Fertilising grass at £800 a tonne😳

[Kiwi Pete]

Same here. Regretting planting as much modern grass as I have..... needs expensive feed.

But it's progressive!

Is anyone else thinking of more variety in their leys for hay and haylage? Maybe include more Timothy, Fescues and maybe Cocksfoot? Ryegrass is hungry and the majority of horses don't need high feed value fodder.

Cocksfoot/fescue mix here, never put fert on, just graze it every 80-140 days

 

[will6910]

I am in a very very small farming operation compared to most others here, but I have sown 1 600kg bag off nitrogen this year on 2 silage fields and 2 more small bits off grazing. Roughly half the amount I sowed for silage than previous year. I have slurried paddocks at times with hen slurry, some have grown some have not. Grazing wise Iv been okish most time so far. But for me the struggle is silage. I sowed half the fert and have gotten half the quantity of silage. I couldn’t leave it to grow a extra two weeks because off not sowing on grazing I need the silage after grass sooner

 

[Boohoo]

But it's progressive!

Cocksfoot/fescue mix here, never put fert on, just graze it every 80-140 daysView attachment 1052301

Does the cocksfoot form clumps if left too long? I've read that modern varieties don't but I haven't tried them yet.

 

[neilo]

We have nearly 100 acres of old neadow. Most never sees fertiliser. One cut hay and then grazing.
Then 60 acres that gets reseeded regularly which would normally do 2 cuts and grazing. It's this type of grass that needs fertiliser regularly.
I am considering returning everything to meadow grass and just take what comes.

You still need to replace the P&K you’re taking off as forage, or you will slowly diminish reserves, and the grasses that predominate.
Adequate pH and P&K will mean clover will flourish, providing all the N you would have been putting on, as well as improving the forage/grazing quality.

 

[ollie989898]

Quite simple, either the price of the end product rises or there won't be any end product as no one will be able to stomach the cost of fertiliser, which means less grub about and less stock. To be honest if that means the price of beef, lamb, pork and poultry increase it won't be a bad thing as they have been too cheap for far too long.

 

[Macsky]

Spent the morning on a small uninhabited Hebridean island, grazed with ewe hoggs Sept to April annually, place is wall to wall like this, I wonder how it would be coping further south with the lack of rain?

Won’t ever have seen fert or any reseed, totally natural/native I’d have thought.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Does the cocksfoot form clumps if left too long? I've read that modern varieties don't but I haven't tried them yet.

No, this stuff is soft, and lush, right to the deck.

I'm quite thrilled by how it does TBH. We missed rain for 5 months (hence the long recovery thing) and it just goes and goes and goes..
I don't usually reseed but we redid the infrastructure over this side of the ranch, so took the opportunity to throw some new grass in while the fences were gone.

We've had 30 inches of rain in ten weeks and it's holding up well, hopefully the deeper roots will mean we are a bit more droughtproof this summer

 

[bobk]

I can certainly see where I missed some areas so must be doing something

No question you grow more grass , sometimes more isn't better .

 

[Henarar]

, I wonder how it would be coping further south with the lack of rain?

I will get some photos
Still have some like that to cut

 

[ffukedfarmer]

Is anyone else thinking of more variety in their leys for hay and haylage? Maybe include more Timothy, Fescues and maybe Cocksfoot? Ryegrass is hungry and the majority of horses don't need high feed value fodder.

I put in a Timothy, fescue and Cocksfoot ley 2 years ago. This year was the first year that I cut it for hay. No fertilisers and yielded better than a 2 year old prg/ Timothy ley that had fert.

The downside is that the hay is very coarse and I think if I hadn’t of got it in early June it would get old very soon. I put a slice of that hay and a slice of the prg / Timothy hay in front of my mothers horses and they unequivocally prefer the ryegrass.

It would be brilliant to be able to ditch ryegrass in favour of Cocksfoot and fescue but no point in making a making a substandard product.

 

[Henarar]

Made this in to haylage, don't show that well on the photo but it was thick with birdsfoot trefoil this year, never seen so much, I actully baled it a bit greener than I normaly would have done just to help stop it breaking up, be interesting to see how it comes out

 

[RhysT]

Using a calculator is scary now!

Luckily most farmers calculators are broken so they don’t need to think about it!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Most horses want a low feed value. They rarely get a sweat on nowadays

For horses its ideal

 

[john432]

My take is...all very well having old permanent pasture and old hay meadows to make hay for horses. But for cattle and sheep one needs live weight gain and milk. For example ewes at lambing time, the difference in lamb condition and growth is night and day between fresh ryegrass clover leys ,and old permanent pasture . The same is true with weaned store lambs, turned to after math.
The dairy boys know tomorrow which fields don't perform... All I do know is with fertilizer at present prices, stock numbers and actual meat production is going to fall by probably a half..

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Is anyone else thinking of more variety in their leys for hay and haylage? Maybe include more Timothy, Fescues and maybe Cocksfoot? Ryegrass is hungry and the majority of horses don't need high feed value fodder.

Most good have mixes will have that in already including meadow grass , but diploid ryegrass is easier to make into hay and more hardy than Tertaploid Ryegrass

 

[Grassman]

My take is...all very well having old permanent pasture and old hay meadows to make hay for horses. But for cattle and sheep one needs live weight gain and milk. For example ewes at lambing time, the difference in lamb condition and growth is night and day between fresh ryegrass clover leys ,and old permanent pasture . The same is true with weaned store lambs, turned to after math.
The dairy boys know tomorrow which fields don't perform... All I do know is with fertilizer at present prices, stock numbers and actual meat production is going to fall by probably a half..

Very true. Last year I fattened all our lambs straight off grass. No corn. This only happened because they had new leys to go at. The old meadows just don't do that.

 

[Boohoo]

I put in a Timothy, fescue and Cocksfoot ley 2 years ago. This year was the first year that I cut it for hay. No fertilisers and yielded better than a 2 year old prg/ Timothy ley that had fert.

The downside is that the hay is very coarse and I think if I hadn’t of got it in early June it would get old very soon. I put a slice of that hay and a slice of the prg / Timothy hay in front of my mothers horses and they unequivocally prefer the ryegrass.

It would be brilliant to be able to ditch ryegrass in favour of Cocksfoot and fescue but no point in making a making a substandard product.

Is what the horse prefers the best thing for them though? I've read that the coarser hay is better for the horse, but the horse and its owner will always choose the softer or finer hay. Suppose convincing the owner then becomes the issue...

 

[Grassman]

For horses its ideal

Yes. Not much good for fattening livestock

 

[Grassman]

Is what the horse prefers the best thing for them though? I've read that the coarser hay is better for the horse, but the horse and its owner will always choose the softer or finer hay. Suppose convincing the owner then becomes the issue...

Some grass just isn't attractive to horses. Had a field of new seeds a couple of years ago. Made late May and I thought it was perfect. Went to numerous horse owners and they all said their horses wouldn't touch it. My sheep loved it

 

[Boohoo]

Some grass just isn't attractive to horses. Had a field of new seeds a couple of years ago. Made late May and I thought it was perfect. Went to numerous horse owners and they all said their horses wouldn't touch it. My sheep loved it

Was there anything different from normal in the grass seed mix? If your sheep loved it, it sounds like the horse owners rejected it rather than the horses.