Tillage Conference

dont bother trying to correct a low lime situation with granulated lime. It only gives short term relief.

Teagasc trials show that if the soil needs 2tn/ac of ground limestone to permanently correct the pH then 2tn/ac of granulated lime will be needed to give the same long term effect.

Just out of curiosity, were those trial results published online anywhere?
 
Were you not at the National Tillage Conference, sorry National Fodder Creation Conference yesterday :scratchhead:

We’re you there Nash?

I went, it’s a few hours of my life that I’ll never get back.

A pity really,

Whilst growing fodder for other farmers can and does work in many situations already, it’s not something that I see working on a broad scale - primarily due to lack of trust.
 
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I wasn't there Cork but every media report since about it has just focused on those fodder topics.
I'm sure there were other topics discussed but not a dickey bird from anyone on them.

Disappointing to say the least but not surprising either.
 
I wasn't there either but I'm not surprised that as a sector we would be looking at fodder crops. We have a very limited market for cereals and none of us want to continue to produce grain at €130-145/ton when land is costing over €200/acre to rent. This year was a wake up call to the beef and dairy sector how much they depend on the fodder supply when a shift in weather patterns highlights the overstocking on many farms. So if the dairy sector are demanding more fodder crops and we can put even a little bit of long term pressure on cereal prices by reducing the acreage grown then I don't see why that wouldn't form a good discussion for tillage farmers? I for one over the last few days am having a serious look at my cropping plans for next year to decide if cereals is what I should be growing. Of course I'm reluctant to change having most of the machinery in the shed but it would be foolish not to consider it for some acres anyway.
 
I wasn't there either but I'm not surprised that as a sector we would be looking at fodder crops. We have a very limited market for cereals and none of us want to continue to produce grain at €130-145/ton when land is costing over €200/acre to rent. This year was a wake up call to the beef and dairy sector how much they depend on the fodder supply when a shift in weather patterns highlights the overstocking on many farms. So if the dairy sector are demanding more fodder crops and we can put even a little bit of long term pressure on cereal prices by reducing the acreage grown then I don't see why that wouldn't form a good discussion for tillage farmers? I for one over the last few days am having a serious look at my cropping plans for next year to decide if cereals is what I should be growing. Of course I'm reluctant to change having most of the machinery in the shed but it would be foolish not to consider it for some acres anyway.
You're not wrong in what you're saying but the point being made is that a tillage forum should not be dominated by discussion on what tillage farmers can do to solve the fodder crisis. Putting too much land into un-contracted fodder crops is a risky game as in a high grass growth year your phone can become very quiet.
 
You're not wrong in what you're saying but the point being made is that a tillage forum should not be dominated by discussion on what tillage farmers can do to solve the fodder crisis. Putting too much land into un-contracted fodder crops is a risky game as in a high grass growth year your phone can become very quiet.
I guess your right that was probably the focus - I was naively assuming the tone was more how can tillage farmers benefit from the increased demand for fodder and what impact that can or should have on cropping decisions.
 
Not wanting to pull this off topic (Its a cover crops thread)....

As mentioned, I was at the Forum in Naas.

Traditionally, the main reason that people attend this is to get the new info on varieties for the autumn. Sadly, the recommended list wasn't available for the day.

It looked to me like a tactical decision to delay the varieties talk until late in the day so as to hold the crowd - not a good tactic as nobody likes having to sit through poor material for a couple of hours just to get the bit they came to hear.

The forum was broken into a number of sections;

1. Livestock Forage Needs for the Future

A very knowledgeable and quite enjoyable speaker. It was summed it up in my head that guys will want grass if they are overstocked, they will only want this some years so you might be able to sell to a "pool of farmers" - one or two different members of the "pool" will want grass each year.
My sum up - pie in the sky thinking.....

2. Red Clover - An ideal Tillage crop?

Again, a researcher who spoke from his organic background. Figures on the crop weren't overly impressive to me.

3. Template for Trading Forages.

Talk about contracts etc. "The Contract needn't be written in stone"...... it should serve as a method of highlighting issues to both parties that might not be otherwise considered. He rightly mentioned that there are a lot of "messers" out there so you need to be careful when choosing a potential customer.

Panel Discussion.....dragged on far too long with questions from the audience via the Slido App.

