When to cut silage in a drought?

I know it is a cliche about farmers moaning about the weather, but really if it’s not one thing it’s another. In my bit of North Western Europe we have had several springs of unceasing rain and cold windy weather, then we finally get some decent growing conditions and guess what - the sunshine goes on and on and we are now staring drought straight in the face. So how should you react to hot dry weather and what is the best way to make silage in these conditions? Should you mow whilst the grass is green and lush or wait until there is a bit more bulk because what you have might be almost all you get?

Should you go for silage quantity or quality?

Now it’s almost certain that you will have already made your own call on this decision, it’s almost guaranteed that this advice is too late for this year; but I will try and explain why this is already out of date. Silage is a seasonal business and the moments I get to put these thoughts together are sporadic and unpredictable. So I wrote lots of words about how another wet spring was ruining our prospects of making great silage months before the sun came out. It seems crazy to post that article now so this is the moment to put some thoughts together about another weather problem.

So what are the pros and cons of cutting or not cutting in a dry period?

The biggest difference between a dry spring and a dry summer is what’s already in the clamp. If you get a drought period in June and July then you probably already have a cut or two to consider. Based on what you already have available, you can make a call on what you are prepared to accept or risk. But the difference in the spring is that the silage stocks are probably at their lowest when you are facing these decisions. Probability tells us that it will rain again within a reasonable time period but there is no sight of it in the current 14 day forecast, and those guys farming in Australia can face years of drought. So there is no good hoping for the best, you need to make a plan.

So you are really faced with two choices, to cut now whilst the crop is sparse but nutritious or to wait for it to bulk up and cut more quantity but at a lower quality. Ideally you would cut and lift the silage just before it rains but this would need an accurate forecast and the law of sod tells us this isn’t going to happen. You need to start to think around the problem, at factors outside your own farm and the weather. You need to really think about the real “value” of your silage.

The whole purpose of making silage is to feed it to something (unless you plan to sell it to someone else). The something you are feeding it to, be that dairy cows, an AD plant, or beef cattle all need a nutritious diet. The silage is part of that diet but the important thing to remember is that it is only part of the overall cost of the ration.

Should I mow now to preserve silage quality?

Cutting silage now and preserving the nutritional value will give you a valuable feedstock but your ration is going to need some more bulk to keep tummies full. Can you provide this with some more roughage like straw or will that also be in short supply? And whilst you are thinking about the arable farming sector, what are the black grass populations like near you, because maybe you can buy some “written off” wholecrop to fill the hole.

Baling silage in the sunshine with a Pottinger Impress

If you decided to wait a while and clamp some more bulk at a lower feed value then you too might be in the market for some maize or wholecrop.  In this case you might be hoping that the wholecrop can replace some of your lost mega joules of energy but beware because the wholecrop is going to be tricky to harvest well if these weather conditions persist. The window to get a good arable silage is going to be really tight in hot dry weather like this so maybe feed wheat or barley might be a safer option for you. In todays global market, the price of grain doesn’t really reflect little local weather variations like we are experiencing so maybe it’s better to take some volume and balance with straights?

Should I mow low to get it all?

Whichever choice you make, don’t get persuaded to scalp the field to take all the crop you can. Short stubbles are a problem at anytime but during a drought period you can completely exhaust the plant’s reserves as it tries to regrow from being cut too short. Cutting too low also introduces all the dead and dying leaves into the forage that can have disastrous effects on the fermentation. There is also little to no feed value in this end of the crop too so why would you bother. This topic as been covered previously and I am well aware that opinion is very much divided on the subject. I will maintain that I am still very much in the long stubble is better camp.

So what did you do, go early or hang on for some bulk? Everyone will make their own choices but if I have to get down off the fence and actually make a call, given everything else being even, I would tend to comedown in favour of cutting quality not quantity. Mostly because the sward will recover slightly faster and better once the rain finally does come. And also because that bird in the hand is worth more than the one in the bush. In terms of feed stock management I guess I’d rather have some feed value to play with rather than a hill of not much, but that’s just my view point.

If you want to discuss making silage in difficult conditions or would like to discuss any other aspects covered in this series, contact me at jeremy@silageconsultant.co.uk