Silage: The weather continues to be unsettled and up to 60% of first-cut silage is yet to be harvested in some areas. For every one-day delay in harvest after heading date, silage quality declines by 0.5% dry matter digestibility (DMD). So a one-week delay will drop quality by around 3.5% DMD, which is a fairly significant drop.

The best you can hope for in most first cuts from now on is silage with a DMD in the mid-60s. Farmers are asking if there is anything they can do to improve quality. The answer is no – DMD is a function of grass quality and cutting date. There’s nothing you can add that’s going to improve DMD.

Improving preservation is a different matter. The problem with making silage in wet weather is that the dry matter will be low and the sugars will be diluted. You need high sugars as these convert to lactic acid which preserves the silage.

Additives such as molasses can increase direct sugar content and aid preservation. Acid rapidly reduces the pH, doing the work of the sugar, but acid is corrosive so not really an option anymore. Absorbents such as soya hulls, beet pulp nuts or even straw retain more of the effluent in the pit, which stabilises the sugar content and will help preservation as well as reducing effluent losses.

Split pits: There are more reports of pits splitting this year than ever before. There are two major problems with a split pit that need to be resolved as soon as possible.

The first and most important is to catch the effluent if the pit moves beyond effluent channels. Drainage pipes and sandbags/bales will catch most of it.

The next issue is the fact that the pit is no longer sealed if there’s a hole in it. When the pit settles, the split will need to be filled in. Pack in straw or bale silage with a track machine or similar and then fill in the top with silage from the sides and roll thoroughly.

Consider sprinkling salt or mould inhibitors around the split to reduce the amount of mould growing in this area.

Reseeds: Early grazing of reseeds is essential to get them to tiller. If you can pluck grass without bringing the roots with you it’s safe enough to graze and this could be achieved at a very light cover. As can be read in pages 28-29, there’s often a tendency to graze reseeds with calves but more often than not it’s better to graze them with cows as you get a quick and clean grazing.

It takes calves too long to move through ground, resulting in poor clean outs and nipping off of re-growths. Ideally you would spray before grazing but in some instances it may be necessary to spray after grazing. The important thing is to spray to kill off dock seedlings.

It’s getting late to be spraying off fields for reseeds as July and August could be dry yet. Don’t spare the fertiliser on recently reseeded fields.

They have a higher requirement for N, P and K than established swards. Sow clover with grass seeds as we will have to rely on less chemical N in the future and clover fixes nitrogen for free.