Maize thoughts

I know a lot of maize growers this year are probably thinking about whether it is the crop they should be growing, or thinking about reducing their acreage grown, or thinking why they decided to grow it in the first place. Yes it has been a really difficult year for maize growers, certainly down here in the south west, but then looking at wheat whole crop results and seeing starch levels down as low as 12%, you question the wisdom of relying on this as a starch source too. The same rules that apply to getting a good crop of wheat apply to growing a good crop of maize, namely good seedbeds, the right fertility, the right field aspect and a whole lot of SUNSHINE! Without the later, nothing grows, as can be seen with grass growth as well this year.

The vital thing now when looking at harvesting maize is to make sure the crop is as fit as possible before going into the clamp, cutting maize below 20% DM is really asking for a lot of trouble when it comes to be fed, the acid loading from the sap and sugars that convert into acid during the fermentation process will be off the richter scale, making for some very unhappy animals that are forced to eat it. Not to mention the potential environmental concerns of trying to control and store, dispose of all the effluent that is likely to pour out the bottom of the clamp.

A crop that has been re-drilled, showing the most yellow cob with the most starch, though only at about 20%DM.  The re-drilled stuff has a long way to go before it's ready to be ensiled.

A really good crop of maize (for this year), but at least 10 days away from being ready to cut. Taking this early will decimate all the hard work and add to the woes of trying to feed it successfully this coming winter.

This crop was at 30% DM, can see the die back in the plants, the sheaves on the cobs have started to brown off and the grains were firm with little milk in them. It may only be an 8 ton crop, but at least all of it will be utilisable. The cows will milk better off this than the crop above if ensiled at this stage.

It's despairing when you see fields as wet as this, this late in the year, the temptation is so strong to go and get the crop on a dryish day, but patience will give a better result.

 Maize under plastic this year seems to have been very variable, it certainly isn't the magic bullet to growing good maize, some very early drilled stuff rotted under the sheets, other stuff never got going as the soil temperatures were too low for adequate mineralisation of nutrients to take place. Those that planted late April and into May however did get some reasonable crops, however due to the low levels of sunlight, they have faced a nightmare trying to cut the crops without dragging up big pieces of plastic into the foragers as there hasn't been enough sunlight for it all to break down.

There are some things we can do however to improve the agronomy aspect of growing maize here in this part of the world. The issue is we have to get contractors and growers likewise to take it forward, as  contractors are heavily invested in the status quo at present.

Inter-row cultivation with something like this in the picture link below is what I have used very successfully in Zimbabwe in a pre-post-emergence herbicide application situation up to about 6 leaf stage. It is very useful where the soil has capped off after a heavy downpour and the soil has slumped a bit, destroys any young weeds, aerates the soil and can be configured to through the soil towards the plants, or into the middle of the row. It works tremendously well in combination with a post emergence fertiliser application as you can 'brush' the nitrogen in towards the roots, making the uptake and utilisation far better. The other beauty of these machines is they are light and don't require a lot of horsepower (and weight) to pull them.
http://www.oliverdahlman.com/sitebuilder/images/p114-600x289.jpg

Strip tillage / Rip-on-row tillage is another way we can get maize established, a very well documented and proven form of growing maize in both the southern hemisphere as well as the USA is slowly making an appearance here in the UK, but the machinery looks really expensive and requires a lot of horsepower to pull. There are simpler and less costly manufacturers about.
http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Strip_till_improves_nutrient_uptake_and_yield_999.html

We also need to look at these types of planters to maximise sunlight availability per plant, whilst maximising nutrient uptake too. I saw one of these in the Freestate last December and the maize planted this way was noticeable healthier, further forward with thicker stems than that drilled conventionally. The farmer reckoned he was seeing a least a 10% grain yield advantage, in some cases up to 20% or more. I know Great-plains (Simba) have a machine here in UK, they have done some work with it this year, but I haven't yet been able to see how well it went. The link below is the machine I saw.
http://www.carrotech.co.za/twin-row/a-monosem-6x2-twin-row-planter-sold-in-mpumalanga-408

All food for thought.

Maize under plastic 2011 trial.

A customer of mine  in Cornwall has finally decided to try out this maize-under-plastic method after being nagged and cajoled by his local contractor who has one of these special maize drills. This trial is for grain maize specifically, this system for forage maize is completely different and has some value in very unfavourable areas. Here are some photo's showing the results so far.

