When growing high yielding varieties, often other agronomic features such as disease resistance are sometimes overlooked. The fungicides at our disposal today are capable of producing extremely good results, but it is important to apply as much thought to the fungicide programme and timings as to the choice of product, to achieve optimum yield potential.
Over recent years, the emphasis has moved away from reactive fungicide applications to treat visible disease in the crop, and more towards a strategy where prevention is better than cure. To achieve this, the fungicides must be applied at the correct time and early in the development of the disease, or even before infection occurs, with timing infl uenced by growth stage, weather and the variety’s disease resistance.
Ecosyl UK research has found that selecting the right wilting technique when making grass silage can speed up the process by up to five times. The research, which was conducted on farms in Wales using farm-scale silage machinery, compared the effects of tedding, time of day of cutting, and crop maturity on the rate of crop drying.
The results showed that tedding the grass after cutting increased the rate of wilting by up to 30%. Cutting the grass in the morning also resulted in faster wilting, as the dew on the grass helped to cool it down and reduce the rate of evaporation. Finally, the research found that the most mature grass wilted the fastest, as it had a higher water content.These findings suggest that farmers can speed up the silage wilting process by using the right techniques. Tedding the grass after cutting, cutting it in the morning, and harvesting the most mature grass will all help to reduce the amount of time it takes to make silage.
It is essential to take good care of grass silage made this year. Increasing milk production from home-grown silage is a great way to improve profitability.
Good quality silage starts with good quality grass, and cutting at the right stage of growth is key to achieving this, a one-week delay in cutting is equivalent to 1.2l of milk/cow/day. Allowing crops to “Bulk up” may mean more silage in the pit on any single cut, but generally cutting more often means you will grow more grass through the season – so potentially more silage of a better quality.
Winter barley has a lot to offer any farm, rotationally it offers a great entry into oilseed rape as its earlier to harvest than wheat. Its straw is heavily demanded by livestock farmers and its grain can be used for malting or feed. Therefore, it’s important to make the right variety selection to maximise your farms potential.
With huge scope to maximise productivity from forage, Wynnstay has launched a new Forage4Profit campaign, which is designed to support farmers to improve meat or milk from forage.
The 2022 Kingshay report indicates that the average milk from forage on UK dairy farms is 2,900 litres, showcasing that there is huge scope for improvement, with some of the best farms reaching over 5,000 litres.
This year we are focusing on how varieties we offer can fit your farming system, whether your high input and high output or whether you are trying to maximise your return from a crop with slightly less inputs! Wynnstay are constantly monitoring and evaluating both new and existing varieties ensuring our advice is always up to date. Here are my varieties to consider for Autumn 2023 planting.
While harvest 2024 may seem like a long time away, choosing the best variety for your farm this autumn is the first step to ensuring it’s a successful one. Wynnstay’s extensive autumn seed portfolio will cover any needs you have enabling able to choose the best variety. In this article, I have outlined key varieties for the upcoming autumn in my “ones to watch”.
This is a question we get asked frequently, and undoubtedly even more so this autumn with the strong grain price. Here are the important factors of how to choose a second wheat.
This season we have seen considerable pressure of septoria tritici, therefore it is worthwhile to recap the biggest yield-robbing disease to winter wheat and what we can help do to fight against it.
Septoria tritici blotch is a fungal disease of wheat that causes significant yield losses. It is caused by the fungus Zymoseptoria tritici, which overwinters on infected crop debris and plant residues. The fungus can infect wheat at any growth stage, but it is most common in the autumn and spring when the weather is cool and wet.
Before making fertiliser purchase decisions, farmers are advised to review an array of factors which will determine a crops need, be it the type or quantity of fertiliser.
Over the last 20 months, we have seen a hike in fertiliser prices due to the war in Ukraine and so it is more important than ever that farmers are making informed decisions around fertiliser applications.
