John Helliar
John Helliar
John Helliar has a 130ha (320-acre) farm on the Longleat Estate, near Warminster, Wilts. He milks 180 cows, rears his own replacements and grows 45ha (110 acres) of maize, which comprises 70% of the winter ration. 1500 store lambs are put out on winter grass keep in October for sale as fat lambs in January/February.
EVERY month brings different problems; now weve got too much grazing area. The thing that is bugging me the most at the moment is that having established a super grass/clover ley, which is now in its second season, the cows have become selective, eating the grass and leaving the clover.
When the ley was sown in 1995 the seed rate was 13kg of perennial ryegrass, half of which is tetraploid, 0.75kg of Timothy and only 0.5kg of Alice white clover. Now, having taken two silage cuts, the proportion of clover to grass is two-thirds clover, one-third grass. Total nitrogen used was 120 units/acre. Grazing started 10 days after cutting and has been continuous on the basis that eventually they will have to eat it. Before we put the next ley in palatability will be at the top of the agenda.
On June 15 Bartissimo ryegrass was undersown into 44 acres of maize. It was sown through the fertiliser compartment on a steerage hoe at 10kg/acre, with 10 acres sown using the hoe, the rest with the hoe blades removed. Both methods work equally well.
Four half-acre plots of different Italian ryegrass varieties have also been sown. All was well for about four weeks. They germinated well, established good ground cover, and got to the three- or four-leaf stage when one of the fields changed dramatically.
It soon became evident that Lincoln, which was the tallest at sowing by some 6-9in, has completely shaded the ryegrass which is now looking weak and spindly.
I thought at first it might have been the atrazine because the second application went on two and half weeks before the ryegrass was sown, which I now understand is not long enough, four weeks being recommended, but Im not convinced that is the cause. The variety of maize might be a contributing factor for it is by far the tallest and most dense of all the crops.
As I finish this article, 2.5in of rain has fallen in the past 36 hours; the sheep might come in early this year.n
John Helliars cows have started selectively grazing a super grass/clover ley – theyre rejecting clover in favour of grass so palatability will be top of the list of requirements when the next ley mix is chosen.