Lime grows grass

Jerry · Nov 25, 2020

This is a perm pasture that’s not been ploughed/reseeded/cultivated in over 50 years.....

Back in sept grazed to the ground and then had 1t/acre ground limestone with the plan to run cattle over winter ready to dd a summer forage crop in-front of a grass reseed in the autumn.

Very pleased with how the grass has responded to being hammered and then limed.

Stw88 · Nov 25, 2020

Will you still plan to reseed it?

Johngee · Nov 25, 2020

Looks like a lovely sward. Would ground limestone have an effect so quickly? Was it very dusty stuff? Have you got any unlimed areas to compare with?

Jerry · Nov 25, 2020

Stw88 said:
Will you still plan to reseed it?

Yes.

It’s going to be hammered with cattle over winter as a sacrifice field.

I then want a brassica crop to graze to give a break before a reseed.

I’m still to decide on what to reseed with next autumn.

Jerry · Nov 25, 2020

Johngee said:
Looks like a lovely sward. Would ground limestone have an effect so quickly? Was it very dusty stuff? Have you got any unlimed areas to compare with?

it was pretty dry being spread....

Whole field was spread and has reacted well across it all.

Video does not do it justice....it’s a steep field!

jondear · Nov 25, 2020

Jerry said:
it was pretty dry being spread....

Whole field was spread and has reacted well across it all.

Video does not do it justice....it’s a steep field!

Looks like stumpy (Dave ) Stuart's.

Jerry · Nov 25, 2020

jondear said:
Looks like stumpy (Dave ) Stuart's.

Dangerous Dave....

livestock 1 · Nov 25, 2020

Did you test it first? How much of a rate did you put it on at?

Jerry · Nov 25, 2020

livestock 1 said:
Did you test it first? How much of a rate did you put it on at?

Yes. It needed 2t per acre.

Put on 1t in autumn and planning another 1t before brassica.

Global ovine · Nov 25, 2020

Correcting pH and grazing management are the two most potent tools a farmer has to improve an existing sward. They are also the cheapest. But somebody selling stuff would ague otherwise.

livestock 1 · Nov 25, 2020

Jerry said:
Yes. It needed 2t per acre.

Put on 1t in autumn and planning another 1t before brassica.

I’ve been putting lime on blind here. Some of it has never had lime on for years. The difference is unbelievable. Have put up to 3t acre on in one go but considering going onto 2t acre and testing it

Barleycorn · Nov 25, 2020

The late, and much missed, Jo Scammell, was a great advocate of lime, not just for pH correction. She used to point out that in the 40s / 50s there were lime subsidies but no nitrogen subsidies.

JMTHORNLEY · Nov 26, 2020

I have had some similarish results with a very old PP bit of ground of ours this summer. I subsoiled, dropped a drain in where it needed it and hammered with lime then rotovated and used winfred for the first time instead of a turnip or kale mixture. I was very impressed with the results. Grazed the kale early because our sowing window for a back end grass reseed is pretty short. Here’s some results and some more figures if anyone’s interested

PH before 5.5
PH after 7
P before 1.1
K beofre 0.9
P after 1.8
K after 1.6

I rotovated 10/12T to the acre of fresh bedding muck into the kale reseed then 100kgs to the acre of P&K out the bag for grass reseed cattle were held tight and back fenced onto the fodder crop so as not to loose any valuable P&K

Last picture has had 15 lambs per are for 3 weeks and they’ve hardly touched it. Really pleased with the results of using a different break crop. Can highly recommend Grass Sciences winter pioneer crop or his Winfred

Stw88 · Nov 26, 2020

Great result. How much lime did you put on to lift it that far? Good thick sward for a reseed.

JMTHORNLEY · Nov 26, 2020

Stw88 said:
Great result. How much lime did you put on to lift it that far? Good thick sward for a reseed.

I use prilled lime through my Breedle now and it works a treat
Put 900kgs an acre on and will top dress every year after. Gets a lot of stick prilled but if you can spread it correctly it’s better than crushed in my opinion

Stw88 · Nov 26, 2020

Is that not £100 acre just for lime? Last prilled i priced was £115 ton.

SilliamWhale · Nov 26, 2020

JMTHORNLEY said:
I use prilled lime through my Breedle now and it works a treat
Put 900kgs an acre on and will top dress every year after. Gets a lot of stick prilled but if you can spread it correctly it’s better than crushed in my opinion

How much do you put on per year?

900kg acre is about £100 worth

N.Yorks. · Nov 26, 2020

JMTHORNLEY said:
I use prilled lime through my Breedle now and it works a treat
Put 900kgs an acre on and will top dress every year after. Gets a lot of stick prilled but if you can spread it correctly it’s better than crushed in my opinion

Why not bulk crushed limestone?

JMTHORNLEY · Nov 26, 2020

Few reasons for not going bulk crushed here. Access is a big factor, you’d not get a big machine in most of my gate holes. I do everything myself. My neighbour has the contract for the helicopter spreading for the North West so I get the lime VERY cheap

works for my system

Macsky · Jan 24, 2021

Thread resurrection alert

Im looking at £40-50/t delivered price for good calcium lime, starting to think that prilled lime may be more cost effective, taking the fineness/effectiveness of it into account. what is a tonne of pilled lime costing these days?

Lime grows grass

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Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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