Jeremy Nash 8/15/21 Jeremy Nash 8/15/21

Keep off the grass!

……what does matter is where the trailer and its tractor are putting their tyres. Come to that, where everything other than the chopper is putting its tyres is really important.

Jeremy Nash 8/1/21 Jeremy Nash 8/1/21

Cutting whole crop silage

So what is the right bit of kit to harvest wholecrop silage? Well there are options to consider and choosing the right on for your crop depends on your crop.

Jeremy Nash 6/13/21 Jeremy Nash 6/13/21

Is tap water OK for your silage inoculant?

All, or almost all, silage inoculants are supplied as either a powder or as concentrated liquid that’s diluted with water, but when was the last time you read the label?

Jeremy Nash 6/5/21 Jeremy Nash 6/5/21

Silage pH - when is it low enough?

The principal of making silage is well understood, pile it up, cover it up and let the bugs make some acid to get the pH down – that’s it isn’t it? And yes that’s about it, but what pH are we really looking for and what pH is “low enough”?

Jeremy Nash 5/30/21 Jeremy Nash 5/30/21

Silage trailer options

Traditionally there were two choices, self-unloading or tipping trailers, but today compactor or ejector trailers are a more common sight running in and out of silage clamps.

Jeremy Nash 5/9/21 Jeremy Nash 5/9/21

Making silage in a cold dry spring

The spring of 2021 might have just given us a taste of what much of the world has to face, cold dry conditions. For anyone trying to produce forage crops it’s a challenge we are not that familiar with.

Jeremy Nash 5/5/21 Jeremy Nash 5/5/21

When rain stops play

So the storm clouds are gathering, the weatherman got it wrong again and the RainToday app tells the sorry story of rainfall in the next half an hour. Sod’s Law states that you are halfway through the critical silage harvest so just what should you do?

Jeremy Nash 9/27/20 Jeremy Nash 9/27/20

Temporary silage clamps

The 2020 UK maize harvest look like it’s going to produce good yields and maybe you’re in the tricky position of not having enough clamp space

Jeremy Nash 9/13/20 Jeremy Nash 9/13/20

Silage hygiene and why is important

The image of silage to non-farming folk is dominated by “that” smell. It’s an image that couldn’t be much further from the ideal of “clean”, so why are we concentrating on the hygiene side of silage making?

Jeremy Nash 9/6/20 Jeremy Nash 9/6/20

Silage Clamp Covers

Today every farmer understands the importance of keeping rainfall and air – or more importantly oxygen – out of the clamp. A black plastic sheet does a good job of this doesn’t it? Maybe not a good as you might think, for one, no polythene sheet is entirely impermeable to oxygen……

Jeremy Nash 8/23/20 Jeremy Nash 8/23/20

Silage clamp overloading

…taking on more land or a really good growing season and you can start to run out of space very quickly…. as long as you have the headroom, you can just pile a bit more on top, and a bit more and a bit more – can’t you?

Jeremy Nash 8/16/20 Jeremy Nash 8/16/20

Do you need to sheet the walls of the silage clamp?

Anyone who has ever fitted side sheets to an empty silage clamp as the chopper is heading out to the fields will have wondered – is this really worth the effort?

Jeremy Nash 8/9/20 Jeremy Nash 8/9/20

Managing your silage contractor

more farmers and AD growers are contracting out the harvesting operations. The benefits are easy to see, someone else has to worry about all that expensive kit and find the drivers, plus you should benefit from a more timely operation. There are always two sides to every coin….. how do you get what you want from your silage contractor

Jeremy Nash 7/26/20 Jeremy Nash 7/26/20

Disc Mower or Mower Conditioner?

Most manufacturers offer the option of adding a conditioner to a plain disc mower, but these add weight to the tractor and the price tag - so what are the advantages of conditioners over straight mowers?

Jeremy Nash 6/28/20 Jeremy Nash 6/28/20

How fast can you mow?

From the 135 with a finger bar mower cutting at a snails pace to a Big M chasing down Lewis Hamilton, mowing speeds have increased…..

Jeremy Nash 6/14/20 Jeremy Nash 6/14/20

Are silage additives worth the money?

Additives are expensive, somewhere close to £1 million per tonne, but the manufacturers and suppliers make some very bold claims for enhanced performance by using silage additives…..

Jeremy Nash 6/7/20 Jeremy Nash 6/7/20

Planning the maize harvest

So why would you be thinking about planning the harvest – surely that waits until the nights draw in and the crop is turning brown? Well it’s never too early to starting making a plan…..

Jeremy Nash 5/31/20 Jeremy Nash 5/31/20

Rake or Merger?

The solution in the UK has always been a rake, from one to six rotors gathering over 60’ (for the biggest rakes) of crop into a single swath. Or that’s what we thought for years, but now there is another way. Mergers…..