Zero grazing

[sidjon]

I have all of a sudden 40acres of grass three miles away from the milking cows and no in calf heifers any more to eat it , thinking about getting it cutting and balin up 5 bales a day to feed cows as looking likely that I will run out of grass before it gets wet. How many days of grass should I cut and how long before it will start heating up after balin? Don't need any more silage as can buy it at £5 for square bales and don't want any sheep as not fenced and can't be bothered as have always had dog worries problems in that block if land.

 

[organicguy]

I think you could mow two or possibly 3 days worth at a time but I would only bale what cows will eat daily. We often have half a bale left of well wilted silage dropped into feeders and they rarely eat it the second day because of heating.

 

[deleted user 837354]

No, don't mow it in advance. Mow it, collect it, and feed it straight away. It goes like blargh in no time otherwise.

I am sure a friendly contractor will willingly do a bit a day for sensible money now the season is slacking off? Mower on front, wagon on back?

 

[The Agrarian]

Agree. Has to be fresh or make silage instead.

Personally I'd be saving it in the pit whether I needed it or not. Who wants 40 acres of bales? Not me anyway. You can always take out a field for barley in the spring.

 

[pappuller]

Just a quick question for the more experienced zero grazers, we have a lot of rain forcast for 24 hrs from midday Monday so I wil lift Mondays grass in the morning, so would I collect Tuesday's grass before the rain on monday to spin out on Tuesday morning, it will all be eaten by late afternoon. Older cut dry grass vs fresh v wet grass is the question. The grass will need to stay in the wagon as it is dispensed via conveyor. Tia

 

[Shep]

Just a quick question for the more experienced zero grazers, we have a lot of rain forcast for 24 hrs from midday Monday so I wil lift Mondays grass in the morning, so would I collect Tuesday's grass before the rain on monday to spin out on Tuesday morning, it will all be eaten by late afternoon. Older cut dry grass vs fresh v wet grass is the question. The grass will need to stay in the wagon as it is dispensed via conveyor. Tia

It will heat very quickly in the wagon, even faster than tipped in a heap.
So long as the ground remains trafficable i would cut as needed irrespective of rain. If cows were grazing it would be wet anyway.
I can get grass to stay cool for 12 hrs so long as it's tipped in a long shallow heap out the back of the wagon.

 

[pappuller]

my thoughts are similar, we did cut a load late one evening for the next day and it was warming nicely by next morning so it isn't my preferred option to cut 24 hrs before.

 

[The Agrarian]

I agree. Cutting too far ahead of yourself doesn't work.

What I would have done in this situation was buffered with silage until it dried up. No one is paying you to tramp your ryegrass out, which is what I found was happening.

 

[pappuller]

We are only feeding 30kg grass which is a full wagon load and the rest is tmr, it is working v well, the ground is like concrete so ground conditions aren't an issue at the moment, that might change by the end of the week looking at the forecast

 

[Suckndiesel]

Definitely cut fresh is the better job. We have cut a day ahead here with heavy rain forecast when ground conditions were getting very poor, we spread it out on the silo floor, didnt heat the same then but its more work and takes a fair bit of space to do.

 

[Clay52]

Baled it will be getting hot in 24 hours and losing quality. I've tried it before, would have been cheaper to just do wrapped silage.

 

[holywell farmer]

I have all of a sudden 40acres of grass three miles away from the milking cows and no in calf heifers any more to eat it , thinking about getting it cutting and balin up 5 bales a day to feed cows as looking likely that I will run out of grass before it gets wet. How many days of grass should I cut and how long before it will start heating up after balin? Don't need any more silage as can buy it at £5 for square bales and don't want any sheep as not fenced and can't be bothered as have always had dog worries problems in that block if land.

Clamp it

 

[Beef farmer]

Clamp it

If imagine this issue is resolved by now.

 

[sidjon]

I had kept going until mid November last year without any problems and had a couple of extra litres too