This guide brings together expert insights and practical strategies to help you get the most from your grassland. From improving soil structure and fertility to maximizing forage quality and balancing nutrient inputs, small changes can have a big impact. Whether you're aiming for healthier livestock, better silage, or enhanced soil regeneration, this resource will help you make informed decisions that benefit both your farm and the environment.
Whether you’re managing permanent pasture for grazing, growing high-quality silage, or incorporating grass into arable rotations to improve soil health, well-managed grassland can boost productivity, sustainability, and profitability.
Unlocking the Potential of Your
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Practical tips for making consistently better silage
Potash applications essential following each cut to avoid shortfall
Maximising cut efficiency with the Magnon 10-530 Forage Wagon
Keen to maximise the efficiency of his 600ha-a-year silage operation, Gary Morgan invested in a state-of-the-art Strautmann Magnon Forage Wagon.
Thanks to its large body and pivoting headboard, this top-of-the-range 10-530 model has sufficient capacity to carry 52m3 of grass per load, helping him cover his beat in and around the village of Blaenwaun in a timely fashion. Added to that, innovative features such as plastic-tines on the Flex-Load pickup, Continuous Flow System roller and Exact-Cut chopping unit have boosted efficiency and reduced downtime. Together, these make average outputs of 20ha a day possible, with 30ha or more achievable in lighter crops, or where he only has to travel short distances to the clamp. Gary isn’t new to the Strautmann brand, having run one of the German maker’s Giga 4 models for 14 years. He couldn’t fault the build quality of this machine, but felt the time was right to upgrade, particularly given how much technology had progressed on the latest wagons. “I’d been wanting to upgrade for a while, but I knew the Magnon was coming and liked the look of the new features so I held off until early this year so that I could get one,” he says.
One piece of technology that interested him in particular was the hydraulic headboard, which increases capacity by making use of the vacant space above the pickup and chopping unit. When the main body is full, this automatically pivots forward creating extra space for squeezing in more grass. As most of his jobs require a mile or so of driving from field to clamp, this reduces the number of journeys he has to make. The Continuous Flow System also makes the most of the machine’s capacity. This is thanks largely to the powered roller positioned between the pickup and chopping unit. Featuring a spiral bar around its circumference like a shallow auger, this pulls material as it comes off the pickup both backwards and slightly outwards, ensuring that an even mat of crop is presented across the entire width of the knife bank. It also reduces the load on the pickup as the feed rotor starts to compress the crop as it comes off the roller and not the pickup tines. “You wouldn’t think the bars would make that much difference, but I can clearly see the grass being levelled out by it,” says Gary. One noticeable benefit is that the body of the wagon is loaded more evenly, with a flat rather than domed profile to the grass. “I’ve got a camera in the back and it’s amazing to watch how squarely it fills without any unused space at the sides,” he says.
Extra capacity
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It also results in a more consistent chop length as every knife in the bank is tasked with processing roughly the same quality of crop. With 48 of these in place, theoretical length of cut is 35mm and Gary says customers are seeing very little variation across loads. This helps produce higher-quality and more consistent silage. An added bonus is that blades wear more evenly. “On the old machine the central knives used to take all the strain, so I regularly had to swap them with the outside ones – I haven’t had to move any yet on this machine.” Having plenty of open space under the knives also means that chaff doesn’t get wedged between, removing the need to periodically clean them out.
Consistent chop length
Often having to work on rough, undulating ground, Gary has been won over by the Flex-Load pickup and its tough-yet-flexible plastic tines. Unlike metal versions that can bend, snap and cause damage to the metal pickup bands, these deflect when they hit obstacles, before quickly returning to their original shape. After a full season of work, he hasn’t had to change a single tine or band and they are showing virtually no signs of wear. “It’s been a huge time saving and I’ve really appreciated not having to crawl around and bang my head replacing them.” Another component that helps protect the pickup on uneven terrain is the optional support roller, which is centrally mounted at the rear of the pickup unit. This sits slightly higher than the regular side-mounted wheels, allowing the assembly to move as normal on flat ground. However, when the pickup wheels drop into a dip, it prevents the tines bashing into the ground. Thanks to the pick-up’s generous 2.25m width, there’s also no risk of crop spilling out, even in bulky swaths rowed up by four-rotor rakes.
