New toy day

ollie989898 · Jul 25, 2021

HarryB97 said:
A brilliant crop once it's established, i'm amazed more people don't grow it!

What do you guys do with the lucerne? Is there a market for lucerne 'hay' or 'haylage'?

fermerboy · Jul 25, 2021

Andrew said:
Depends how thick it is and where you drill the hole etc.
If it’s box it’ll fill with rubbish though, maybe better to weld a length of flat along the underneath.

Sure I've seen a Marshall with length of 20mm round bar welded the length of the trailer under the crossbearers. Was done at factory.

Farmer_Joe · Jul 25, 2021

devonboy said:
We have been growing lucerne for 10 years now and the main problem was the crop becoming weedy,we tried kerb during winter a few times but it was next to useless , then we had a french farmer visit us and suggested glyphosate in the winter, which we tried last year and it was a total success , extremely clean and the lucerne has never looked better. If anyone is interested i can look up the rate we used.

Andrew said:
We cut our lucerne same stubble length as the grass. Good yields and to be honest we should have cut it second cut last week. Normally would be third now but everything’s behind this year.

HarryB97 said:
A brilliant crop once it's established, i'm amazed more people don't grow it!

You guys keep it for a few years then?
Thinking of trying a few acres will let lambs graze it after a cut maybe rest it in winter but would like a few years off it does that sound like it would work?

Andrew · Jul 25, 2021

Farmer_Joe said:
You guys keep it for a few years then?
Thinking of trying a few acres will let lambs graze it after a cut maybe rest it in winter but would like a few years off it does that sound like it would work?

Ours are down for 5-6 years

Farmer_Joe · Jul 25, 2021

Andrew said:
Ours are down for 5-6 years

Thankyou,
Can you graze in winter or do they need rest?
How long can you let it get before cutting ?

Andrew · Jul 25, 2021

Farmer_Joe said:
Thankyou,
Can you graze in winter or do they need rest?
How long can you let it get before cutting ?

No idea, we’ve never grazed it and cut just as it comes into flower

Mark C · Jul 25, 2021

You should leave it be after the autumn. It doesn’t like compaction. I sprayed mine with roundup this spring but because it was so wet I waited too long and I thought I had killed it. It absolutely mullered it. It came back after about 3 weeks.

Bury the Trash · Jul 25, 2021

ollie989898 said:
Agreed, lucerne (and red clover for that matter) must not be cut short or pounded by tankers etc when it is wet. I would also let it grow on comfortably to give a bit of biomass (and root reserves) prior to the onset of winter.

Yes those 2 come to mind particularly as not liking it but nothing, grass clovers etc likes to be shaved tight ,quicker regrowth is the first big advantage
in any case Its only poor quality stuff down there in the

.....and possibly there's a few flints in that particular area referred to, as well .

Mostly grazed mine though tbh. with just one cut per year.

Daniel · Jul 25, 2021

Ali_Maxxum said:
It was set to replace our older 110 originally, but with the way business is going, ever increasing workload, the need for a loader and just general planning for the future we decided to try and add it as an addition rather than replace anything in the end. We've given the 130CVX a bit of a birthday recently (whilst it was having its main ad blue dosing unit replaced!) and it's going as well if not better than it did when it was new!

And yes, the extended wheelbase is a massive improvement with regards comfort and grip, they've squuezed as much as they can out of the steering lock to make that as good as is ever possible and it turns damn near as well as the other two! View attachment 976052

Lovely fleet!

Ali_Maxxum · Jul 25, 2021

Daniel said:
Lovely fleet!

Thank you!

Shebb90 · Jul 25, 2021

Picked this up Friday

cows sh#t me to tears · Jul 25, 2021

Farmer_Joe said:
Thankyou,
Can you graze in winter or do they need rest?
How long can you let it get before cutting ?

Yes you can, provided the ground isnt soaking wet. We graze dairy heifers IF it isnt a wet winter.....because of the bare patches between crowns plugging will occur if wet.

Winter growth depends on the dormancy number associated with the variety. The lower the number the more winter dormant. The higher the number (10 max) the more winter active. The trade off is winter active will have a significant less life span as a stand.

Cutting height is irrelevant. It's the stage of flowering that determines that. Rule of thumb. Less than 10% But if doing it for rocket fuel for dairy cattle you want to be slightly less again.

MF-ANDY · Jul 25, 2021

Lofty1984 · Jul 25, 2021

MF-ANDY said:
View attachment 976167 View attachment 976168

Love that colour

organicguy · Jul 26, 2021

cows sh#t me to tears said:
Yes you can, provided the ground isnt soaking wet. We graze dairy heifers IF it isnt a wet winter.....because of the bare patches between crowns plugging will occur if wet.

Winter growth depends on the dormancy number associated with the variety. The lower the number the more winter dormant. The higher the number (10 max) the more winter active. The trade off is winter active will have a significant less life span as a stand.

Cutting height is irrelevant. It's the stage of flowering that determines that. Rule of thumb. Less than 10% But if doing it for rocket fuel for dairy cattle you want to be slightly less again.

Are you saying the more flower when you cut the lower the persistence is?

cows sh#t me to tears · Jul 26, 2021

organicguy said:
Are you saying the more flower when you cut the lower the persistence is?

No. Far from it. The more flower the lower the feed value.(you will generally get more bulk if you let it get to 30-50% but a much lower rfi) It is ideal to let it flower properly before the end of the season (and winter) particularly if you live in an area where you get snow and hard frost as this let's the plant build its starches up to keep it going.

I generally sow a "7" which gives moderate winter grazing (generally early winter/ late autumn when it's to dewy to make hay....as lucerne bleaches easily). Trade off with higher numbers is a higher set crown on the plant (more prone to damage) and a thicker stem (not preferred for premium hay markets) . This year (next few months) I will be sowing a new 75ac stand and it will most likely be a "3" as I'm chasing premium... at worst it will be a "5". Another oddity with the "3" is it has a longer window regarding cutting. The current 7 I have needs cutting every 28 days over summer (I got 6 cuts last season) . If theres rain forecast and you wait 4 or 5 days its flowered way to much. The 3 I'm looking at is much more forgiving apparently.

Farmer_Joe · Jul 26, 2021

We need a new Lucerne aka alfalfa thread… I guess you are meaning distance between rows?
good info though

hollister · Jul 26, 2021

Farmer_Joe said:
We need a new Lucerne aka alfalfa thread… I guess you are meaning distance between rows?
good info though

Winter dormancy ratings

Sandy · Jul 26, 2021

Thought I’d treat the wife to a new trailer tent thingy

Spencer · Jul 26, 2021

That’s definitely a “thingy” ..

New toy day

Member

Member

Member

Never Forgotten

Member

Never Forgotten

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Attachments

Member

0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

Share this page