HOW I got MORE SILAGE from the SAME ACRES?! // Silage Series pt3

What I love about farming is the detail, the figuring out what works and what doesn't and finding a way to make my farm more profitable! Silage is the backbone of our business and I have put a lot of time and effort into learning how to do it to the best I can! I condensed year of trial and error into one 20 minute video for you to enjoy! Hope it helps some of you!
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[@EdwardBrady-ls6up]

That's what you call a farmer.

[@pjdee5879]

Great video. A lot of useful information for any silage operation.

[@BJW-010]

Thanks for your interesting videos!

[@tkinvy9750]

Awesome vid Appreciate point of diminishing return which is not often discussed sadly. Either way you choose you should understand this. Compaction, fert levels & reseeding all is spot on Thx Andrew

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thanks!

[@michealwhite8776]

Excellent video with lots a very useful information..I bet your family is glad to have you home farming because you certainly know your stuff!!

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I know a lot about a little. 😅 I don't talk about all the things in farming in bad at!

[@bkeenan32]

Great stuff Andrew. Thanks for another useful, understandable and informative video👍👍

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bkeenan32]

@@FarmTheoryNI for too long there hasn't been enough if any thought given to what fert is used on grassland. Just stick with the same thing every year without knowing if its suitable. Your personal account of improving your lands performance will help other understand how to unlock the lands potential and save money to get the same or even better yields.👍

[@user-ze9wm3cx9p]

Thank you Andrew for this video its a great help and very informative 👍 👍

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thanks!

[@Mr..35..1]

Great video and very informative 👌👌

[@williambowman7589]

Another great video Andrew

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!!

[@CraigyFarm]

Very humble Andrew, great video and well explained even to a complete novice like me 👍🏻

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thanks 👍

[@richardcorbett8431]

Very impressive.changed to ecosystem several years ago and never looked back

[@Tommy-vh7xj]

Great video again cheers

[@gjbingham1]

Excellent Video, and learned a lot from it. 🙏🏻

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Great to hear!

[@ronanlucid9588]

Fantastic video Andrew...

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thanks! These are the videos I like making most!

[@christymarlow9539]

Good video Andrew Good farmer, all we need now is to fix the weather lol 😆, keep up the good work 👏

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Not sure I can help with that one! 🤣 It's drier the rest of April!

[@s00045732]

Found you from Farmer Phil! Great video looking forward to the back catalogue. Would love a video on soil compaction 👍

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Absolutely! I will add it to the list!

[@kathrynmartin8224]

Great video... very informative..👌

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Thanks! I hope it helps!

[@rich7584]

Love these types of videos, and have made the switch from one additive to Ecosyl for this coming year. Through your recommendations. Also will be looking into purchasing a SILOSTOP sheet this year as well , currently use a generic oxygen barrier and black sheet. Feel I get very good results but always room for improvements. 👍💪👌

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Excellent! Are you using clingseal? It's not an oxygen barrier. Any oxygen barrier will work, silostop gets my recommendation since they are willing to support me in trying to make farmers aware of what works and what doesn't! 😅

[@rich7584]

@@FarmTheoryNI yes will be clingseal and a visqueen black top sheet. We also side sheet as it’s an earth wall pit.

[@rogermccall3514]

Thank you for this informative and thought provoking video. Will be trying Ecosyl ecostable on one silage cut this year. to see if it helps fermentation on longer chop silage wagon silage .

[@FarmTheoryNI]

You should see higher Lactic Acids and lower VFA's with ecosyl. 6:1 ratio is a great fermentation.

[@spoonog89]

Excellent video very informative. Rolling the pit is critical. My contractor buckrakes the pit with a 14t Volvo digger. The driver on the pit in 2022 was very poor and it wasn’t compacted correctly whereas the driver in 2023 done an unbelievable job and if the sheargrab isn’t kept sharp it isn’t cutting it and as a result it’s possibly the best silage I’ve ever had but I’m considering using an oxygen barrier this year to try and reduce the wastage down to near nil!

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Once you see the difference it's a great encouragement to make the effort!

