Cash-strapped livestock farmers treat grassland weeds to save on feed costs

Badly infested grass field
Badly infested grass field

Cash-strapped livestock farmers should still get on and spray grassland weeds this spring, because the savings made by having additional silage will outweigh the cost of treatment, according to Dow AgroSciences grassland specialist Brent Gibbon.

"Many farmers are quite rightly holding back on spending any money at the moment,” says Mr. Gibbon.

"But maximising the amount of grass that can be grown and getting this inside the cows, is the best way to counter poor financial returns, as less bought-in feed is needed.

"Perennial weeds like docks grow where grass should be growing. Having 20 docks in an area 7m x 5m, means a 20% infestation and therefore 20% less grass.

"Assuming 11t DM/ha of grass is grown, which is a conservative estimate for silage leys – this gives a loss of 2.2t of grass DM/ha, which is a lot of silage, worth £88 at £40/t DM.

"The cost of a good translocated spray and using a contractor is around £65/ha, so it is also financially worthwhile.”

Too late for silage crops

The late cold spring has reduced the window for spraying herbicide onto docks in silage ground, but the warmer days mean weeds are now in a good state for treating grazing areas.

"Look out for the grazing interval of products, the time animals need to stay out of fields after spraying,” says Mr. Gibbon.

"For Dow herbicides this is usually just seven days.

"Where docks are a problem in silage, treatments carried out around two weeks after first cut will catch the weeds with fresh green leaves and all at a similar growth stage.

"There will also not be much grass growth around the weeds after first cut, so it is easier to hit the target plants when spraying.

"This means less water may be needed – so for DoxstarPro this could drop from 400 litres down to 300 litres, making the job quicker but just as effective in terms of killing the weeds."