The 3 'T's to making Good Quality Silage
Austin Flavin Teagasc Advisor, meets beef farmer, Billy Glasheen who farms in Passage East in Co. Waterford as he plans to follow the 3 'T's which are key to making best Quality Silage. Test the slurry, test the soil and test the silage.
Billy Glasheen farms in Passage East in Co. Waterford finishing steer cattle at 24-28 months.
What are the 3 'T's ?
The 3 'T's are key to Billy making Quality Silage.
- Test your slurry
- Test your soil
- Test your silage
The slurry is very high in N, P & K, partly as a result of a finishing diet in the shed and no water been added to the slurry. Billy also added a liquid digestate this year and found his slurry agitated a lot quicker.
The silage ground is grazed late at the back end of the year. It is then closed in the spring with slurry going on at 3000 gls /acre and topped up with straight N. The aim is to cut by the 17th May giving a high DMD of 75% +
Calculating what this high value silage means over poor silage with added meal, Billy estimated he is saving €2,500 per year. Hear what Billy has to say and see for yourself in this short video clip
For more on making good quality silage check out the Teagasc Quality Grass Silage webpage here