Plastic pickup tines
As Carmarthenshire is rarely short of rainfall, Gary took the decision to spec his wagon with triple axles running on huge 800/45 R30.5 floatation tyres. These do a stellar job of spreading the load, so much so that customers have commented on the fact that they can’t see where he’s been. In addition, the Active Steering Axel system for the front and rear axles allows him to thread the wagon through some incredibly tight spaces. Given the amount of narrow lanes and tight yards in his area, this has proved invaluable. The Active Steering system also comes into its own on steep sidehill ground. While passive systems need to be locked in work and unlocked on the headlands, creating some undesirable handling on the steeps, the active system is far more predictable. “It’s so much more planted and wherever the tractor goes it follows,” says Gary. To make sure he doesn’t have any scrapes, he’s gone to the trouble of fitting cameras on either side of the machine and at the rear, all of which feed into two screens mounted in the cab. Another welcome feature of the tri-axle setup is the load-sensing hydraulic suspension. This, combined with the secure K80 ball hitch, gives the outfit a particularly smooth ride and reduces operator fatigue. Setup is simple, with the suspension accumulators charged to the correct pressure via a single spool valve in the tractor, before being closed off to run as a sealed system. The rest of the machine’s hydraulic functions run off the load-sensing hydraulics on Gary’s John Deere 7280R. This includes drive to the pickup, bed chains and tailgate, as well as rams for lifting wheels on the front axle, leaving just the chopping cylinder and flow roller to be run by the tractor’s PTO.
Tri-axle chassis
I’d been wanting to upgrade for a while, but I knew the Magnon was coming and liked the look of the new features so I held off until early this year so that I could get one
Gary Morgan’s Strautmann Magnon 10-530
Capacity: 52m3
Pickup: 2.25m Flex-Load with plastic tines
Cutting unit: Exact-Cut rotor with 48 knives
Theoretical chop length: 35mm
Length: 11.78m
Outside wheel width: 2.81m
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All of the machine’s functions are controlled via ISOBUS but, for ease of use, Gary opted for a dedicated Strautmann SMART 570 5.5” touch screen controller rather than using the display in his tractor. This shows all machine functions clearly, making it blissfully simple to operate. For added convenience, most of the wagon’s functions are automated, meaning Gary only has to press one button to put the machine into work and one to lift it out at the headland. This means the bed chains and headboard will all move automatically to fill the wagon in the most efficient way. It’s a similar story with unloading, where there’s a timed sequence for opening the tailgate and running the bed chains and moving the headboard to jettison the load.
Simple to use
Strautmann has also gone to considerable lengths to reduce the maintenance burden on the Magnon. This has meant grouping all regular grease nipples in banks on the side of the machine making it easier to grease. “There was a fair bit of grovelling involved when going around the old machine with the grease gun, but it’s a piece of cake on this one,” says Gary. His only modification has been to fabricate a frame that bolts under the rear of the body to support a 400-litre additive tank. This is piped to two nozzles positioned above the pickup. His dealer, JE Lawrence, wired the pump so that it switches on and off automatically as the machine is put in and out of work.
