Even though it’s only January and there’s still plenty of winter to come, it makes sense to start planning your fertilizer so that you have it available when the time comes to apply it.
It’s a good idea to have your soil analysed for N, P, K and pH. By doing this you’ll save money by only applying what you need. If lime levels are low, it’s vital to put this right so that availability of other nutrients to the plant. You can also look at slurry and manure application to make use of nutrients on farm.
Once you have this information you can decide what fertilizer you need to buy. Growing grass is still the least expensive feed for ruminants, so it makes sense not to economize on fertilizer.
Many farmers will start to run out of silage stocks so it will be important to decide which fields can provide early turnout and apply fert here first.
Results from NIAB GM20 trials, showed that the response to each extra kg of nitrogen is 28 kg grass DM. At 12 MJ ME per kg DM, that is 61 litres of milk per kg N.
Fertilizer will be cheaper in January and will get progressively more expensive towards spring. Many farmers haven’t bought their supplies yet so there will be a rush in spring. Once you know what you need please contact us and place your order so that you get it delivered onto farm when you want it.