A good first silage cut taken in the first two weeks of May from a high yielding conservation ley should yield six tonnes of dry matter per hectare with a dry matter content of 20-22%, and a ME of 11.0. If you’re not achieving this, then it might be time to think about a reseed.
Benefits of Reseeding
The benefits of reseeding are multiple;
• Higher quality home grown forage
• Increased forage yields
• Reduced bought in feeds
• Extended growing season
• Increased drought tolerance
• More efficient use of fertilisers, especially Nitrogen
Did you know that Perennial Ryegrass has a 100% yield response to an increase of Nitrogen from 60kg N/ha to 185kg N/ha?
Compare this to natural grasses; Yorkshire Fog at 40%; Creeping Bent at around 37%, to Rough Stalked Meadow Grass at just 20%.
Value-added Silage Swards
Limagrain UK’s recent trial results showed the added value of using a proven grass seed mixture. If high conservation yields are the aim, then short-term silage mixtures can provide the answer. The LG Monarch Quality Silage mixture outperformed all other mixtures with a dry matter yield 10% higher than the equivalent short-term control mixture, and 27% higher than a long-term control mixture in year one.
If maximising forage quality is your aim, improving ME and digestible fibres (dNDF), then a medium-term mixture is a good option such as LG Monarch – Silage and Grazing seeds mixture.
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