Simple to maintain
Chassis: Triple axles with hydraulic suspension and mechanical forced steering
Tyres: Vredestein 710/50 R26.5
Gary Morgan, farming contractor
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Slurry is a vital source of grassland nutrition and farmers are making better use of it through accurate application and detailed analysis to measure nutrient content. However, as nutrient values of slurry can vary considerably, to maintain consistent yield and quality metrics, farmers should be evaluating if grassland is receiving the right nutrition from slurry alone. Refining this approach to slurry, using detailed analysis, will increase its value to the farm and help maximise homegrown forage. Guillaume Franklin, nutrition agronomist at Origin Soil Nutrition, says a common theme this spring when advising farmers on nutrition plans is that slurry analysis isn’t as high in potash (K) as they may think. “Dairy farms rely on slurry as a base for grass nutrition, but in a lot of cases it doesn’t provide enough potash to support and maintain current production. This can leave offtake shortfalls between the nutrient value of the slurry applied and the recommended application rates to grassland following silage cuts.”
The Potash Development Association (PDA) say that 40% of grassland soils have below target K levels, which should be a concern for growers given potash’s role in the nutrient synergy. Potash is essential for water regulation in plants and will support continued growth and resistance in drought conditions. It will also help crops to make better use of nitrogen (N), the main nutrient required for increasing yield. Large quantities of K are removed with each cut and, without replacing these offtakes, subsequent deficiencies will impact the efficacy of other nutrients. Farmers taking silage cuts should be aware of the crop requirements. The PDA guidelines for a silage crop at 25% DM suggest that 6kg of Potash per tonne of fresh weight will be removed, so a 47t/ha crop will remove 300kg K20/ha. Furthermore, AHDB’s nutrient management guide RB209 advises that a soil with a K index of 2+ requires a total K input of 60kg/ha each, following first and second cut, with this reduced to 40kg/ha each for third and fourth cuts – a total of 200kg/ha over the season. Guillaume says granular nutrition will be required to support offtake requirements as the slurry nutrient analysis he’s seen this year won’t be sufficient. “The K content in slurry alone is unlikely to meet the offtakes for index 2+, and the crop demand for K is much higher at lower indexes, for example, an index 1 soil requires 360kg/ha. Depending on slurry nutrient values, applying 2,000 gal/ha could provide 20kg/ha of K to the soil, which is lower than the offtake requirement above and will leave the crop deficient,” says Guillaume. He emphasised that we can only manage what we measure, so getting slurry analysed will enable a FACTS advisor to prescribe a nutrient management programme in accordance with the nutrient value of slurry.
Potash applications alongside slurry
Most dairy farmers will apply slurry immediately after grassland cuts for a nutrient boost to stimulate growth, but they should be considering if the slurry is providing all the nutrients that grass requires.
The importance of linking nutrition requirements to soil analysis following cuts will help grow good quality forage. Without this data, farmers and agronomists don’t have the right information for nutrient recommendations. “As we know, grass is the cheapest form of feed, and we are advising farmers that have a budget in mind for grassland nutrition to let us tailor requirements based on slurry and soil analysis to maximise fertiliser inputs. We are formulating after-cut grades that match offtakes for K and account for slurry inputs, while providing the soil with other vital nutrients based on deficiencies.” Farmers only applying bagged or liquid N, and relying on slurry for other nutrients, will be limiting crop performance. Nitrogen is required for yield, but it won’t grow grass on its own. It creates a synergy with several other nutrients, including potash, where the relationship supports N conversion into protein and assists uptake via roots. A potash deficiency will weaken nitrogen’s response, which leads to an increased risk of N loss to the environment. “We can look at optimising and adjusting nitrogen rates all we want, but if a potash shortfall is apparent, then we are limiting its potential at the beginning. We aren’t just growing grass for yield; it’s the quality of the forage that we want to improve as well. Refining this provides the animal with a more rounded and nutritionally balanced feed source,” says Guillaume.