[@padraigking5185]

Good stuff

[@sheehyagri4440]

U spot on about u p&k and lime

[@sheehyagri4440]

Won’t agree with u choice of addivate but I do agree with use it

[@ulstermen]

Another great video Andrew, in a year like this would it be an idea to plant an annual/fast growing grass like westerwold to get silage stocks built back up, r have you any experience in annual grass 👍

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I have 50ac of Italian ryegrass, it's good for early spring growth but it's already so late I'm not sure if it would gain much.

[@DN-ij4pk]

Great video. Iv told you before how i think you wud be better off with a fusion 3. For lots of reasons i wont mention again. This video tells me that bale's are better at preserving silage. No inoculant needed. No need for 70 ton of machinery and drivers to roll. No hugh sheds big walls or complicated placeing of oxygen barriers +2 covers+ tyres. Plus hardship opening the feking thing. Bale's gives all that. Without the hardship and with out a fleet of tractors, trailers compactors and cousins to drive them

[@feirmfactor859]

Drawing in all the bales would be an absolute nightmare and would require a fair few drivers and cost of plastic per bale is up on €5 now.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I should do a video on the economics of bales. 🤣 Maybe one for tiktok!

[@danmurphy6541]

I’d love a silage bale vid, still, great as usual

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I try my best to not make bales!! 😅

[@gerryryan2142]

Wow. Way more information here than off my advisor 😁😁😁

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Advisors are dire. 🤣

[@dominicjeynes]

Hoping to go back to using ecosyl this year used to use it years ago but price got us, have used others in recent years and struggled especially last year

[@FarmTheoryNI]

It REALLY pays off in a bad year. It's one of the decisions which is easy when you are certain when it covers the cost and then some.

[@columwoods8467]

Excellent video. Can you go into more detail on the polysulphate. When to sow, how much , how often….? Thanks

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Sure, I made a tiktok about it today!

[@wizardoflolz5626]

love the channel content.

[@martinclifford9544]

Great video. Is there also a bit to add about the silaging process? I think you bring it in soon after cutting, minimizing losses. Some people go to town on wilting, youtuber in litham for example.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

You're exactly right!! Should have added that in!

[@wamesjalton9783]

Did you have a stroke at 12:40? 😂😂

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I missed that edit!!! It's lots of short clips, I edit the gaps out! 🤣🤣

[@billbobby461]

today would be a great day to try some macerated hay making, get the mulch deck lawn mower out lad

[@FarmersSss]

Very interesting and helpful. I'll be paying more attention to p&k levels in the soil samples. How often do you reeseed? 3-5 years or just if you think its needed? Also have you ever used a red clover? To improve protein in your silage

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I try and reseed every 7 but it varies a lot. No hard rule.

[@tom4412]

And good drainage, then potentially you can start the growing season earlier.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Yep! I spend a lot on drains!

[@gerrymulligan2602]

Man.himself.legend

[@mervynrodgers9465]

Very good video with plenty of advise, thanks.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Very welcome

[@ciaranconeely8579]

👍👍👍.

[@DannyRice01]

Dad's just put on 3 bags of nitrogen to the acre...7.5 bags to the hectare aka 375kg/ha. Slightly overboard there and he does it every year. Need the soil testing done asap as while first cut yeilds are good they should be much better when that sort of application is being done.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Yep, definitely soil test!

[@Grahamkavanaghfarming]

Would you consider innoculant to work as well in bales as pit have been toying with the idea for a couple of years but as you say there is a lot of spin with innoculant suppliers

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Honestly I don't know, I would guess yes. Same lactic acid needed, same probiotic gain for milk yield.

[@Grahamkavanaghfarming]

@@FarmTheoryNIwe are in beef but increase is good

[@jdmowers]

Great video! Just watched it here and checked our soil samples.our potassium is index 2.to get to index 3 how many kg per acre for potash

[@FarmTheoryNI]

A depressing amount. 😅 I can't remember now but i done it by using 0:0:60 for a few years.

