David Maughan
David Maughan
David Maughan farms in partnership with his brother Peter on two farms totalling 272ha (425 acres) in Co. Durham on the Raby Estate. The grass acreage supports silage beef and an 18-month system. All the cattle, apart from a few purchased sucker heifers, are reared from bought Continental bull calves. The farms include 305 arable acres, which supply the bedding and cereal part of the cattle ration
IF ever there was a vintage year for grass growth, then surely this has been it, with leys having every opportunity to express themselves. With more than enough silage in store, it seemed time to park up the fertiliser spreader for the season. However with indications that applied nitrogen was being used up, we applied a further modest dressing to ensure we have sufficient grazing through to the end of the season.
With 3rd cut silage safely under plastic, we had hoped to drill this years new leys before starting on the wheat harvest. But the opportunity of a fine spell to make a start of the wheat arose.
In truth, the straw was not fully ripe when we started, but with grain moisture contents getting down to 15-16% it proved better than waiting and taking over-moist grain from over-ripe straw, which is the position two unsettled weeks later.
The leys were drilled during the third week of August and with no shortage of moisture have evenly emerged eight days later, always pleasing to see. We review the mixture each year and have, for the first time, dropped Italian ryegrass from the mixture, believing we can tighten up heading dates without sacrificing first cut yield.
It was quite noticeable approaching first cut that the Barverdi IR was some days ahead of the rest of the mixture. Indeed this rush to produce a seed head follows through with subsequent cuts and grazings.
With a higher proportion of tetraploids in the mixture, the absence of Italian should not unduly affect sugar content and consequently silage fermentation.
With grass seeds in, we moved on to drill rape, which is now safely in. We expect the unwelcome attentions of slugs to more cloddy areas, so these areas receive a dressing of slug pellets to add a little variety to their diet.
The first batch of 43 bull calves are now well settled in, with Lorna well into the routine. The settling-in period following their arrival was not straight forward, with a number of calves throwing a temperature, together with the early scours that inevitably arise with the stress of movement and change.
It took quite a few days to find an antibiotic that was responded to, trying a variety of drugs before discovering that Baytril was the particular one that give us a consistent response this season.n
Its been a vintage year for grass growth at Morton Tinmouth. New leys are now drilled and have emerged well. Italian ryegrass has been dropped from the mixture in an attempt to tighten up heading dates.