Simon Nelson advises farmers on a wide range of arable and forage crops across Cumbria, north Lancashire and into south west Scotland. He has worked for Agrovista for 23 years.
Taking account of field conditions ahead of silage-making is vital in order to maximise quality.
New analysis points to higher profit from multi-cut grass, even at modest milk price
Exploring all the options to increase milk from forage is yielding results on one Cambridgeshire dairy farm.
Accurate weighing of loads is a useful bonus for contractors and merchants moving a variety of materials with a tractor loader, as one Devon contractor is finding with Quicke’s latest automated system. Jane Carley reports.
Tedding and raking are the unsung heroes of silaging and should be given as much care and attention at harvest as any part of the silage-making process.
Producing your own haylage, rather than buying-in dietary straw, could bring numerous benefits.
Ultra Low Volume application - for example where silage additive is applied at 20ml/tonne of grass compared to the usual 1-2 litres/tonne - could save considerable time at harvest
Adopting Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) could help reduce soil compaction risk and boost yields by up to 10.5% while also reducing nitrous oxide emissions.