Top tips for harvesting maize
Maize harvest is progressing well, with growers reporting a big change in crop maturity in the past week.
Neil Groom, technical director for Grainseed, says the optimum dry matter of 30% is being achieved and farmers should be prepared if the weather does break.
“We have seen a big change in the crop maturity in the past week with plants drying down and senescing to catch up with the early grain maturity we have experienced this autumn.”
He adds: “Remember to check the chop length of the maize coming into the clamp. Some growers want fine chop and others long chop so unless you tell the chopper driver he can’t set the machine right.”
He says that maize has been the saviour on many livestock farms with high yields of mature silage. “Last week growers were reporting some effluent run in green crops but now this has stopped as growers harvest fully mature maize. Following last autumn it’s understandable growers wish to start harvest early when conditions are dry, especially if hauling along a road, but optimum dry matters of 30% are only now being achieved.”
This is the first season when we have seen three sites cut in the same week and all three growers are reporting high yields.
John Hancock, sampling for Farmers Weekly near Petworth in Sussex, has recorded yields over 25t/acre (61t/ha) on some fertile meadow land that has historically been heavily grazed. ” We had a big bulky plant and superb cobs and the six acre meadow did 13 loads which is fantastic. All my maize is good this year and even the maize I drilled after cutting Italian ryegrasses at the beginning of April will produce over 15t/acre (37t/ha) which added to the 8t/acre (19t/ha) I had from the clamp filler is good and we have even got it drilled with wheat for next years grain too.”
“Soil temperatures are still high and any seed sown will rapidly germinate and grow and there is an opportunity to drill grass seeds for at least another week and corn for another month,” says Mr Groom.
Top tips for harvesting maize:
- Keep rolling the clamp. If there’s space get a second tractor on the clamp to double the weight rolling the silage into the clamp.
- Sheet well with an airtight cover and cover with a secure cover type net paying particular attention to the shoulders of the clamp where it’s hardest to get good consolidation.
- If the weather does break and your cutting maize following rain then be ready before the contractor arrives.
- Many harvesting teams will operate a sweeper to keep roads clear of mud, but put some signs up too so road users are aware of slippery conditions before they get to the gateway.
- If your able to bring the trailers along tracks or across grass fields to clean of the mud it often reduces the amount of soil brought onto the road.
- Keep the apron of the clamp clean too, you don’t want soil from trailers going into the pit.
Maize harvest in full swing Site Drill date Height above sea level (m) Crop dry matter (%) 2 October Increase on last week Petworth, Sussex 4 May 50 Harvested – Harleston, Norfolk 2 May 30 Harvested – Crediton, Devon 25 April 118 Harvested – Ticknall, Derbyshire 1 May 67 23.3 +2.7 Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire* 4 May 32 31.4 +3.1 SAC, Dumfries, Scotland (plastic) 30 April 45 27.1 +3.2 SAC, Dumfries, Scotland* 30 April 45 24.0 +1.6 *Variety Es Picker; all other sites are Es Ballade except variety under plastic which is Es Marco
See more advice for your maize crop