Sean Moher: I'm looking forward to a new protected urea product to test
Farmer Mitchelstown, In Signpost Dairy A Sean Based Moher Cork Is
We cut the new red clover/grass reseed last week. It yielded just over five bales to the acre after 10 weeks growing.
Our procedure for harvesting this silage changes depending on conditions. One time, I was advised to leave it wilt for 48 hours and not to ted it out. Even though rainfall has been low this summer, it’s still hard to find 48 hours of ideal silage conditions.
The forecast was good for 24 hours so we cut in the evening. The following morning, before it wilts too much, we ted it out and rake and bale in the evening. All done in less than 24 hours, the bales were solid, and from past experience, they won’t be any less in quality.
A look at the ground shows very little clover leaf left behind and definitely a lot less grass on the ground than after you bale a field of light surplus grass from the grazing platform. Last month, a crop on another red clover/ grass field was mowed and left wilt for 48 hours, then raked and baled.
I took delivery of a new protected urea product last week. It’s an 18-6-12 +S product and comes in a 500kg bag. With the rebate from Dairygold, it cost €2/t more than the CAN-based 18-6-12.
The P and K erode some of the protection in the normally protected urea, but this new technology doesn’t have that problem. It’s a handy product to have, in particular, for the outside blocks.
Growth rates haven’t been exceptional here, we’re just about matching demand. We’ll be following the cows after grazing with 30 units of nitrogen on low clover paddocks and 20 units on the clover fields.
I am aiming for a longer rotation for clover fields from now on, up to 42 days, even as seen from Solohead, as it is thought this will help the stolons to grow along the ground and establish new plants.
The multispecies is still performing well. The cows milk as much solids while grazing the multi-species as any other fields and graze-outs are good. We scanned our heifers and cows last week. All the heifers are in calf and 11% of the cows are not in calf and only one set of twins.
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For now, we’ll milk on the cows that are not in calf and review the situation regularly with regards to grass cover targets and milk yields.
- Sean Moher is a Signpost dairy farmer based in Mitchelstown, Cork.
