Silage, Come Rain or Shine
It won’t happen until it happens, says Barenbrug’s Matt Clark.
We can see patterns where rainfall comes in bursts, followed by periods of drier weather, rather than neatly defined seasons.
Or perhaps that is simply the nature of increasingly variable weather patterns, with short dry spells often sitting between more changeable conditions.
A changing climate suggests more variability in either direction, because gone are the days when we could reasonably expect either prolonged wet or extended dry periods to be the exception. Now it is routine to expect the unexpected.
What that means for silage strategies going forward is that we need to be prepared to adapt. That demands a relentless focus on the grass plant, its growth and behaviour.
My colleague Kathryn recently described ‘crunch time’ - Spring Decisions That Shape Your Silage Success and why it’s so important to incorporate knowledge of daughter tillers, three-leaf theory, heading dates and so on into grassland management. If you’ve not read it, follow the link – it makes for a good read alongside what I’ll add below.
When it’s dry…
To maximise silage quality through a dry spell, the priority should be on observing and responding to heading. That’s because a grass plant under drought stress will often go to head earlier; it’s a survival mechanism to try to complete the reproductive cycle (seeds) in case the plant dies.
However, as Kathryn described, delaying cutting beyond the early heading stage will deliver silage with lower energy and digestibility: a lower quality end-product, essentially reducing your return on investment (and increasing the likelihood that you’ll need more bought-in feed (concentrates) to meet winter dietary requirements).
So, in a dry spell with early heading, it’s time to cut. Get in there and take the quality while you can, even if it’s going to be a lighter crop. Because it’s not only the first cut that can suffer.
Think back to previous seasons when some areas had prolonged dry periods. Incidences where first cuts were delayed not only saw lower quality, but also knock-on delays in regrowth for the second cut.
In fact, there are times when taking an even lighter first cut can pay dividends. Once you cut lower than 5cm, you’re taking valuable carbohydrates from the plant, which delays regrowth further – particularly if conditions remain dry.
In summary: don’t go too late, don’t prioritise yield over quality, and don’t cut too low in pursuit of bulk.
And in the wet?
During extended wet spells, think soil. More specifically, soil protection. When fields are wet, compaction and soil damage become the most likely outcome during intensive field operations like silaging.
So treat silage fields like crop fields and stick to defined tramlines, to restrict compaction to minimal areas. If you’re contracting silage, make full use of contractors’ precision systems.
Wet weather creates a difficult balance for silage: not only when to get on the field and cut, but also how to manage the drying period and minimise the risk of cut grass lying too long in the field.
Look ahead: with an eye on the weather, can you bring a cut forward to time it when conditions are right? This will depend on labour and contractor availability, of course, but there can be advantages. Getting the cut and clearing the field before rain arrives not only gives certainty of grass in the clamp, but also allows a timely fertiliser application to be washed into the root zone.
Thinking nitrogen
Of course, there may be fields where fertiliser prices don’t justify application, for fear of insufficient return. If that’s the case – and thinking longer-term about fertiliser’s susceptibility to price volatility – it’s worth considering how clovers might fit. That’s something I’ll cover in another blog.
Reseeding
If you’re thinking clover, it’s also worth considering how reseeding could help shape and evolve grass and silage strategies. After all, it was noticeable in recent seasons how older pastures in need of reseeding struggled to produce respectable yield and quality.
Not just old pastures, either. Swards dominated by perennial ryegrass will always disappoint under difficult conditions, because that’s when ryegrass struggles most.
Give some thought to a more diverse range of species in a reseed. Barmix, for example, with its mix of timothys, cocksfoot and tall fescue alongside perennial ryegrass, provides more resilience, thanks to roots that access deeper soil moisture reserves to keep grass growing in the dry. Barmix also demonstrates how far modern varieties have come – for example with cocksfoot, addressing outdated concerns about palatability and quality.
There are also hybrids to consider, particularly if you’re looking at multi-cut systems that provide flexibility through both dry and wet seasons. But hybrids aren’t just about multi-cut: for example, Hybrid Cut & Graze brings the benefits of perennial ryegrass alongside increased yield and more forage at the front and back ends, thanks to its growth habits. It also offers a tight heading date, making management easier.
Yes, reseeding is something to consider for the future – but it’s worth understanding the options now, so you can use this season’s experience to decide whether a change is needed.
Meanwhile, come rain or shine – here’s to successful silage.
