2010 Maize Harvest Management Critical to Meet Early Feed Needs

“Faced with grass silage shortfalls and high costs of bought-in concentrates, many will be looking for maize to go further this season,” he suggests.

“However, the lack of heat during August and into September has slowed maize crop progress, so harvest timing and cut quality will be important to maximise feed values.”

Mr Burgess says that with early-cut grass yields down, it will be tempting to feed maize earlier than normal and use a higher rate of inclusion.

Offered early in the lactation, maize will help increase milk production.  However, those with a reduced acreage and lower starches will find they may well run out and be faced with a silage shortfall come next spring. 

“So, this season, it is a case of maximising silage palatability and matching chop length to ration requirements,” he explains.

Mr Burgess points out that in terms of harvest timing, the best intakes come from ensiling maize at 30-35% dry matter taken at the hard ripe stage, so don’t go before this, unless you have to. 

“This year we should see no problems with crop maturity, however, despite the excellent early summer conditions, later drilled crops that didn’t catch the moisture as well as some later maturing varieties, will need to be ensiled as late as possible to help boost ME and starch contents.

“In this respect, with increasing volatility in the price of feed concentrates, maize is becoming the key crop on the livestock farm and growers are more adept at getting the most from it,” says Mr Burgess.

"Learning from this, it is important to get the variety mix right, ensuring you have early varieties that deliver the early boost you need from feed at the front of the clamp in a poor grass silage year.

“But, at the same time, growers need to maximise energy yields by selecting high yielding types in the most popular maturity classes, such as Kokon, that suit their region, soil and field aspect.”

Mr Burgess points out that Maturity Class 12 varieties such as Kentaurus will grow anywhere and can allow you to feed maize around 20 days earlier than maincrop varieties.

An option for growers in mainstream areas is Konsensus (Maturity Class 6) that will provide the bulk without compromising quality enabling you to spread harvest and have sufficient maize to feed through to turn-out.

“2010 has shown just how unreliable grass yields can be, so it is a case of making as much from maize as you can and getting the variety mix right is critical,” he says.