is finished. This was all ground that wasn’t grazed in spring. I’m waiting on a bit of good weather to get the rest done. This was closed on 31 March. What’s baled really is dynamite stuff. The crop was nice and leafy, and after mowing it was shook out to wilt for two days and then baled. Yield was very pleasing too, at around eight bales per acre.

Second cut

I’m planning another 20 acres of a second cut. Nine to 10 acres of this will be closed specifically and the rest should be from surplus grass. The nine to 10 acre will get 2,000 gallons/acre of thick cattle slurry, spread with a splashplate. My high-index ground will just get straight N in the form of CAN (2.5 bags/ac) while my low-index ground will get one bag per acre of 18:6:12 and two bags per acre of CAN. This will accumulate to my target of 70 units of N per acre.

Adviser comment John Greaney, Teagasc

Carry-over stocks of forage on most beef farms, particularly in the southern half of the country, were non-existent this spring. To date, nearly all of the farms in the programme have over 70% of their fodder supplies in the yard, which is brilliant given the time of the year.

Following the rain over the past 10 days, growth rates have hit close to 100kg DM/ha and surpluses are building up.

Ideally, farmers should have 12-14 days of grass ahead of them and rotation length should be running at 18-21 days. While taking out excess grass can be a time-consuming practice, this quality feed will slash concentrate costs on beef farms next winter. The after-grass will also be welcome at a time when toppers seem to reappear. P and K are obviously very important when fertilising silage ground, but sulphur is often forgotten about in grass silage.

Sulphur will improve crop yields along with protein levels, as it helps maintain an optimum N:S ratio. See the box on the left for the S requirement of second-cut silage.

Second-cut nutrient requirements

(Based on target yields)

Nitrogen (N)

Yield: 4t DM/ha – 80 units/ac.

Yield: 3t DM/ha – 60 units/ac.

Phosphorous (P)

Yield: 4t DM/ha – 13 units/ac.

Yield: 3t DM/ha – 10 units/ac.

Yield: 4t DM/ha – 80 units/ac.

Yield: 3t DM/ha – 60units/ac.

16 units/ac per cut of silage.