Fertilizer and Frost

Everything still in the bag here, heavy rain forecast for the next few days so will hang tough, ground still very soft here
 
Well I know if we hadn't to go with early urea we would have no grass at this point. Urea is working away. Sure if it would have been a normal year you'd be on the second round almost with second application of N on
 
Went with urea end of Feb and up until this week I was undecided if it was lost or not but you can definitely see now that it has had a good effect.
Do you have some un spread ground to compare it to?
Things have greened up mighty in the last week thank god
 
Do you have some un spread ground to compare it to?
Things have greened up mighty in the last week thank god

I do and while some of it wouldn't be a fair comparison as it was too wet to spread there's definitely better covers on ground that got the urea.
Was there some of it lost?
I'd say so.
If I waited another month to spread it would I have as much grass?
Probably.
Would get good results here normally from early Feb urea but will admit that I'll be keeping more of an eye on soil temp in the future.
 
I normally spread urea late January or early February but 16th match was my first outing this year. The few days before the snow was the only time I thought ground good enough but I read somewhere not to spread if a drop in temperatures was forecast so didn't spread.as usual the only thing working in cold weather was slurry
 
The last 5 days brought some serious growth in the ground that got Urea on February 24th. It's now streets ahead of ground that didn't get it.
I have some of the heavier covers that got urea eaten off and the regrowth has been phenomenal - only in the last 5 days however.
As I said above, the ground that was bare when getting urea is by far the heaviest cover at this stage.
It's lovely to see that wave of grass in the wind!

Got my rougher grazing for the few cows covered with 18.6.12 at the weekend at 1 bag to the acre. Hopefully today's rain won't wash it all away. It's esker type land with lots of humps and hollows and bog at the lower end which is only 12 inches deep before you meed a lovely gravel. With the expected growth, it should really take off. I hope to let some cows with calves go off at the weekend!
 
Pig slurry about a month ago, no bag.
See where I turned.
20180418_122021.jpg
 
Any wise heads know why slurry is so effective in cold weather compared to bagged fertilizer?
Anything to do with the fact that say 3k gallons of slurry is say 6-7-35 per 1k gallons, who would spread 3 bags per acre of that in wet weather tho? In wet, damp, cool, dull weather the N is not lost either, might be something to do with the p and k kick also. Other than that I haven't a clue....
 
Anything to do with the fact that say 3k gallons of slurry is say 6-7-35 per 1k gallons, who would spread 3 bags per acre of that in wet weather tho? In wet, damp, cool, dull weather the N is not lost either, might be something to do with the p and k kick also. Other than that I haven't a clue....
i don't know either, plenty lads spreading 46 units of nitrogen in early feb saw much lower response than 12-15 units of N in slurry spread at the same time. So is it uptake/availability or a P/K issue. Is there a different biological process going on? just throwing it out there.
 
Don't know what it is but it's the same every spring though more noticeable this year.
There are trace elements and nutrients as well as npk in slurry
@CORK Any ideas
 
Don't know what it is but it's the same every spring though more noticeable this year.
There are trace elements and nutrients as well as npk in slurry
@CORK Any ideas

I’m thinking that the N in slurry is just more quickly available to the plant,
That little head start can give the slurry grass the edge, especially if it’s followed by cold weather.
Also, February rainfall in my local met station was below normal so that increases the chance of the fertilizer sitting on the soil while the slurry N was already in around the roots.
You’d see the same in winter barley, the crop that gets the N that bit earlier will always look that but leafier
 
We grew 45kg / ha / day on average over the last 10 days. That's about 60% of the total 2018 growth so far this year.

Again, to make the point about urea. Its out 7 week now and you can really see it pushing on. A lot of advice out there is to spread it into grass covers. That's what I did. That was a mistake. I'm at the end of the first rotation. Its clear that the urea worked best on bare ground and really only worked on ground with grass covers when those covers were eaten. It worked - that's the most important thing.
 
We grew 45kg / ha / day on average over the last 10 days. That's about 60% of the total 2018 growth so far this year.

Again, to make the point about urea. Its out 7 week now and you can really see it pushing on. A lot of advice out there is to spread it into grass covers. That's what I did. That was a mistake. I'm at the end of the first rotation. Its clear that the urea worked best on bare ground and really only worked on ground with grass covers when those covers were eaten. It worked - that's the most important thing.
I dont know about january urea anymore, february is plenty soon imo
 
Hoping to get out early with the quad and spreader this year in order to try to have some early grass. I know that it'll be late on average when you consider that we let the first of the cattle out last year in the beginning of May. I'm hoping for to bring a big change this year and get some of the cattle out to grass by the first week in April - especially the cull cows that will be slaughtered at the end of May and the store cattle that will be slaughtered at the back end.

To do this, I will have to have fertilizer spread on the drier ground by the first week in March. My ear was chewed when I announced my plans. "Sure you were as well lighting the fire with €20 notes" is what I was told. "The frost will ruin any bit of fertilizer that you spread in March".

A neighbour is a pretty progressive dairy farmer, and he will be spreading fertilizer at the middle of february. My ear chewer will have notions of calling the mental asylum to pick the neighbour up and any grass that he grows will be "watery frost grass". Just wait until I announce that I plan to do the first cut of silage before May 25th. :scared:

What's your view on frost and fertilizer?
See a few out spreading fertilizer during the week, share of slurry gone out too, a calculated risk I suppose if they think the benefit would outweigh any penalty, I can't see the slurry being a capacity issue given that the spread period was extended last year.
 
See a few out spreading fertilizer during the week, share of slurry gone out too, a calculated risk I suppose if they think the benefit would outweigh any penalty, I can't see the slurry being a capacity issue given that the spread period was extended last year.
It's bloody risky business especially only couple of days left to go. It still a crime doh especially as field conditions are ideal
 
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