Scotgrass 2010 event is offering expert advice

STEWART JAMIESON:Organic dairy farmer, Dumfries (11am-noon)

RED clover silage and wholecrop form an important part of the system for Dr Jamieson’s 215-cow dairy herd.

He believes red clover swards give him 90 per cent of the bulk in silage compared with conventionally grown grass leys before turning organic seven years ago, although nowadays second cut is far larger than first.

“While many people say red clover swards only last up to three years, we find they last four or five years quite easily,” says Dr Jamieson. “We haven’t had any pest problems but it might be influenced by our northern location.”

When a silage field needs reseeding, he ploughs out grass in mid April to sow a crop of peas for wholecropping in mid August. The crop is wilted for three days before ensiling, creating about 35 per cent dry matter and no effluent.

After peas, triticale is sown in early September and harvested the following July.

“Peas are fantastic for our organic situation,” he says. “Triticale tillers and covers the ground quickly, so it keeps weeds under control.”

After this two year break from grass, a red clover is direct sown with ryegrass.

MICHAEL KYLE:Dairy farmer, Dumfries (Noon-1pm)

A COMPUTERISED rotation planner gives Mr Kyle the confidence to turn his 700 spring calving dairy cows out in February.

He says: “Our biggest fear 10 years ago was running out of grass, so we waited to let cows out until there was enough grass – but when cows are let out too late, grass is soon too far ahead of them and its quality reduces.

“The computer program gives us extra land to allocate every day and if there is a shortfall in feed it says how much we need to offer as silage and concentrate. Its proved it’s very good at stopping us getting short of feed.”

When Mr Kyle took on the farm a fair proportion needed reseeding and dairy buildings were in short supply, so he opted for outwintering dry cows and youngstock on kale, supplemented with baled silage, before reseeding the pasture.

Yearling heifers only put on a little weight over the winter on this system but show good compensatory growth once they go onto grazing in early March and are ready to serve by May, he says.

ANDREW NELSON:Beef and sheep farmer, Castle Douglas (1pm-2pm)

GROWING kale for outwintering cattle provides a cheap feed and an entry for a new grass reseeds for Mr Nelson.

“About 20 acres is sown on June 1 to break down a field that needs reseeding,” he says. “We give it a two-year break in kale then it’s ready to go back into grass. Having the cattle on it for two winters reduces the cultivation needed.

“We usually just grow kale but we grew some kale-rape hybrid last winter because we wanted to take off a crop of silage before sowing it – so it was later going in.”

The 150 suckler cows are mostly outwintered on kale or deferred grazing on hill land, with the earliest calvers brought inside in January after scanning. Calves are sold as yearlings.

Summer grazing management of cattle and the 500 Cheviot Mule ewes is focussed on grazing grass down tightly to avoid losing quality. While animals are set-stocked, Andrew adds or removes a few animals as necessary.

Keeping a focus on providing quality grazing allows Mr Nelson to sell 70 per cent of lambs finished off the ewes before he has aftermaths available. The remaining lambs will be finished on aftermath or reseeds, with no concentrate, and all will be gone by November.

SAM CARLISLE:Beef and sheep farmer (2pm-3pm)

Beef finishing rations for Sam Carlisle rely on 34ha (85 acres) of maize, grown without plastic and mixed with grass silage, home-grown barley and purchased protein.  

He finishes 600-700 cattle a year, half from his 320-cow suckler herd and half purchased as stores. He also has 250 breeding ewes.

“Maize is a real feed for finishing cattle,” says Mr Carlisle. “It’s fed as a total mixed ration of 60 per cent forage and 40 per cent concentrate to heifers and steers. But it’s high in starch and can only be fed to animals that have achieved sufficient growth, or they will lay down too much fat at light weights.

“For bull beef, we feed a mixed ration until 12 months, then ad lib concentrates until slaughter at 15 to 16 months.”

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name