Don’t rely on nitrogen only
Dairy farms rely on slurry as a base for grass nutrition, but in a lot of cases it doesn’t provide enough potash to support and maintain current production
Guillaume Franklin, nutrition agronomist at Origin Soil Nutrition
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The Potash Development Association (PDA) say that 40% of grassland soils have below target K levels, which should be a concern for growers given potash’s role in the nutrient synergy. Potash is essential for water regulation in plants and will support continued growth and resistance in drought conditions. It will also help crops to make better use of nitrogen (N), the main nutrient required for increasing yield. Large quantities of K are removed with each cut and, without replacing these offtakes, subsequent deficiencies will impact the efficacy of other nutrients. Farmers taking four or more cuts a season should be aware of the crop requirements. The PDA guidelines for a silage crop at 30% DM suggest that 6kg/ha of K per tonne will be removed (as K2O), so a 12t/ha crop will take 72kg/ha of potash. Furthermore, AHDB’s nutrient management guide RB209 advises that a soil with a K index of 2+ requires a total K input of 60kg/ha each, following first and second cut, with this reduced to 40kg/ha each for third and fourth cuts – a total of 200kg/ha over the season. Guillaume says granular nutrition will be required to support offtake requirements as the slurry nutrient analysis he’s seen this year won’t be sufficient. “The K content in slurry alone is unlikely to meet the offtakes for index 2+, and the crop demand for K is much higher at lower indexes, for example, an index 1 soil requires 320kg/ha. Depending on slurry nutrient values, applying 2,000 gal/ha could provide 40kg/ha of K to the soil, which is lower than the offtake requirement above and will leave the crop deficient,” says Guillaume. He emphasised that we can only manage what we measure, so getting slurry analysed will enable a FACTS advisor to prescribe a nutrient management programme in accordance with the nutrient value of slurry.
Unlocking the potential of your grassland
Strong milk prices can encourage complacency but maximising milk from forage should always form the cornerstone of any successful dairy business. High quality forage should make up the main element within any dairy cow ration as relying on concentrate to make up nutritional shortfalls is both expensive and inefficient. This is according to Ken Stroud, Technical Business Manager with Volac, who says cutting grass at the optimum growth stage is the starting point when seeking to make the best possible silage. He says: “Cutting too late can lead to several problems. With first cut, for example, by mid-May there is likely to be a thatch of dead and dying plant material at the sward base. This has poor nutritional value and can harbour undesirable bacteria, leading to a less than optimum fermentation in the clamp. “Grass should be cut just before heading when sugar levels in the plant are highest. This applies to every cut, for multi-cut silage and for conventional two or three cut systems. “Silage made from grass at a younger growth stage is also likely to be more consistent. A later cut can result in a range of quality across the clamp face. “With wider clamp faces, it can take several days to progress across from one side to another. The result is a diet which varies in nutritional quality from one day to the next and this can potentially cost milk yield.”
Some farmers may be tempted to cut nearer to the base of the grass stem to increase yield but this is a false economy, Mr Stroud points out. “Never cut below the last leaf node as removing this will delay regrowth by a few days or much longer in dry weather. “The stem base is the part of the plant with the lowest digestibility. Cutting too low, especially in wet weather, also increases the risk of introducing soil micro-organisms, such as clostridia, or enterobacteria from slurry residues, into silage. “This increases the risk of a poor fermentation and reduced feed value. The aim should be to cut at a height where the grass is combed off the stubble rather than scraped from the ground.”
Cutting height
Cutting corners and compromising on quality when making grass silage could result in some farmers coming unstuck.
Rapid wilting
Once harvested, storing the grass correctly in the clamp is also critical, Mr Stroud stresses. He says: “Consolidating the grass sufficiently is key. If too much air is trapped in the clamp, this will also adversely affect the fermentation and increase aerobic instability, causing problems at feed out. “Beware of silage trailers arriving at the clamp in quick succession meaning the grass cannot be spread properly. Pushing silage from the front of the clamp to the back in thin layers will speed up efficient rolling and consolidation. “Layers should be even and no deeper than 15cm to enable thorough compaction. Avoid rolling for more than half an hour as this will destroy the structure of the grass and it can rot. “Aim to roll the clamp with two tractors which equates to 25 tonnes of weight for every 100 tonnes of grass coming in per hour. Be sure to consolidate the edges of the clamp and do not fill above the height of the walls as density will drop. “Always use side sheets because the concrete walls of the pit will be porous, allowing in air. Place the oxygen barrier on top of the silage. Then, fold the side sheets into the middle. Put on the top sheet then place the tyres, bales or weighted bags evenly across the top surface to prevent air entering the top of the clamp where most wastage usually occurs.”
