Farmer writes: Good grass growth as thoughts turn to silage
A super week of weather has left the farm set up perfectly for months to come. We had temperatures of 17°C plus some very heavy showers, which is a potent mix for grass growth.
I have two paddocks which I should skip and bale as silage, but I don’t want to leave myself short as there is still some reseeding to complete on the grazing platform. I will use a strip wire to work my way through any heavy covers that present themselves. If the weather is dry, bullocks will clean these out.
I sprayed last autumn’s reseed this week. It used Pastor at 2 litres per hectare and 400 litres of water per hectare. It’s an expensive product but comprehensive in the variety of weeds it covers. I never spray old pasture, as I find it makes more economic sense to reseed if there is a lot of old, weed grass. The best spray I’ve used is Glyphosate, which can burn off a sward and target weed species when they are at the seedling stage.
My thoughts are now turning to silage; the red clover is knee high in most fields. In some areas, the grass has turned slightly yellow and looks deficient in Nitrogen deficient but this should not be the case because of the volume of Nitrogen the clover is fixing. I’m currently trying to find out if it is a sulphur deficiency, as the soil is free draining. The clover only receives 0-7-30 so I could not apply any sulphur on it. I am now investigating if I can apply sulphur through a different form, either as a spray or natural bio-stimulant.
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A lesson we hopefully learned from last year is I didn’t wilt the clover for long enough. I will probably spread it out and wilt for at least two days.
I hope to shear the ewes in the coming weeks. I know it sounds very premature but I am starting a new job and will be spending a great deal of time off farm in the coming weeks, so I want to get some of the time consuming tasks out of the way.
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Title: Farmer writes: Good grass growth as thoughts turn to silage
A super week of weather has left the farm set up perfectly for months to come. We had temperatures of 17°C plus some very heavy showers, which is a potent mix for grass growth.
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I have two paddocks which I should skip and bale as silage, but I don’t want to leave myself short as there is still some reseeding to complete on the grazing platform. I will use a strip wire to work my way through any heavy covers that present themselves. If the weather is dry, bullocks will clean these out.
I sprayed last autumn’s reseed this week. It used Pastor at 2 litres per hectare and 400 litres of water per hectare. It’s an expensive product but comprehensive in the variety of weeds it covers. I never spray old pasture, as I find it makes more economic sense to reseed if there is a lot of old, weed grass. The best spray I’ve used is Glyphosate, which can burn off a sward and target weed species when they are at the seedling stage.
My thoughts are now turning to silage; the red clover is knee high in most fields. In some areas, the grass has turned slightly yellow and looks deficient in Nitrogen deficient but this should not be the case because of the volume of Nitrogen the clover is fixing. I’m currently trying to find out if it is a sulphur deficiency, as the soil is free draining. The clover only receives 0-7-30 so I could not apply any sulphur on it. I am now investigating if I can apply sulphur through a different form, either as a spray or natural bio-stimulant.
A lesson we hopefully learned from last year is I didn’t wilt the clover for long enough. I will probably spread it out and wilt for at least two days.
I hope to shear the ewes in the coming weeks. I know it sounds very premature but I am starting a new job and will be spending a great deal of time off farm in the coming weeks, so I want to get some of the time consuming tasks out of the way.
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