Hi folks,
I have agreed in principle to the renewal of a 5 year lease on a 100ac block of land, mainly for sheep grazing with 20 suckler cows/calves and one cut of silage in the same field each year.
Over the past 5 years I have managed to increase stocking density massively using rotational grazing but nonetheless feel the place has a lot more potential. I had soil testing done last year to get a feel for what might be needed to make the ground more productive in the event a renewal was agreed.
Based on the attached, I understand the pH to be very low at 5.3 in a typical grazing field and 5.5 in the regular silage field, as well as significant K, sulphur and sodium deficiencies. My initial plan is to get 2t of lime/ac on the whole place as soon as possible, before improving the potash deficiency later in the spring/summer with application of 25-0-14 or similar.
My main dilemma at the moment is what type of lime to put on. I applied 1t/ac of good quality ground calcium lime to the whole place at the start of the previous 5 year period but it seems to have hardly scratched the surface, hence going for 2t this time.
Mag lime is circa £30/ac spread in my area and it's £38/ac spread for calcium lime, adding up to £1600 difference overall! I'm struggling to justify the extra cost and have been advised that the mag lime will do just as good a job, while being less susceptible to blowing onto the neighbours (as it seemed to do last time in at least some fields). However, I'm slightly concerned with the 'high' mag test of 106/51 and the impact applying more mag in the form will have on this. To confuse things further, I have another field test at a different place with 82/51 recorded (categorised as 'normal') and the recommendation is to apply mag there to get it up a bit which I am struggling to follow.
Do any of the TFF collective have an opinion on calcium vs. mag lime? Thinking mainly about risk to cattle due to staggers risk and related benefits of addressing the calcium/mag balance with an application of calcium lime. The ability to get mag lime of that quantity delivered and spread in the dry, and with very little wind is also a consideration as the stars might not all align.
Many thanks for your help!
I have agreed in principle to the renewal of a 5 year lease on a 100ac block of land, mainly for sheep grazing with 20 suckler cows/calves and one cut of silage in the same field each year.
Over the past 5 years I have managed to increase stocking density massively using rotational grazing but nonetheless feel the place has a lot more potential. I had soil testing done last year to get a feel for what might be needed to make the ground more productive in the event a renewal was agreed.
Based on the attached, I understand the pH to be very low at 5.3 in a typical grazing field and 5.5 in the regular silage field, as well as significant K, sulphur and sodium deficiencies. My initial plan is to get 2t of lime/ac on the whole place as soon as possible, before improving the potash deficiency later in the spring/summer with application of 25-0-14 or similar.
My main dilemma at the moment is what type of lime to put on. I applied 1t/ac of good quality ground calcium lime to the whole place at the start of the previous 5 year period but it seems to have hardly scratched the surface, hence going for 2t this time.
Mag lime is circa £30/ac spread in my area and it's £38/ac spread for calcium lime, adding up to £1600 difference overall! I'm struggling to justify the extra cost and have been advised that the mag lime will do just as good a job, while being less susceptible to blowing onto the neighbours (as it seemed to do last time in at least some fields). However, I'm slightly concerned with the 'high' mag test of 106/51 and the impact applying more mag in the form will have on this. To confuse things further, I have another field test at a different place with 82/51 recorded (categorised as 'normal') and the recommendation is to apply mag there to get it up a bit which I am struggling to follow.
Do any of the TFF collective have an opinion on calcium vs. mag lime? Thinking mainly about risk to cattle due to staggers risk and related benefits of addressing the calcium/mag balance with an application of calcium lime. The ability to get mag lime of that quantity delivered and spread in the dry, and with very little wind is also a consideration as the stars might not all align.
Many thanks for your help!
