18 May, 2016
How to avoid compromising silage yield and quality following the cold spring
Following the recent weather, many grass fields are still behind where they would normally be and first cut silage yields could well be back a bit. But it is important not to delay first cut in the hope of 'catching up' as this will reduce the quality of first cut silage and will compromise the second cut yields too. The best advice is to take the first cut close to the normal date and to optimise the fertilization for the second cut to get the crop off to a good start.
To maximise second cut silage balanced nutrition is essential. Slurry applications alone will not supply sufficient nutrients and must be balanced with an appropriate compound fertilizer.
- Nitrogen drives growth and yield. Yara trials show the optimum rate of nitrogen for second cut silage is 130kg N per ha (104 units/acre).
- Sulphur is also essential for nitrogen to be used efficiently, but once again the latest survey shows that many growers are still not applying sulphur at all or at too low a rate. This will be reducing both yield and quality of silage and could be more important than ever this year. Yara recommends you apply 40 kg SO3/ha (32 units SO3/acre) with each cut.
- Potash should not be forgotten either, potash offtake at 25%DM is 6kg/tonne fresh grass, so a 20t/ha (8t/acre) crop will remove 120kg/ha (96 units/acre) and this must be replaced.
Yara supply a complete range of YaraMila NPKS fertilizers specifically for grassland.
