Roughage tour Week 18
How does the rain affect grass and maize?
While there has been a lot of activity on the grass and maize plots of the Roughage Tour in recent weeks, everything is now a bit quiet again. The rainfall continues and the temperatures remain cold. What has this so far chilly spring resulted in?
Among the participants of the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour has a lot of variation in the rain that has fallen. Where they go to 40 millimeters in the north, they do not go further than 5 millimeters in the southeast. This is also the case with dairy farmer Bert Wissels from Hengelo (Gelderland). "We could use some rain here. Preparing and sowing the corn land was already starting to get pretty dusty."
Sowing maize in mid-May will be no exception, depending on the amount of rain and the trafficability of the fields. Especially in the north of the country. On the somewhat colder soils, corn sowing will probably only pick up in the course of next week. “The maize that has yet to be sown is not lagging much behind. If the temperature is added, it can rise in 7 to 10 days'', adds Ludwig Oevermans, roughage specialist in the Northern Netherlands of Limagrain.
Cold carry on
Half of the participants already have the maize in the ground. The other half have waited to sow, in anticipation of higher temperatures. With an increase around May 9, that is all that has been said. After this, according to current expectations, the temperature will quickly level off to 10 to 15 degrees.
The first participant of the Roughage Tour has now made the first cut in the pit. Depending on the weather, the Limburg dairy farmer Silvain Kusters soon follows. Weather permitting, he hopes to mow early next week (week 19). "I don't mind if it is a bit longer at the 1st cut. It quickly goes towards 4.000 kilos."
Erik van der Deure
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