Believe it or not cropping season is fast approaching, and if you haven't begun thinking about your cropping plan for this year, now is a great time to start.
Here are a few things to consider before it all kicks into gear.
What is your end goal?
Funnily enough, the best place to start is by thinking about your end goal.
Growing crops is not only a good way to fill a feed deficit but it's also a great way to renovate pastures. The importance of these factors to you will influence your decision on what you should grow.
For example, if you have a feed deficit in summer, chicory is a low dry matter, high protein crop that requires a larger area to grow sufficient feed (approx. 3.5ha per 100 cows, allowing 3kg DM/cow/day). This would be a good way to renovate pastures quickly as it means re-grassing a larger area in autumn.
If you wanted to grow more dry matter in a smaller area, something like turnips may be better.
What fits your farm?
Type, variety, hybrid - there are hundreds of options to choose from when it comes to crops you can grow on farm. But the reality is that many of them won't be suitable for your area.
With your end goal in mind, you can pretty quickly narrow down the selection.
Key things to consider are the crop's nutritional values, maturity, and feeding infrastructure.
What paddock?
Farmers are generally very good at knowing where their best and worst performing paddocks are located.
More often than not it is the worst performing paddocks that are chosen to be cropped with the hope that they will become the best performing paddock after re-grassing. While this can be the case, we do need to dig a bit deeper into why the paddock isn't performing well.
Soil testing well before spring is the best way to detect any nutrient deficiencies and allows time to correct them.
Seedbed preparation is another consideration, as certain crops require cultivation, but it may not be the best decision for that paddock.
Paddock history is important too, as some crops like fodder beet are very sensitive to chemical residues in the soil. It's a good idea to look back to see what has been applied to that paddock up to 24 months prior.
Sowing a crop into a poor-performing paddock will quite often result in a poor-performing crop if these areas aren't addressed.
When to plant?
There are many factors that affect when your seed goes in the ground. Weather and contractor availability are the main two, let alone the fact that dairy farmers are flat out milking, feeding calves or cutting silage.
My advice is to choose your grazing/harvest date, subtract the days to maturity of your chosen crop, and aim to plant one week before that - chances are everyone will be running late regardless!
In my experience, crops that are planted earlier are generally more successful than those that are planted later, but so much is dependent on the season. This is when a crystal ball comes in handy!
If you need a hand with your spring cropping plan, talk to your local Technical Sales Rep (TSR) - we're happy to help.