4. Winter Cereal Varieties for 2017, a real pity that the RL wasn't available. It would have been the ideal time to launch it.

I then left as I had to head home and things were already running late...... There was a discussion on markets to come and then another panel discussion.


Having spoken to a lot of trade people over the past two days, many people were actually angry with the event. The lack of practical agronomic advice was a missed opportunity to give people what they really want.
There is lots and lots of information out there (at both sides of the Irish sea) that would be of interest.
Things will have to improve a lot or I fear that the attendance will really suffer next year.

This year is an extreme year where forage was badly needed. Next year (hopefully) grass will grow as normal - people will then forget the need for extra forage and the grass advisers and economists will tell the farmers that grazed grass is the cheapest form of feed and the show goes on as before.
If the topic of growing forage needs to be discussed, then this was not the correct place to do it.

I'm not trying to be critical of Teagasc here, they have some really terrific staff both at Advisory and Research levels. However, things need to be freshened up at such events (not easy, I know).
 
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Not wanting to pull this off topic (Its a cover crops thread)....

As mentioned, I was at the Forum in Naas.

Traditionally, the main reason that people attend this is to get the new info on varieties for the autumn. Sadly, the recommended list wasn't available for the day.

It looked to me like a tactical decision to delay the varieties talk until late in the day so as to hold the crowd - not a good tactic as nobody likes having to sit through poor material for a couple of hours just to get the bit they came to hear.

The forum was broken into a number of sections;

1. Livestock Forage Needs for the Future

A very knowledgeable and quite enjoyable speaker. It was summed it up in my head that guys will want grass if they are overstocked, they will only want this some years so you might be able to sell to a "pool of farmers" - one or two different members of the "pool" will want grass each year.
My sum up - pie in the sky thinking.....

2. Red Clover - An ideal Tillage crop?

Again, a researcher who spoke from his organic background. Figures on the crop weren't overly impressive to me.

3. Template for Trading Forages.

Talk about contracts etc. "The Contract needn't be written in stone"...... it should serve as a method of highlighting issues to both parties that might not be otherwise considered. He rightly mentioned that there are a lot of "messers" out there so you need to be careful when choosing a potential customer.

Panel Discussion.....dragged on far too long with questions from the audience via the Slido App.

4. Winter Cereal Varieties for 2017, a real pity that the RL wasn't available. It would have been the ideal time to launch it.

I then left as I had to head home and things were already running late......


Having spoken to a lot of trade people over the past two days, many people were actually angry with the event. The lack of practical agronomic advice was a missed opportunity to give people what they really want.
There is lots and lots of information out there (at both sides of the Irish sea) that would be of interest.
Things will have to improve a lot or I fear that the attendance will really suffer next year.

This year is an extreme year where forage was badly needed. Next year (hopefully) grass will grow as normal - people will then forget the need for extra forage and the grass advisers and economists will tell the farmers that grazed grass is the cheapest form of feed and the show goes on as before.
If the topic of growing forage needs to be discussed, then this was not the correct place to do it.

I'm not trying to be critical of Teagasc here, they have some really terrific staff both at Advisory and Research levels. However, things need to be freshened up at such events (not easy, I know).

Did they have a few x bred cows out grazing the lawn for full effect?
 
is anyone actually surprised in fairness??
If anyone wants any innovative planet saving, social media winning agronomic advice, just ask.
 
is anyone actually surprised in fairness??
If anyone wants any innovative planet saving, social media winning agronomic advice, just ask.

You can count on our votes on Friday October 26th. You'll have all the wheat sown in time to give you plenty campaign time anyway.
 
You can count on our votes on Friday October 26th. You'll have all the wheat sown in time to give you plenty campaign time anyway.

And there was me thinking that the Phoenix Park would plough up lovely. That’s that conacre plan of mine binned if @Louis mc gets into the big house!!!
 
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Hell no, someone needs give Stephan gildea something to worry about.
They are setting up a lab in the nanny valley and piping adexar out with the irrigators as they will be idle next year with the wet year, they will do their best to find ‘an isolate’ that gets plotted on a graph that means absolutely nothing to anyone but them, when they find it they will go on the beer for a week in coppers and secrets celebrating how “we” managed to break yet another chemical into pieces....
 
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