Ha
Have to compost it but be cheap coarse stuff
Silage / Straw / Hay Price Tracker
- Thread starter TFF
- Start date
- Location
- Cheshire
It’s not weeds!! It’s herbs!
- Location
- Ceredigion
- Location
- somerset
weeds ?
they are precious wild flowers............................................................................................................
- Location
- Cheshire
I’ve had one load of herbal ley haylage. I’ve unwrapped 1/3 of them and just dumped them in a hole to rot away. Thankfully he’s been decent and given me my money back. Absolute shite. The other is sort of ok but I’m only giving the odd bale to the cows in between decent gear to avoid a violent revolt!!
Scholsey
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
But think of the selenium and micro nutrients all those herbs contain……if these herbs were any good they have been bred and developed over the last century. We are being blackmailed into covering our land in unproductive weeds!
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- Location
- somerset
heard good reports of decent silage from h/leys, we only cut 10 acres, so lost in pit.
but depends on growth stage when you cut, l suspect. Stems woody, and wrapped bale, might puncture the wrap.
- Location
- somerset
to be fair, and some old farmers would call it weedage, we have found the leys very good.
originally sown in the hope of more summer grazing, very dry farm, before any subsidy, they do extend summer grazing, when it dries out. We milk aut block 8500 litre hol/fr cows, and don't buffer, if very wet, will put bale of hay in yard.
and they like them, and milk off them, rotational grazing, 40+day rest interval. Yield comparable to prg/w clover, on our system, heck of a lot more, in a dry period, but different management required.
minerals, they are bound to bring minerals up, they go down deeper than grass, and if topped, leave them on the surface.
self sowing, they grow and seed, chicory hasn't spread much, but plantain is taking over as the dominant plant, on a very dry steep slope, 3 or 4 acres of it now. Not a problem, because there's something to eat, when the grass just dies. Plantain elsewhere, does self seed, but nowhere near as great as that hill.
so on the herbal leys already, and they pay £151 acre. Our least productive, and driest grounds, will go into something that pays about £300/ac, wild flowers, or nectar rich.
and why not, if they want to pay out silly money, for doing the same thing we do all ready, and the big money, where feck all grass grows, thankyou very much.
give it 3 yrs, they will want production then, or sooner, the world is in a very dangerous state currently, and food, is far more important than climate, if they find importing it expensive and difficult to get here.
- Location
- Hereford
Haven't managed that yet !!And our local fodder man going to make a killing again
Need cutting early which you can do then give them the 5 weeks rest to keep to rules
livestock 1
Member
I’ve had some in silage bales it doesn’t really ensure very well it can be stalky which punctures the wrap and the nature of the stuff doesn’t create a bale with no air gaps so it can be prone to mould
The softer stuff is better but tends to lack bulk
The softer stuff is better but tends to lack bulk
- Location
- Ceredigion
Just leave this here
fieldfarmer
Member
A few miles from here last Yr a guy was offering 80 acres FOC of the stuff to bale and take away, couldn't get any one interested once they saw what it was so ended up getting a contractor in to do it himself, absolutely terrible stuff and can't get rid now.
Surprised by that, if it’s cut young like normal grass leys it makes great feed
- Location
- somerset
that's simply bad management, cut at the correct stage, its a very good quality feed.
a load of past/dead stalks is rubbish.
Needs managing and it’s great, plus now 100 s of different mixes. To
Much chicory and it will make shite.
- Location
- Ceredigion
I cut mine 3 times and it's far better feed that straight grass as shown above on the analysis sheet