Tim Gue
Tim Gue
Tim Gue farms 480ha
(1200 acres) near Ashurst
in Sussex. In addition to
the arable enterprise which
includes wheat, oilseed
rape and 112ha (280 acres)
of maize, the farm is
stocked with 220 pedigree
Holstein dairy cows and
350 Mule ewes
SILAGE making was as difficult as I can remember in the 15 years we have been at Huddlestone. We aim to make mature silage with enough fibre to complement the maize and usually, by the last few days of May, the weather has become more reliable.
Not this year, so two weeks late and between showers and thunderstorms we finally managed to ensile it. Additives seem an expensive luxury and having opened the clamp it looks to have made well without them, but it will have low intake characteristics. The only plus is the remarkable 50% extra yield; no need for a second cut now.
Maize is looking well and despite cool, wet, weather, all but the last drilled field will be knee-high by Jul 1. Yet again, crops drilled in early April are well ahead despite the scorn poured on them by the too early brigade. Weed control, with pre-emergent atrazine and codicide, has been good and yield potential is huge, particularly if the warm weather forecast for Wimbledon fortnight materialises.
We have had two sessions spreading slurry from the store under slatted cubicles. The bubbler system is working well, keeping slurry liquid and easily spreadable with an umbilical system without any agitation. Nitrogen Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) are here, so easy, accurate and measurable application is important. I hope to get a real understanding of NVZ regulations at forthcoming Maize Growers Association workshops.
My wife Marion and I have just returned from the Nuffield conference in France. The dairy tour bus contained 18 dairy producers with herds ranging in size from 25 cows to more than 3000, the group total being more than 15,000 cows.
We visited a farm which was the result of three producers amalgamating their 200 cows. Their driving force was a desire of all the partners to have more holidays. They measured their success by the fact that in the last two years they had each taken 10 weeks holiday a year. We still have a lot to learn. *
Tim Gue is hoping for a warm week or two to boost maize growth.