[@scottwharry3990]

Would you ever consider reseeding with oats and undersowing with grass? Be interested to hear the comparison

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Maybe actually. 🤔

[@user-pu5ij9lc6z]

What you think of provita advance plus silage innoculant??

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Zero milk production trials... 🤷 My opinion is don't support products without research.

[@user-bd9ef3ic1d]

Would you ever open a pit and put another cut on top and cover again .?

[@FarmTheoryNI]

All the time, each silo is opened 3 times a year.

[@njomeara]

Do you test grass for nitrogen levels before cutting ?

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Nope, if you take steps to get a good fermentation you don't need to worry about it.

[@matthewshaw3718]

What do you reckon to pioneer 1188 inoculant out of interest? That’s what I bought this year 🙈

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I was promised to my face they would send me the research. They never did. 🤷

[@CPK6215r]

Can you do a reseed do's and don'ts video please

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I absolutely will! 🫡

[@scrapjockey3130]

The auld fella here firmly believed that grass seed should be sown close to it's heading out date,which is when growth rates are highest.The field is back in production very quickly.

[@finbarreburn5112]

Some fine day you too will be 'heading out' and I dare say you would not like being called 'The Auld Fella Here' To get respect you gotta Give it 🤔

[@scrapjockey3130]

@@finbarreburn5112 It's not a disrespectful term round here.I called him that for 40 years,a habbit I picked up from his friends.

[@bobokeeffe4036]

Though by the caption it was going to be an add for super soil but i know your thoughts on that😂

[@finbarreburn5112]

😅😅😅

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Flip, I should have got them to sponsor the video! 🤣

[@tristangibbs2351]

We had pleanty of p and k and the ph was good we had too much sulphur and in places too much k but low calcium levels. Been using granular lime the past few years to correct this and grass growth and compacted areas have improved. By the silage analysis we’ve got sulphur levels back more manageable so gypsum is being used this season. Do you find that applying mop this early in the season you get luxury uptake of k and end up applying a lot more?

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Is that what luxury uptake is?!?! 😳 I thought it was a concern for animal health? I havnt noticed any negatives affects and I only put on the requirement for my first cut, so it little and often for K also

[@tristangibbs2351]

@@FarmTheoryNI yep prior to 1st cut it will uptake more than it needs if there’s more to be had. If k gets too high I’ve found the animal health benefits go the other way is a fine balance to be struck. Also makes the grass bitter so they won’t eat it and land up topping a lot back into the ground

[@jonathandickson5562]

You said in the video where you did the cost off silage you got 4800 ton so now you only to links lift is your tonnage per ace correct assuming cows eat avg amount of dry matter per day do

[@FarmTheoryNI]

I have to feed meal to manage silage stocks, more is always better!

[@thepeoplespal5]

Does too much nitrogen not make the silage less palatable?

[@FarmTheoryNI]

High nitrates makes it harder to ferment. However if you get a good wilt with all the points in the video it will never be an issue.

[@kevinrooney5086]

How many units of nitrogen do u apply per acre.

[@FarmTheoryNI]

100? I think?

[@user-ys2ou7qy6v]

What about Dock leaf

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Forefront at 1.5l/ha. I have so much docks to kill next week!

[@alexnicholas2371]

Why not reseed in September it seem such a waste to stick the plough in and have brown fields in the months where grass is growing the most

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Then it's raining in September and you have missed reseeding for the year? We try and reseed throughout the year.

[@alexnicholas2371]

@@FarmTheoryNI I feel like you must get more rain than us then if we reseed in the spring it can be risky as we can often catch a month of no rain atall

[@greggroome2791]

🇮🇪🇮🇪🙏🙏👏👏👍👍

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Video, the process and science of making great silage is not well understood, thanks for sharing

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ex1352]

Where did you buy the Muriate of Potash, I tried everywhere in Donegal a few years ago and couldn't get it

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Goulding or origin sell it. Any merchant will get it for you, just force them to try!

[@iainlawrie5619]

Can you over roll

[@FarmTheoryNI]

Apparently yes, I haven't managed it yet.

[@richardedwards2269]

Good video 👍