All things Dairy

Jdunn55

Member
Seeing those photos of silage going in, how much fert have people banged on for 2nd cut?

Struggling with figures here...

RB209 suggests for an extra 2t DM/ha you need 50kgN/ha, or 200kg/ha of 25% AN.
@ £650/t that is £130, or £65 per extra tonne DM. Plus application, harvest costs, etc. Is it worth it?
Probably wrong for doing so, but I've chucked on 125kg/ha of 27%. I'll stick more on if I think it needs it but thought that would get it going if nothing else, what I didn't want to happen was for the rain to dissappear off the forecast and the very expensive white stuff to dissappear off to the sky...

Oh and contractor is coming this week to spread some slurry as well
 
30 units + slurry, but a bit understocked, so doing well on the winter grub, will make as much as we can, in case of a bad next year.
But, how little can we get away with ? The answer to that, is we don't really know. The experts tell us, clover will give x amount, this may be the year, we find out what it does do.
certainly here, its one of the grassiest springs l can remember here, and with half the normal fert, love it to be related, but not sure it is.
Poland and Lithuania, from where a lot of fert originates from there, have both said, under no circumstances, regardless of self harm, will they import Russian gas, so that is a major loss of supply, and that can only reduce supply, and keep cost high. The 15,000 tons of N, on offer, last week, was all sold within hours, and only 2 firms had it.
Unless somebody gets rid of putrid pretty quickly, high fert costs will be a high priced input. There again, we don't know who would take over, when putrid leaves power, by whatever way that happens. They could well be of the same mindset, after all, he has surrounded himself, with cronies of his, they would be the ones in the race to replace him. An army coup is noi on the cards, putrid has 'cleansed' a lot of top brass, and they are no longer so strong, as they were, in fact, they have looked pretty awful.

That's the bad bit, for farmers, less production, means higher prices, so some clouds, might have a silver lining. But those shortages, are going to cause a lot of distress around the world, many people will starve, even in the UK, rising food costs, are going to cause huge problems, and we, are meant to be, an affluent country.
Already ordered next springs fert
 

Jdunn55

Member
Cows back on the GS4

Had a nice bit of rain the past couple of days with more forecast tomorrow. Fert all spread, grass seed up and wanting a drink, nice when things come together! Just got to get maize in this week and then I'll be fairly well caught up for once 👍
 

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som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Cows back on the GS4

Had a nice bit of rain the past couple of days with more forecast tomorrow. Fert all spread, grass seed up and wanting a drink, nice when things come together! Just got to get maize in this week and then I'll be fairly well caught up for once 👍
IMG_0694[1].JPG

plantain coming on, behind the cows, one of our driest slopes, so pleased with it.
and we have had 2 good soakings, as well, very gratefully received, that should see us well into june, then start drying off.
 

Jdunn55

Member
View attachment 1036421
plantain coming on, behind the cows, one of our driest slopes, so pleased with it.
and we have had 2 good soakings, as well, very gratefully received, that should see us well into june, then start drying off.
Plantain is great stuff. Love my gs4 leys, looked after well there seems to be few negatives with them, weed control being the biggest
 

In the pit

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembrokeshire
Cows back on the GS4

Had a nice bit of rain the past couple of days with more forecast tomorrow. Fert all spread, grass seed up and wanting a drink, nice when things come together! Just got to get maize in this week and then I'll be fairly well caught up for once 👍
If they cows laid down you’d miss getting half of them in
 

Jdunn55

Member
So was there actually more in the tank ?
Yes, more solids, % will be the same but because there's more litres there's more solids if that makes sense. I assume that the herbs provide slightly more fibre than ryegrass does
I put the milk increase down to the fact there's variety which makes them want to eat more but who really knows.
I just like the fact there's no fertiliser involved and I can leave them to get on with it and then get paid for the privilege!
 
Yes, more solids, % will be the same but because there's more litres there's more solids if that makes sense. I assume that the herbs provide slightly more fibre than ryegrass does
I put the milk increase down to the fact there's variety which makes them want to eat more but who really knows.
I just like the fact there's no fertiliser involved and I can leave them to get on with it and then get paid for the privilege!
Slightly surprised % are the same as herbs have a lower fibre and dry matter %
total get how a diverse sward can drive intakes and if quality- litres
 
Probably wrong for doing so, but I've chucked on 125kg/ha of 27%. I'll stick more on if I think it needs it but thought that would get it going if nothing else, what I didn't want to happen was for the rain to dissappear off the forecast and the very expensive white stuff to dissappear off to the sky...

Oh and contractor is coming this week to spread some slurry as well
Same here.
Yes, more solids, % will be the same but because there's more litres there's more solids if that makes sense. I assume that the herbs provide slightly more fibre than ryegrass does
I put the milk increase down to the fact there's variety which makes them want to eat more but who really knows.
I just like the fact there's no fertiliser involved and I can leave them to get on with it and then get paid for the privilege!
When will you shut up for 5 weeks?
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Up every time, the cows absolutely love it, always notice a drop when they come off it. Not much but enough to see it, probably a litre or 2 per cow
when we go on ours, the cows love it, you can watch them search for the 'bits' they particularly like, just as we like a variety of food to eat, perhaps they do as well.
recovery time, is longer than 'normal', which can cause problems with rotation length, but many that graze them, don't find it a problem, we leave 28 -35 days between, and seems to work ok.
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Is yours tonic plantain? Cows really like it?
yes, we dry out, rye grass can die off, chicory, plantain and clover, keep growing. On one dry 9 acre slope, in the 'driest' part, plantain is self seeding, and becoming the dominant plant, which there, isn't a problem, there's something for the cows to eat ! When the plantain, has sent up its flower stalk, the cows grazed the leaf's, and left the stalk, quite amusing.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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