Clamping
Compared with the value of silage, the cost of preserving with a proven additive that has also been shown to lead to higher milk yields is minimal
Ken Stroud, Technical Business Manager, Volac
Once the decision has been taken to mow, Mr Stroud stresses the importance of a rapid wilt and clamping the grass quickly and correctly to minimise quality losses. “As soon as grass is cut, sugars start declining because they are being used up by the living plant and by undesirable bacteria. The aim should be to wilt grass as rapidly as possible to an ideal target DM of between 28 and 32 percent. “Achieving this target DM will reduce the activity of undesirable clostridia bacteria and will also limit the volume of effluent produced, minimising pollution risk.” Mr Stroud urges farmers to cut as early in the day as possible to reduce wilt times: “Never cut later than 6pm in the evening and ideally, mow in the morning. Although the sugar content of the grass might be higher if mowing later in the afternoon, there will be no effective wilt until later the next morning, allowing undesirable micro-organisms to feast all night on the sugars. “Mown grass should never be left for more than 24 hours. Even in wet weather, it can be better to pick up the grass when damp rather than leaving it in the field where it will deteriorate further with dramatically lower ME and protein values. “Farmers on a multi-cut system need to be aware that optimal wilting times may be less because cuts can be lighter and younger grass contains more leaf and less stem material, and leaves lose moisture more quickly. If silage is made too dry, losses in feed value are possible due to aerobic spoilage.”
As well as a race against time to minimise in-field losses by rapid wilting, Mr Stroud says this race continues until fermentation is complete and the silage has stabilised in the clamp. He says: “The aim is to reduce the clamp pH as rapidly as possible and to a suitably low level that will inhibit the growth of spoilage bacteria. Historically, acid might have been applied to do this. Nowadays, it can be achieved with a proven bacterial additive that efficiently ferments sugar in the grass to lactic acid. “Lactic acid is desirable because it very quickly lowers the pH, but also because the conversion of sugar to lactic acid retains all the DM contained in the fermented sugar and over 99% of the sugar’s energy. “This is why the additive Ecosyl is such a good option. Per gram of grass treated, it applies a million Lactobacillus plantarum MTD/1 bacteria which are highly efficient at producing lactic acid. The results it delivers are also backed up by science.” Explaining this in more detail, Mr Stroud says research on multi-cut grass silage showed the pH fell to 4 or below in just a few days with Ecosyl, whereas untreated silage failed to reach pH 4. “A slow pH fall is undesirable because it allows unwanted bacteria more time to feed on the silage. “In line with this, DM losses in the untreated grass silage were about twice as high as those in the Ecosyl-treated silage. In other research, compared with an average ME of 10.6 in untreated silage, the average in Ecosyl-treated silage was 0.7 ME higher. “With fewer silage nutrients consumed by spoilage bacteria, more are available for milk production. Indeed, across 15 independent feeding trials, average milk yield was 1.2 litres per cow per day higher from feeding forages conserved with Ecosyl. Ecosyl has also been shown to preserve more true protein. “Clearly, grass can be ensiled without an additive. But with potentially £35,000-£40,000 worth of silage in a 1,000 tonne clamp, you have to ask yourself whether this is worth risking. Compared with this value, the cost of treating is minimal.
Harvesting and treating
In conclusion, Mr Stroud believes many farmers under value the silage they produce. He argues that when farmers find themselves trying to source good silage at the end of the winter, they realise what an important asset it is. He says: “Good silage can improve milk yields from 28l per day to 31l in the average herd so it is worth investing the effort to make the best silage possible. It costs as much to make bad silage as good silage. “Farmers cannot control the price they get for their milk but they can control the quality of their home grown forages. It is important to value this asset as even increasing the ME of silage by just 0.5 can make a significant difference to the bottom line.”
