forage situation

muleman

Member
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found the back wall of the silage clamp this spring for the first time in probably 7 or 8 years,looks as though we will empty it now but to be honest the crop has lasted far better than we ever thought considering we never had as much due to last summers dry weather.
We wont need to buy any now i dont think...will just turn the cows out early this time as the grass is starting to come now.
Think the fact that its been a mild winter and the sheep havnt eaten as much has meant there hasnt been the shortages that many feared in this area.
How are others doing,will grass day arrive in time? They say nature often levels things out, it seems to have done in this area anyways.
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
View attachment 799366 View attachment 799366 View attachment 799368 View attachment 799368 found the back wall of the silage clamp this spring for the first time in probably 7 or 8 years,looks as though we will empty it now but to be honest the crop has lasted far better than we ever thought considering we never had as much due to last summers dry weather.
We wont need to buy any now i dont think...will just turn the cows out early this time as the grass is starting to come now.
Think the fact that its been a mild winter and the sheep havnt eaten as much has meant there hasnt been the shortages that many feared in this area.
How are others doing,will grass day arrive in time? They say nature often levels things out, it seems to have done in this area anyways.
Where are you at? Some cattle been at grass for 6 weeks here and I imagine I'm further north than you?
 
View attachment 799366 View attachment 799366 View attachment 799368 View attachment 799368 found the back wall of the silage clamp this spring for the first time in probably 7 or 8 years,looks as though we will empty it now but to be honest the crop has lasted far better than we ever thought considering we never had as much due to last summers dry weather.
We wont need to buy any now i dont think...will just turn the cows out early this time as the grass is starting to come now.
Think the fact that its been a mild winter and the sheep havnt eaten as much has meant there hasnt been the shortages that many feared in this area.
How are others doing,will grass day arrive in time? They say nature often levels things out, it seems to have done in this area anyways.

When would you normally turn the cows out.
 
like everything out by 1st june..well would like them out by 1st may in an ideal world, hardly worth having them when they have to be inside so long.....too many of what the dairy men would call `grass maggots` round here!

Is it the sheep that have eaten the grass or is it the ground is too wet, it cant make financial sense to keep cattle indoors for 6 or 7 months a year.
 

muleman

Member
Is it the sheep that have eaten the grass or is it the ground is too wet, it cant make financial sense to keep cattle indoors for 6 or 7 months a year.
its dry enough this time but never have much grass till june here,the east wind took the grass in april even on a year like this one, yes the sheep always take the first bite, its always a 7 month winter here,suppose thats just what we`ve become accustomed to but must admit i sometimes think it must be easier to make money in the south of the country....only thing is we hardly ever burn off up here.
 

muleman

Member
And i suppose what i was wondering with this thread was....did the farms down south that droughted badly last summer and got no crop have to buy much,or as i wonder if might have happened,did the rain come in winter and people manage to put cows out to grass in feb....or maybe never even have them in?
 
its dry enough this time but never have much grass till june here,the east wind took the grass in april even on a year like this one, yes the sheep always take the first bite, its always a 7 month winter here,suppose thats just what we`ve become accustomed to but must admit i sometimes think it must be easier to make money in the south of the country....only thing is we hardly ever burn off up here.

I wish you the very best of luck, I think your crazy keeping cattle at all!

We start to panic if cattle are not out 1st week of feb.

How do you make so much silage.
 

muleman

Member
I wish you the very best of luck, I think your crazy keeping cattle at all!

We start to panic if cattle are not out 1st week of feb.

How do you make so much silage.
starting to think that myself! Where do you farm? its easy enough to make plenty silage...grass grows like crazy here most years from june till september.
 
starting to think that myself! Where do you farm? its easy enough to make plenty silage...grass grows like crazy here most years from june till september.

I farm in county Meath on the east coast of Ireland. Its pretty flat and our land is dry, over sand, the wifes father is 6 miles down the road and is a lot wetter.

I never thought that indoor milking systems make sense, but in a system were the land doesnt allow it, it seems to make sense.
 

muleman

Member
I farm in county Meath on the east coast of Ireland. Its pretty flat and our land is dry, over sand, the wifes father is 6 miles down the road and is a lot wetter.

I never thought that indoor milking systems make sense, but in a system were the land doesnt allow it, it seems to make sense.
Feet trouble is the biggest problem with having cattle in so long here.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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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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