How to reap what you under-sow
This is a very reliable and cost effective method of spring reseeding. It has the advantage of providing a heavy crop of silage and good quality grazing in late summer and autumn, and does not interfere with stocking rates. Under-sown arable silage crops should be sown at the same time as main crops on fresh soil in mid-April and harvested in late July. The seeds should be well rolled.
Two or three bags 10.10.20 per acre should be broadcast. Unless the soil is very low in nitrogen, there should be no need of further nitrogen if peas are included, because they supply nitrogen (if peas are not included, use at least 50 units of nitrogen). An ideal arable mixture is 65lbs of oats or barley and 65lbs of peas per acre.
This cereal/peas mixture has produced about 15 tonnes of fresh material per acre in trials. The crop was cut when the barley was at the milky stage. The grass seeds should be sown the same day as the cover crop, while the soil is fresh and rolled well.
It is high in protein but low in digestibility. It may be difficult to preserve and would benefit greatly from wilting if conditions allow.
An additive should usually be used to ensure preservation. While arable silage may not be of top quality, it is adequate for dry cows and is likely to be better quality than the grass silage from poor quality pasture. Alternatively, use 8-9 stone of straight oats or barley for arable silage as a cover crop for spring reseeds. Spring- sown wheat for whole crop can also be a suitable cover crop for reseeding.
Second Grazing Rotation
The welcome sunny weather in March resulted in grass growth being way ahead of normal in most areas. Cows were generally grazing satisfactory covers of 1,200kg to 1,400kg of dry matter per hectare.
Where growth was very high, the better performing dairy farmers controlled covers by letting all stock out to graze. In some wet areas, growth and grazing conditions were not very good until late March.
There is huge demand for grass in the second rotation due to most cows being calved, cow intakes being increased by around one third (compared to freshly calved cows), and a cutback in concentrates.
If due to lower than expected growth pre-grazing covers are low, rotations should be slowed down at the expense of using extra supplementation, in order to get pre-grazing covers back up to 1200kg to 1400kg of DM/hectare, and to allow adequate time for recovery for the following rotation.
