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2019 Silage Season

This thread reminds me of that old joke about the 6 and 7000 series Fords with the twin stick crunch boxes and the elusive 5th gear which, when 'engaged', made 40 or even 50km/h possible as indicated by the old digital dash.

Knocking one of those things out of gear going downhill with a silage trailer behind it must have made you braver than 'the legend' ever could be.
 
First attempt at making dairy cow silage!

upload_2019-7-11_21-24-31.png


Would have liked a bit more protein, we didn't graze any sheep on it through the winter and I think there was too much "old" grass.
 

Bramble

Member
1st cut over 76 D last year but didn’t feed as well as it analysed. Not done anything different to previous years. Back to 72-73 this year which is normal for us
 
They collect my milk in two tankers at the moment, one fills up and one tops up EOD once all four milkings are in. The test results are often staggeringly different for what should be a completely homogeneous product.

I've given up on silage analysis, I think it can be wildly inaccurate and missleading. If you sent 10 samples and took an average it might be worthwhile but otherwise I'm not a fan.
 

bigw

Member
Location
Scotland
They collect my milk in two tankers at the moment, one fills up and one tops up EOD once all four milkings are in. The test results are often staggeringly different for what should be a completely homogeneous product.

I've given up on silage analysis, I think it can be wildly inaccurate and missleading. If you sent 10 samples and took an average it might be worthwhile but otherwise I'm not a fan.

PM milking will have higher milk solids
 

The Agrarian

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
Agree with that. The potential for sample variation in a silage put must be huge. The fact that the grass going in is not mixed is the beginning of the problem. A visual assessment is a useful as anything in my opinion (assuming the person knows how to judge silage). I've had first cut cored and I think it's miles out from where it should be. Will have it done again when it's opened.
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
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