letting out ground for silage

[irish dom]

I am an all sheep farmer that sends my ewes away for the winter on cattle farms. This time of the year i find grass gets away from me no matter how hard i stock it. I usually skip a few paddocks let them bulk up for a month and sell the grass to a couple of local cattle boys. They mow bale wrap and bring it away. I charge 7 euro per bale for every bale produced.
It suits me as
1. I dont need the silage
2. I have no tractor
3. I am busy shearing.

Anyway buying my own place this year and tempted to mix a few cattle ( calf to beef)thru the sheep and make use of this grass without relying on outside people.

Just very curious to hear how other farmers manage their grass without compromising quality, wasting grass or making loads of bales that are worth feck all.

 

[Lovegoodstock]

Clamp the silage, run ewes, sucklers and yearlings. Buy in straw and some hay/ haylage. Bales are never worthless for long. Surplus for a year or two, will bring on a bad grazing season. Well I hope so, just bought a lot of hay cheap on that theory!!

 

[Sheep92]

Make bales here, never let the grass get too ahead of the sheep, used to sell a fair bit of hay but no money in it anymore, so keepin a few extra ewes and splittin larger fields to manage grass better, have 40 sucklers that eat more hay and silage than 1400 odd ewes and hoggets during the winter, hard to know what your best off doing, id imagine bales are always in demand over in the west

 

[irish dom]

Everything is in demand until you go and sell it! There would be a big demand but getting paid becomes an issue. Some of the " best" farmers in this area feel they have a right to decide when you get paid. Had to get money for bales off one of them lately and my contractor got me to gather his few pound as well. Its the worst job ever. Some people have the nack of making you feel like you are stealing it off them. Dunno how sales reps manage tjat sh!t day in day out. Torture

 

[Jackson4]

Try and match highest demand with grass growth i guess, when i lambed earlier with more sheep the lambs were grazing just when the big surge of grass would be growing in may, started lambing later and down on numbers and lambs still on milk it would end up getting away, use less fert till i can get numbers up but the rygrass was dying out.. hmm so yes Left a few pastures without fert this time even though they look a bit hungry. Ive definitely compromised quality, wasted grass and have many worth eff all bales to my name!

Bale it up as real short grass and cut it low should slow it down a bit longer, or get someone else stock in but risks with that.

 

[4course]

with all this talk of lower rainfall this year are we in for a less grass ? looks like growth stage in front of last year so that to me means less bulk at least first cut