Cold spell slows silaging and maize establishment

The low temperatures and lack of rain is hindering farmers’ silaging and maize growing as the UK emerges from one of the frostiest Aprils on record.

The dry weather has stalled grass growth and the chilly conditions are a concern for establishing newly seeded corn.

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Some areas of the UK have received rain after the recent dry spell, but there is a desperate need for moisture in other parts of the country, as well as a rise in temperatures.

Surrey dairy farmer Mark Frost is hopeful the weather will turn this week, after an extended period of difficult conditions on his land in Norbury Park, near Leatherhead and Dorking.

Strip-grazing

“It is so dry; it is crazy. It normally comes good, but we are sacrificing one silage field now. We are strip-grazing it – our 100 cows have done about 48ha,” said Mr Frost.

“It is also cold. Last year, it was quite warm and you had a lot of growth. We are buying in straw because that is the only thing that is about and, again, you are paying quite a lot of money for that.

“Friday [7 May] is supposed to be wet and the temperatures are coming up. We’ve had two lots of rain in nearly seven weeks.”

Mr Frost added: “We seeded our maize a week-and-a-half ago. We’ve got plenty of manure on the field closest to home, but we have two fields that are a couple of miles away, so it was difficult to get up there regularly.”

Hampshire-based farming contractor Shane Hoare said he would normally begin first-cut silaging in the third week of April, but it looked as if the cold weather would delay that to mid-May.

‘No grass’

“There’s just no grass there at the moment; it’s not doing anything,” he said. “It’s just so cold. But we are at the point where we have to get on with it.”

Mr Hoare said maize drilling was under way in the Alton and Petersfield areas.

He hoped that warmer weather forecast next week would raise soil temperatures and allow seeds to germinate and emerge.

The Met Office said the outlook for Friday and the weekend is sunny spells and showers, heaviest and most frequent in the North. Heavy rain from the West is expected to spread north, followed by blustery showers.

Next week, temperatures are expected to climb nearer to the seasonal average, with warmer conditions in the South East.

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