Don’t leave spreading first cut fertiliser to chance

Field conditions for slurry applications have not been ideal, and many swards because of the relatively mild but wet February have greened up nicely. It’s vitally important that spreading equipment is fit and ready to apply fertiliser when the time comes.

Spreading fertiliser accurately should not be left to chance. Firstly, fertiliser quality has a major influence on accurate spreading. Where urea is being blended with ammonium sulphate or other materials such as DAP and MOP, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to apply each one of these materials evenly. It’s like trying to spread a fertiliser made up of golf balls and table tennis balls! Be careful, these urea blends will not have spreader settings, the exception might be for some urea and ammonium sulphate blends.

Secondly, if it’s your spreaders maiden voyage of the year, then check it out mechanically beforehand and check that you can find a spreader setting for the fertiliser product you are going to use. Yara consider providing up-to-date fertiliser settings for all its Bela, Mila and Vera product ranges as an essential element of providing quality uniform compound fertilisers.

Finally, if you haven’t purchased your 1^st cut fertiliser yet, buy a sulphur containing product.

We can safely say that sulphur will grow you 10% extra 1^st cut yield, which could be an extra 2 bales of silage per ha for an investment of only £8.