Silage / Straw / Hay Price Tracker

[som farmer]

so, dear fertiliser hasn't had the dramatic effect on grass growth, we all thought it would, funny that, isn't it ?

 

[Skintagain]

so, dear fertiliser hasn't had the dramatic effect on grass growth, we all thought it would, funny that, isn't it ?

We have never had as much grass for may. No fert used at all

 

[Hfd Cattle]

We have never had as much grass for may. No fert used at all

Same here even though it's been seriously dry .
Have used fert though but not much . Put some on 2 wks ago after 2nd cut and it's still on top of ground

 

[livestock 1]

Better to put some on don’t be fooled P and K is a reserve pool what you put on now is for next year in some ways and if you take it out put don’t put any back in it will bite you on the arse later on

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Better to put some on don’t be fooled P and K is a reserve pool what you put on now is for next year in some ways and if you take it out put don’t put any back in it will bite you on the arse later on

Doesn't have to come out of a bag though.

 

[som farmer]

Same here even though it's been seriously dry .
Have used fert though but not much . Put some on 2 wks ago after 2nd cut and it's still on top of ground

grazing ground got zero, for 1st round, 25 units of N for 2nd, silage ground got 40 units/ac, and massive cuts, even where grazed by tack sheep, till mid march - extended their stay, to try and eat some more of over winter grown grass. Everything would have had 90 units normally.
What l have been looking at, besides yield, is grass colour, if light, its not getting enough N, if dark green, it is, ours is still coming dark green, 1st cut filled the clamp, that usually has a top up of 2nd cut, and our normal multi cut system, wont happen this year !
Not quite what we expected from reduced fert usage, we do have a lot of clover. The big question, can we repeat it next year, and as yet, nobody can tell us that !
We produce a lot of slurry, and have been using it in a 'targeted' way, rather than put most on maize ground, whether that has made that much difference, l don't know. And as @Poorbuthappy says, P and K can come from slurry and FYM. The massive rise, in fert cost, is making us look hard and long, at how we use it, and perhaps we really don't need to use the amounts we have previously used. We are in an NVZ zone, so this is the 2nd big cut in N use, and the 1st cut, didn't reduce yield noticeably. We have started growing some wheat/barley, for our own use, and fert rate on those, is exactly what the agrominist tells us, haven't the experience to know other wise !!!

 

[livestock 1]

Doesn't have to come out of a bag though.

We will find out in 18 months time who’s right and who’s wrong
You are diverting the discussion by saying you are suggesting putting muck on instead has nothing to do with what we were talking about

 

[Hfd Cattle]

grazing ground got zero, for 1st round, 25 units of N for 2nd, silage ground got 40 units/ac, and massive cuts, even where grazed by tack sheep, till mid march - extended their stay, to try and eat some more of over winter grown grass. Everything would have had 90 units normally.
What l have been looking at, besides yield, is grass colour, if light, its not getting enough N, if dark green, it is, ours is still coming dark green, 1st cut filled the clamp, that usually has a top up of 2nd cut, and our normal multi cut system, wont happen this year !
Not quite what we expected from reduced fert usage, we do have a lot of clover. The big question, can we repeat it next year, and as yet, nobody can tell us that !
We produce a lot of slurry, and have been using it in a 'targeted' way, rather than put most on maize ground, whether that has made that much difference, l don't know. And as @Poorbuthappy says, P and K can come from slurry and FYM. The massive rise, in fert cost, is making us look hard and long, at how we use it, and perhaps we really don't need to use the amounts we have previously used. We are in an NVZ zone, so this is the 2nd big cut in N use, and the 1st cut, didn't reduce yield noticeably. We have started growing some wheat/barley, for our own use, and fert rate on those, is exactly what the agrominist tells us, haven't the experience to know other wise !!!

It's always a bit difficult when it comes to agronomy . ... Ive been questioning some agronomy advice over the last couple of yrs ,mainly through my experience and asking advice on TFF . I felt that sprays were arriving that I didn't need so sent it back ......seemed to be the right thing to do as my crop was good and clean and the yield was good!
Lot of money saved .

I suppose an agronomist has to sell sprays else they wouldn't have a job left ......... now that's contentious!!!
Tin hat firmly on !

 

[livestock 1]

It's always a bit difficult when it comes to agronomy . ... Ive been questioning some agronomy advice over the last couple of yrs ,mainly through my experience and asking advice on TFF . I felt that sprays were arriving that I didn't need so sent it back ......seemed to be the right thing to do as my crop was good and clean and the yield was good!
Lot of money saved .