Silage value
Sequential benefits of Lactobacillus plantarum MTD/1 (Ecosyl) additive treatment based on research
Improved fermentation* Faster production of beneficial lactic acid in clamp (rapidly ‘pickling’ the forage against undesirable bacteria that otherwise ‘feed’ on it)
Improved silage quantity* Dry matter loss halved in trials
Improved silage feed value* Improved true protein preservation, improved digestibility, improved ME
More silage available to feed
Improved animal performance* 1.2 litres/cow/day extra milk yield
* Compared with no additive used
Cut earlier in the day – aim to pick up the same day if weather allows
Do not cut beneath the height of the last nodule on the grass – cutting too short inhibits re-growth and risks contamination from soil
Use a proven additive for an efficient fermentation, looking for evidence that it has also been shown to improve milk from forage
Prepare the clamp carefully and aim for even layering of the grass to aid consolidation
Do not over-roll the grass as this destroys grass structure
Cut as soon as practicable and always before the grass heads – delaying leads to loss in quality
Top tips for making the best silage
Sheet well and weight the clamp evenly across the top
Manage the clamp face to minimise exposure to air and remove any spoiled silage immediately
Science shows Ecosyl working
Volac scientists have used DNA fingerprinting (a technique used in forensics) to study the effects of Ecosyl – by ‘looking at’ the different bacteria present in grass silage at 0, 3, 7 and 91 days after ensiling. The results are shown in the image below, where the horizontal bands represent the DNA of the different bacteria (darker banding indicates more of that bacteria present). Results indicated that the untreated silage became dominated by enterobacteria, commonly found in slurry, especially during the early stages. By comparison, where Ecosyl was applied (right), its ‘good’ MTD/1 bacteria dominated the fermentation and there was very little growth of unwanted enterobacteria.
Strong milk prices can encourage complacency but maximising milk from forage should always form the cornerstone of any successful dairy business. High quality forage should make up the main element within any dairy cow ration as relying on concentrate to make up nutritional shortfalls is both expensive and inefficient. This is according to Ken Stroud, Technical Business Manager with Volac, who says cutting grass at the optimum growth stage is the starting point when seeking to make the best possible silage. He says: “Cutting too late can lead to several problems. With first cut, for example, by mid-May there is likely to be a thatch of dead and dying plant material at the sward base. This has poor nutritional value and can harbour undesirable bacteria, leading to a less than optimum fermentation in the clamp. “Grass should be cut just before heading when sugar levels in the plant are highest. This applies to every cut, for multi-cut silage and for conventional two or three cut systems. “Silage made from grass at a younger growth stage is also likely to be more consistent. A later cut can result in a range of quality across the clamp face. “With wider clamp faces, it can take several days to progress across from one side to another. The result is a diet which varies in nutritional quality from one day to the next and this can potentially cost milk yield.” If cutting is delayed, grass becomes more ‘stemmy’ and fibrous, and this has a direct impact on digestibility, according to Mr Stroud. “We typically see a reduction in metabolisable energy (ME) from 11.5 to 10.5, which when converted to milk yield can lead to losses of around five to six litres of milk per cow per day. “This older grass can also be more difficult to consolidate in the clamp, causing potential fermentation problems and silage heating which indicates further losses in nutritional value.”
If cutting is delayed, grass becomes more ‘stemmy’ and fibrous, and this has a direct impact on digestibility, according to Mr Stroud. “We typically see a reduction in metabolisable energy (ME) from 11.5 to 10.5, which when converted to milk yield can lead to losses of around five to six litres of milk per cow per day. “This older grass can also be more difficult to consolidate in the clamp, causing potential fermentation problems and silage heating which indicates further losses in nutritional value.”
