Maize 2022

[Serup]

@andrew830
My contractor use a 8,6m samson like this one:

My seedrate is 100.000/ha average. We try to variable rate it on some of the area.

 

[Serup]

Drilled 1st of June last year, (due to wet may)grew away well and looked better than some april drilled crops

I drilled most around june 10th last year. It grew fine and lokked well. But it didn't mature by mid october and i ended up with silage with 27% dm and only about 22% starch. So this year we drill early.

 

[vantage]

On marginal sites, is the plastic that covers the maize at drilling being banned next year? Contractor here said so, I thought that a starch bases film was taking over, but he told me it wasn’t very good, could be easily ripped off by wind.

 

[Headless chicken]

I'm running behind with everything as per usual, maize won't be drilled until 10-14 days time at the earliest, will that be OK or too late?

our maize ground isn’t ploughed yet. Doubt we’ll drill much before may 10th

 

[Cows 'n grass]

@andrew830
My contractor use a 8,6m samson like this one:

My seedrate is 100.000/ha average. We try to variable rate it on some of the area.

I always pictured Denmark as being flatter than that.

 

[Serup]

I always pictured Denmark as being flatter than that.

Even though our highest point is under 180m above sea, i don’t have a flat field over 5 ha. Plenty of hills where unexperienced drivers can tip over trailers, happens every year somewhere here.
Not all of Denmark is like this, but a big part is.

 

[pappuller]

our maize ground isn’t ploughed yet. Doubt we’ll drill much before may 10th

itll be fine, no intention to sow any here before next weeked, maybe grab a bit of grass this week

 

[TomB]

Started working some maize fields over the weekend, dry enough!

 

[Headless chicken]

What sort of tonnage are people budgeting on the maize coming off at? I’ve got 15 tonne at 30% dm one feed rep thinks optimistic one agronomist thought it wasn’t even worth growing for less than 20 tonne an acre.

 

[crashbox]

What sort of tonnage are people budgeting on the maize coming off at? I’ve got 15 tonne at 30% dm one feed rep thinks optimistic one agronomist thought it wasn’t even worth growing for less than 20 tonne an acre.

RB209 table figures are done on 40t/ha freshweight (16t/ac), so more than that is a respectable crop.
No point letting an agronomist sell you inputs for 20t/ac unless you know you'll get it IMO...

 

[crashbox]

What seed rates are people going for?
I'm aiming for 42000/ac, had higher last year but small cobs and I reckon lower seed rate will help...

 

[Boysground]

My soil thermometer yesterday morning

It’s been like that a week now.
Will probably get some in this week but still ground work to do alongside T1 fungicides and other spraying.

As for fertiliser I am allergic to putting more phosphate in the soil but I don’t have a field with a p index less than 3. Every field has fym of slurry and will have around 150kg/ha of 26.0.0.37 then I will have a think about further N or not.

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[Serup]

What sort of tonnage are people budgeting on the maize coming off at? I’ve got 15 tonne at 30% dm one feed rep thinks optimistic one agronomist thought it wasn’t even worth growing for less than 20 tonne an acre.

My budget with 30%dm is 16 tons fresh/acre
My average yield past 5 years is around 17,5. Best years are around 20. Even with 15 tons it’s still cheap feed here.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I'm running behind with everything as per usual, maize won't be drilled until 10-14 days time at the earliest, will that be OK or too late?

Cripes no. June would be considered late.

 

[deleted user 837354]

I drilled most around june 10th last year. It grew fine and lokked well. But it didn't mature by mid october and i ended up with silage with 27% dm and only about 22% starch. So this year we drill early.

Yes, that is getting late.

 

[vinnie123]

Been in the ground 5 days

 

[deleted user 837354]

What sort of tonnage are people budgeting on the maize coming off at? I’ve got 15 tonne at 30% dm one feed rep thinks optimistic one agronomist thought it wasn’t even worth growing for less than 20 tonne an acre.

A 15 tonne crop would be average around here in a reasonable season and pretty much the benchmark you would be looking for. The old rule of thumb was that if the crop was 1 foot taller than your head (i.e about 7 feet tall) and had near 100% establishment, you would have a 15 tonne/acre crop. Crops of 10-12 tonnes fresh would be less common.

'One agronomist thought it wasn't even worth growing for less than 20 tonnes an acre'- I don't know where agronomists get such peculiar ideas about maize but I did hear some corkers over the years. It isn't so much just the total fresh weight but the starch value and digestibility that is important. A lot of people can grow 20 tonnes of very green biomass by growing late maturing varieties, it won't be mature worth a damn though come harvest time.

A 15 tonne fresh weight crop from just some starter fertiliser isn't half bad when you consider the cost involved of obtaining 15 tonnes/acre from grass and the value of the starch you will harvest- I've seen analyses that come back at 40% starch. If you were going to go and buy that same product in a lorry as grain you would be paying a pretty penny for it today. Of course not every agronomist has any background in cow nutrition but in my view more of them should have.

Maize can be good value, there is very little chemical cost for maize, modest fertiliser spend and only 1 harvest. With grass you would be cutting multiple times and putting on a lot of N to get it.

 

[Boysground]

Always budget on about 14t here with my chalk soils. Can be quite a variation. Will need some rain soon to be better than average this year. Although I have now stopped ploughing for most of the maize which does help conserve moisture a bit.

Drill is starting today

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[deleted user 837354]

Always budget on about 14t here with my chalk soils. Can be quite a variation. Will need some rain soon to be better than average this year. Although I have now stopped ploughing for most of the maize which does help conserve moisture a bit.

Drill is starting today

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I've often wondered if the Boys down in the Vale or the Depths of Somerset on the clays are in a better position than you guys the chalk or not. The answer is, yes, apart from in a minging wet spring when the stuff just doesn't want to grow. Thankfully that is a rare thing these days.

I once advised a customer to plant nearer 50,000 seeds per acre because all their maize was going into very old grass that had been there years and was an obvious wireworm risk. They fudged up their total area and ended up drilling a snitch more than my intended 48,000 or whatever I calculated and ever plant grew. Fudging stuff was very tall as well. Got some yield out of it that year.

The best maize I have ever seen grown in the UK was in Dorset but on some deep dark dirt that had been fed sewage sludge for a number of years. Taller than the cab on the forager but green as fudge. Anyone who knows the area will know it as it is in the same region as the watercress farm if it is still there.

 

[E_B]

1/3rd of our maize ground has forage rye on it, soon to be cut. First time trying it, the maize will be strip tilled in. Medium loam land overall. Was a bit worried about doing this in a dry spring, oh well.