Maize Mess Madness

[digger64]

[QUOTEyou're arar, post: 6599152, member: 5961"]
Modern farming seems to involve a lot more running about the roads hauling stuff one way and hauling stuff back the other way with ever bigger tractors, anyone would think folk were paid to wear out expensive tractors and trailers and tyres and burn diesel
[/QUOTE]
Think youre wrong on that - apart from bigger farms mean longer journeys , but bigger trailers less trips though but bigger crops counter act that , the 3 x18 ton trailers and 12 row big X that left here 45 min ago have left far less mess than the fleet of 10 ton trailer that would have come 12 years ago , the field not to bad due the big tyres (and less wheel marks to due to the 12 row header )that are actually lower ground pressure than my 8 ton " wheel barrow " , I didn't really want to harvest today(this week tbh) but we have be reasonable (pro bably their smallest customer !), they have a lot to do , 300 + ton in about 4.5 hours in small fields , they carted through the village , I was quite worried about the potential mud on the road so they brought a rotary brush with them but didn't actually need it in the end .
They are very organised and professional , with radio s only one trailer on the narrow road at a time so they don't meet , came exactly when they said good warning given .
But we couldn't harvest half an acre due to next doors 20 acres of compacted potato field harvested in august running off into my maize , it's a big farm most people with common sense would not have planted and irrigated straight up and down the hill or left the ground hard - the village roads were flooded a week ago due to this .

 

[icanshootwell]

Well, the fact remains, there's 1000's of acres more grown than there used to be. That means more mud on the roads, and peeved members of the public. Spuds and beet have been brought up on this thread, I'd say the area grown of these crops has remained static, if not fallen. 50 years ago 10,000 acres of spuds were grown in Pembrokeshire, all earlies, job done and dusted by July. Now the area has shifted to maincrop.....along with harvesting in mud in October. And while we're at it, small scale growers planted in a fortnight, and ditto harvesting. Now it's in the hands of big growers who take months to plant huge acreages, which means late harvests waiting for skins to set.....
Modern farming really is pants. Just because it's all done from aircon tractors with twin beacons doesn't make it right.

Nice rant there @7610 super q

Just to set the record straight i have a single beacon. I am not in the twin beacon league, and the lane is clean.

 

[dragonfly]

And what’s the farmer doing who phoned said contractor, farmer who’s idea it was to plant maize in a field with a dodgy gateway straight out onto a busy country road? If he hasn’t got a road brush use a bucket and shovel!

Landowner uses a local farming company to run his operation. They in turn, let the land out to a local AD plant, who use multiple contactors to transport maize to AD site.
All of them, far too busy chasing 50p, to think about cleaning the road!

 

[Daddy Pig]

3loads. say 40t? A 10 hour day? Just say £40/hr man tractor and trailer (probably not enough but whatever) so you are at £10/t just in haulage. Then you have to chop the stuff and grow it. Sounds expensive.

12 hour day , very poor crop couldn't have been more than 3' tall

 

[bobk]

I'm sure you see a strong correlation in the growing of maize and the use of computers in offices too.

Do computers need testing every 60 days ?

 

[Daddy Pig]

For ad ?

For ad ?

No, Dairy herd

 

[ollie989898]

Unless they stand on each other’s shoulders and pee whilst windmilling I can’t see maize silage being a risk unless they are scooping badger flattened maize off the floor, think it’s more that maize acts as a great autumn/winter food source causing a increased population and can act as a ‘line of crumbs’ for them to the silage pit/feed passage.

TB is spread by airborne particulates from breathing/sputum in humans I presumed that badgers would be the same and it wasnt just their urine that was hazardous.

I was told a long time ago by a old vet that TB bacteria will survive for a year in the sludge at the bottom of a watertrough so assumed a bit of acidity in maize silage would not faze it.

 

[Scholsey]

TB is spread by airborne particulates from breathing/sputum in humans I presumed that badgers would be the same and it wasnt just their urine that was hazardous.

I was told a long time ago by a old vet that TB bacteria will survive for a year in the sludge at the bottom of a watertrough so assumed a bit of acidity in maize silage would not faze it.

