Silage Making; Supplementary Fodder Crop Production

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 89, Issue 4, 15 October 1954, Page 389

Silage Making; Supplementary Fodder Crop Production

Seasonal Notes by the Extension Division

CARLY ensiling of pastures usually results in good aftermath growth which is particularly valuable for grazing in early summer. Care is necessary to make good silage from young leafy growth; if it is well made, this early-cut silage will be of high food value and very useful for the milking herd in the dry summer period. Early-cut pasture growth is soft, sappy, and often wet and requires special care during harvesting to avoid it turning into sour, poor silage.

HARVESTING

In the harvesting of this type of material wilting is necessary to reduce the moisture

content, and slow harvesting is also important, especially with the buckrake, which gives much greater consolidation than the previously conventional method of stacking. To allow sufficient rise in temperature in a buckrake stack, after the first day’s stacking it is generally necessary to spell 2 or even 3 days before further material is put in. It is also necessary to spell every second day during the building of the remainder of the stack. For efficient use of labour and time, two or even three stacks may be under construction at once. The material for later main crop silage.is cut when the ryegrass is beginning to break into flowerhead, and the speed of harvesting depends largely on the climatic conditions prevailing. If the weather is wet and the material sappy, harvesting must be slow to allow heating, but if climatic conditions are relatively dry, the pasture quickly becomes stalky and harvesting must be speeded up to prevent excess heating.

STACKING

For minimum wastage, harvesting of silage in pits or trenches, correctly battered at the

sides, is desirable, but it is not always convenient. The conventional round stacks built with the stacker have now been superseded by stacks which may be built several different ways with the buckrake. The most popular type of buckrake stack is the wedge which takes full advantage of gentle slopes commonly found on many dairy farms. These stacks should be sited in a suitable central position involving a minimum of haulage and on a slope where a stack may be built to hold a large quantity of material, which will give good silage and a minimum of wastage over the exposed surfaces. As stacking proceeds some spreading of the dumped buckrake loads is necessary to ensure that the stack has firm sides, is evenly built, and is consolidated. Sides should be straight, and the big end of the wedge should slope slightly inward. Consolidation is assisted by running the tractor with empty buckrake over the surface after the completion of a layer. The extent of this treatment depends on the moisture content of the material being harvested. When finishing off it is desirable to camber the top and so assist water run-off. On flatter country the ramp or double wedge type of stack is frequently built, and it is quite satisfactory. For flat land the “bun” type stack is one of the best, and it entails the minimum of wastage. All stacks must be properly fenced from stock. —R. B. GORDON

WHITE TURNIPS

TURNIPS are usually classified as white fleshed and yellow fleshed. The whitefleshed varieties are rapid in their develop-

ment and stand fairly well out of the ground. If they are sown early, they deteriorate in quality when mature, but bulbs from later sown crops are of comparatively good keeping quality.

Varieties in this group are N.Z. Green. Globe, N.Z. Red Globe, N.Z. Purple Globe, and the recently introduced variety N.Z. York Globe. The last-named variety is particularly valuable for late sowing, as it has a very rapid maturity, and when sown after Christmas bulbs of good size for early autumn feeding can be obtained.

YELLOW TURNIPS

Yellow-fleshed turnips are generally slower growing. Varieties differ markedly in hardness of flesh, those with the hardest flesh being

also latest in maturity and growing lower in the ground. These varieties are frequently referred to as the “Aberdeen” types. Their use is on the harder country where swedes cannot be grown with success. The varieties in this group include N.Z. Purple Top Yellow, N.Z. Green Top Yellow, N.Z. Purple Resistant, and N.Z. Green Resistant, the last two possessing considerable resistance to club root disease. The N.Z. Waites Eclipse, N.Z. Victory Yellow, and N.Z. Champion Hybrid are softer yellowfleshed varieties which grow to. larger bulbs, and they are suitable for late autumn feed.

SWEDES

Swede varieties now commonly grown in New Zealand include N.Z. Superlative, N.Z. Grand- . master, N.Z. Crimson King, and N.Z. Wilhelmsburger. These varieties are in approximate order of maturity, and Wilhelmsburger appreciably the latest. Two other varieties of intermediate maturityN.Z. Sensation and N.Z. Calder —are particularly suited for drier climates and where aphides are prevalent.

About 160,000 acres of swedes are grown each year. Two-thirds are in the South Island and these are mainly for the wintering of ewes. In the field it is generally found that once the bulb becomes mature, disease increases. Hence for the efficient use of this crop it is essential that notice should be taken of maturity. Superlative should be fed off first, followed by Grandmaster and Crimson King, which mature about the same time, and finally the very hard, green-top swede Wilhelmsburger. It is advisable to sow a selection of swedes and to feed each block at maturity. This tends to reduce the incidence of disease, particularly dry rot, which today is the greatest single cause of swede loss. In districts where aphid attack in summer can be severe Sensation and Calder varieties should be sown, as they have good powers of resistance to this insect. —J. G. RICHARDS * * *

TURNIP AND SWEDE SEEDS

ALL lines of Government-approved turnip and swede seeds distributed this year have given germination tests not

lower than 90 per cent. Governmentapproved seed is packed in lib. and 21b. lots in specially printed calico bags. The letter E has been branded on all bags distributed this year to serve as an identification. —J. H. CLARIDGE * * *

BROWN HEART

THE condition known as brown heart, which often seriously affects the quality of swedes and turnips, is due to a deficiency of boron in the

soil and it can generally be overcome by an application of commercial borax. Borated superphosphate (which contains borax) may be used in ridger sowing if direct contact with the seed is avoided, as, if contact occurs, the borax content is likely to reduce germination severely.

An alternative method is to apply borax at 151 b. to 201 b. per acre as a broadcast dressing before sowing the seed, and to drill the seed with a reverted phosphate such as reverted superphosphate or. serpentine superphosphate.

—F. H. COLLIN