I suppose an agronomist has to sell sprays else they wouldn't have a job left ......... now that's contentious!!!
Tin hat firmly on !

Yep my Agrominist is tied up to a chemical firm and the same thing happens very helpful and good at his job but likes to send me concoctions to do a job that’s not always cheap

 

[Poorbuthappy]

We will find out in 18 months time who’s right and who’s wrong
You are diverting the discussion by saying you are suggesting putting muck on instead has nothing to do with what we were talking about

Why not?
I know dairy farmers who were heaving on fert because they believed their multicut systems needed it. Then when they started testing soils they found there p and k indeces were going through the roof. They were putting on enough p and k with the slurry and muck so went back to using significantly less or just N.
P and K were coming on the farm in the feed and straw lorries.
That was 15- 20 years ago. Still working.

Now some are finding they can replace
some or all the N with clover, multi species leys and other approaches.

Why is that a diversion?

 

[livestock 1]

Why not?
I know dairy farmers who were heaving on fert because they believed their multicut systems needed it. Then when they started testing soils they found there p and k indeces were going through the roof. They were putting on enough p and k with the slurry and muck so went back to using significantly less or just N.
P and K were coming on the farm in the feed and straw lorries.
That was 15- 20 years ago. Still working.

Now some are finding they can replace
some or all the N with clover, multi species leys and other approaches.

Why is that a diversion?

We started talking about the difference between putting fert on or not then you talk about the fact you don’t need fert if you put muck on instead
Not exactly something we didn’t know

 

[Poorbuthappy]

We started talking about the difference between putting fert on or not then you talk about the fact you don’t need fert if you put muck on instead
Not exactly something we didn’t know

Sorry, I thought it was a discussion forum
Plenty have been heaving the fert on without thinking about alternatives or what's needed in the past.
This year is obviously making people think differently.

 

[livestock 1]

Sorry, I thought it was a discussion forum
Plenty have been heaving the fert on without thinking about alternatives or what's needed in the past.
This year is obviously making people think differently.

We have a lot of muck and are putting it on a bit more strategically and thinking a bit more about the value of it
You are right to a degree but on the opposite end of the scale there’s a lot of folks also forgotten why they are putting fert on and some will find out next year why they were
Taking crop away and not carting anything back on only comes to one answer

 

[Top Tip.]

We will find out in 18 months time who’s right and who’s wrong
You are diverting the discussion by saying you are suggesting putting muck on instead has nothing to do with what we were talking about

Speaking to a neighbour yesterday,complaining about the lack of grass and that he’s still feeding the ewes. Asked if he’d bought any fertiliser “ Na na it’s ower dear”

 

[Skintagain]

Speaking to a neighbour yesterday,complaining about the lack of grass and that he’s still feeding the ewes. Asked if he’d bought any fertiliser “ Na na it’s ower dear”

Does he rotate them? Makes a hell of a difference.

grass needs a lot of bag if it never gets a chance to recover imo

 

[som farmer]

We started talking about the difference between putting fert on or not then you talk about the fact you don’t need fert if you put muck on instead
Not exactly something we didn’t know

perhaps we should have said, replacing with other forms of fertiliser.
interesting to read posts, general impression is not 'to bad' with less fert, and yet george useless was heavily slated, for saying, replace chemical fert, with sh1t, we all know lots of bullpoo is emitted from westminster, per haps this wasn't quite as 'sh1t' as we all thought.
We all know there isn't enough shite produced in the UK, including that which comes from guv, but we may, may be surprised, at what it can do.

 

[som farmer]

Speaking to a neighbour yesterday,complaining about the lack of grass and that he’s still feeding the ewes. Asked if he’d bought any fertiliser “ Na na it’s ower dear”

yet it certainly produces a response, whether that response costs more than feeding his sheep for longer, that is an open question. Careful, targeted use of fert, can be very cost effective.

 

[Top Tip.]

Does he rotate them? Makes a hell of a difference.

grass needs a lot of bag if it never gets a chance to recover imo

No he doesn’t rotate them and i do agree that rotating them does grow a lot more grass.

 

[livestock 1]

Speaking to a neighbour yesterday,complaining about the lack of grass and that he’s still feeding the ewes. Asked if he’d bought any fertiliser “ Na na it’s ower dear”

Yes there’s a few of them near me makes no sense does it?

 

[Skintagain]

No he doesn’t rotate them and i do agree that rotating them does grow a lot more grass.

It does especially without a lot of fert. Needs plenty of n if getting hammered to stop rye grass being stripped out