I am sure its not outside the realms of possibility but I think if this was common TB would be far more of a issue in housed herds, far more failed tests in the autumn than the spring before stock pick it up grazing not from silage.

 

[Chuckie]

It also looks a bit wet in Holland at the moment

 

[Derrick Hughes]

.

 

[ollie989898]

It also looks a bit wet in Holland at the moment

When it gets like that you wonder what the point is.

 

[Mc115reed]

.View attachment 838712

Looks like 2 wheel drive syndrome caught him out

 

[Bury the Trash]

TB is spread by airborne particulates from breathing/sputum in humans I presumed that badgers would be the same and it wasnt just their urine that was hazardous.

I was told a long time ago by a old vet that TB bacteria will survive for a year in the sludge at the bottom of a watertrough so assumed a bit of acidity in maize silage would not faze it.

Correct, it can survive in a silage clamp.

 

[dowcow]

It also looks a bit wet in Holland at the moment

Have to wonder why they press on to get a full trailer and then get stuck in the same wet area as before... then while they are pulling him out an empty trailer is waiting at the end of the field. Is a half load not possible?

Also... that walking floor trailer in the second video. I am thinking a lot of the weight of an empty trailer would be eliminated if the trailer doesn't have to tip. I don't know why there isn't more of them... Probably safer to operate too.

 

[S J H]

Unless they stand on each other’s shoulders and pee whilst windmilling I can’t see maize silage being a risk unless they are scooping badger flattened maize off the floor, think it’s more that maize acts as a great autumn/winter food source causing a increased population and can act as a ‘line of crumbs’ for them to the silage pit/feed passage.

There's more to it than that, you're creating a food source then taking it away within a few weeks.

 

[RushesToo]

I doubt it would as what the badger eats would be on the floor and only what they push down would get foraged, even then can't see the pee getting on that, grass would be a lot more likely to get TB bacteria.
Maize similar to fodder beet would be a great feed for badgers encouraging population increase without any competition for food so less get pushed out, plus the sow's would be in great condition especially if they found the maize pit to rear a large litter.

@PaulNix I think it goes a bit like this:
Got maize?
Got well fed badgers?
Got lots of cubs?
Got a TB problem?

It's not the ensiled stuff that is the issue.

 

[ridger]

.View attachment 838712

Half load would be quicker

 

[RushesToo]

TB is spread by airborne particulates from breathing/sputum in humans I presumed that badgers would be the same and it wasnt just their urine that was hazardous.

I was told a long time ago by a old vet that TB bacteria will survive for a year in the sludge at the bottom of a watertrough so assumed a bit of acidity in maize silage would not faze it.

@ollie989898 Viruses survive because they adapt to what is their most effective method of transmission.
In humans this was and is areas with low UV and high humidity, oxygen and warm - or indoors. The "cure" was sanitoria, cold, fresh air and lower Oxygen. Most important was that this removed the source of infection from others.

For cattle, badger urine is the best method of transmission, along with - see above, low UV, high humidity and warm. Sadly removal is not in the toolbox.

 

[BigBarl]

All the maize taken off our place this year before the rain was fine (thankfully the bulk of it) the remaining 40 acres or so was taken off last week and yes the fields are a bit of a mess now but it’s a risk like any other crop. I’d rather have maize than OSR nowadays as a break crop even on heavy land. For us we find the maize leaves the soil in a fantastic condition, far better than any other crop grown on the farm and enables us to turn around quick and get a crop of wheat in as the soil is friable and dry. This year the land after early chopped maize is the only stuff we stand a chance of getting an autumn cereal drilled into. As for the roads, our contractor had a road sweeper on standby, we had the manitou to scrape any thick crap up, job sorted fast and responsibly and no complaints from the public?

 

[Boysground]

I admit that I am on light soils, when we eventually cut the remaining maize I am planning to direct drill wheat after. It will be the trash levels that stop me the soil is usually in good condition as all the tractors and trailers have suitable tyres. This wouldn’t be the 1st time. I have had great crops direct drilling after maize in past.

Bg