Magnesium spray on grass

[crazy_bull]

So I have given up on the bolus idea as it seems the longest acting bolus is 3 week, and I won't be able to gather everyone up every three weeks easily.

So how about applying liquid mag via a sprayer to the grass, has anyone done this.

I am thinking Mag Nitrate or Mag Sulphate......

Can this be mixed with Thistlex or MCPA/24d (be handy if it could as would save a pass)

Mag via bag fertiliser seems expensive and not necessarily likely to get into the plant if we have another dry spell.

Cheers



C B

 

[Paulk]

Have you done a grass mineral test to check that you need magnesium. It may be an excess of potash or a deficiency of sodium that’s reducing available mag in which case top dressing with mag will make little long term difference.

 

[Global ovine]

Have you done a grass mineral test to check that you need magnesium. It may be an excess of potash or a deficiency of sodium that’s reducing available mag in which case top dressing with mag will make little long term difference.

If feeds given (such as silage with high K levels) make the rumen alkaline, it can create a situation where a little Mg supplementation will do nothing. Ideally the rumen should be slightly acid and the blood then becomes likewise which is normal. A ruminant with alkaline blood suffers from less ability to mobilise Ca from its bones. In such conditions metabolic and or prolapse disorders arise. To correct this cation:anion balance large amounts of Mg is needed in the diet. However the cheapest form Causmag becomes unpalatable in adequate rates when dusted onto feeds such as pasture or silage.
To keep pasture (both in situ or conserved) in the best zone for cation:anion balance is to ensure soil Sulphur levels are high and fertilisers containing K are not put on prior to harvest. Slurry boosted pastures/silage can contain high levels of K and N which throws out the cation:anion balance leading to alkalinity in late pregnancy. A high risk situation for prolapses.

 

[debe]

We dust with cal mag, drop any k from early fertilisers (use urea rather than a blend) dose troughs with mag and use rock salt to encourage water consumption.

Ambition for the year is not to lose any to mag deficiency, we will see.

 

[crazy_bull]

We have very high potash soils, equally fairly high Mag soils, both of which seem to contribute to Mag lock up.

All water troughs are dosed with Mag flakes but there are often puddles/flooded areas that enable the ewes to drink non Mag water.

Keiserite is expensive and non effective in a dry period, and Mag lime will likely exasperate the situation, so a foliar feed might be easiest option over bolusing the flock.

We feed a little hay in the lambing shed, and will feed what sugar beet we have left out in the field/shed, other than that it will be grass (there is a lot of lush grass as it has been rested since Oct) and mineral blocks.

C B

 

[marco]

Ill say it till im blue in the face, get an Albrecht test done and you'll know exactly where you stand re mg and ca. Then you can make a plan to sort it.

 

[Hesstondriver]

We have very high potash soils, equally fairly high Mag soils, both of which seem to contribute to Mag lock up.

All water troughs are dosed with Mag flakes but there are often puddles/flooded areas that enable the ewes to drink non Mag water.

Keiserite is expensive and non effective in a dry period, and Mag lime will likely exasperate the situation, so a foliar feed might be easiest option over bolusing the flock.

We feed a little hay in the lambing shed, and will feed what sugar beet we have left out in the field/shed, other than that it will be grass (there is a lot of lush grass as it has been rested since Oct) and mineral blocks.

C B

Strange how soils vary - we can get enough potash on our sharp gravel ! , we are short of copper and low on mag to.

would using CAN rather than AN help - from memory this contains some magnesium ?