Drilled at the same time as the main crop which is Lorado, the earliest high yielding grain maize variety currently available. Please note the highlighted bit, I am not stating that it is the highest yielding variety, just that it's the earliest of the high yielders. This is an often overlooked factor when choosing grain maize varieties, outright yield is often the main selling point. I argue that it's no point growing this grain crop if you are expecting to harvest it in cold wet dark December, when the grain is more often than not contaminated by fusarium and other unpalatable moulds and diseases which spoil quality. Having a variety that will stand all the way through winter is hardly any advantage if the grain is rotten by then! Lorado is good in that it dries down very rapidly and is earliest to finish, when it's ready, don't hang around, go get it. If you wait, it will lodge just below the cob as previous post photo's show although grain loss is actually very small.

Lorado conventionally drilled next to Lorado under plastic. What is really interesting is that the Lorado is emerging better than the maize-under-plastic recommended varieties, as can be seen below.

Lorado emerging in these rows here very evenly and a lot more consistently.

Standard varieties in the first 10 lines, with Lorado on the outside 2 rows. Standard varieties really struggling to punch through the plastic compared to the Lorado.

One of the issues with this system of establishing maize in a dry year can be seen below. The rain has soaked in beautifully into the conventionally planted, but is bone dry under the plastic. The plants which haven't 'punched' through are under tremendous drought stress, are quite brittle in the stems and showing signs of damage. Bizarely the weeds under the plastic are flourishing as they have enough moisture to survive, even though this area has been sprayed with a pre-emergence herbicide. This can be seen in the photo's below.

Struggling to 'punch through' as it's claimed to.



Because the system of laying the plastic, spraying and drilling the seed is so task heavy and complicated, there is no way of banding a starter fertiliser into the seedbed. As a result, the plants have to scavenge for nutrients, something that maize does not do well. This I am sure is holding back growth and therefore inhibiting yield potential. The plants in the picture above this one if you look carefully are actually quite pale, compared to the plants planted conventionally, even though they are larger.

My main concern though looking at the picture above is weed control. Look at how big these weeds above are under the plastic, there is just no way of controlling these, you cannot over spray as the chemical will just land on the plastic sheet and maize just hates any weed competition. It's going to take a really impressive recovery from here to get me interested in spending an additional £160/ac over the conventionally grown grain maize.

Updates will follow, watch this space........

Weather outlook for 2011...????

Sometimes the past holds clues to the future, the weather patterns ebb and flow and generally do follow a cycle. Currently we are coming off the back of one of the coldest,harshest and driest winters for many a year. When I was farming in Zimbabwe, the El Nino/La Nina effect was fairly well known and we tried to plan accordingly where we were within the 5-7 year cycle. It is interesting note that warm wet southern hemisphere years correspond with hot dry northern hemisphere years during these cycles. So here are some stats from '75/'76 to jog the memory and for those that cannot remember, or weren't around then, bring you up to speed on what transpired.

1975/1976 (two-year drought):


1. The famous DROUGHT of 1975/76 was memorable for its severity over most of the British Isles, and also for its exceptional persistence. It produced the highest values for a drought index for south-east England in three hundred years. Not since 1749/50 had a period from one summer to the following spring been so dry in southern Britain. At Oxford, every month from May 1975 to August 1976 had below average rainfall with the sole exception of September 1975. It was the DRIEST 16-month period on record for England and Wales. The severity of the drought was highlighted by the acute hydrological impact of an exceptionally dry winter being sandwiched between two hot, dry summers. The drought was most severe in south-eastern England but was felt widely across England and Wales, and the most stringent water supply restrictions were experienced in South Wales, where water was cut off for up to 17 hours a day to domestic consumers. North-west England and much of western Scotland escaped the attentions of this notable drought and were more frequently subject to the passage of fronts associated with cyclonic systems displaced northwards by the high pressure over southern England.

1976 (January):

1. The GALE late on the 2nd (into the 3rd) in 1976 was one of the most severe to affect the British Isles in the twentieth century. Wittering (Cambridgeshire) in the east of England recorded a GUST of 91 knots at 2218 GMT on the 2nd and many stations across the NE of England, East Anglia and the Midlands experienced GUSTS in excess of 70 knots, with mean winds (hourly) 45 knots or more. Strong Gale or storm force was often reached with HURRICANE force 12 reported from some places in South Wales, southwest and northern England. Widespread damage and deaths (23 deaths noted at the time). A caravan site near Doncaster was destroyed. Some FLOODING on the North Sea coast: 4 feet (circa 1.2 m) of flood water in Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea (Lincolnshire). DAMAGE was noted in almost every county of England, Wales & Northern Ireland. There were prolonged power cuts in widely separated areas. Railway services were badly affected in the Midlands because of the collapse of overhead power supplies. At Southend airport, a light aircraft was bodily lifted from the tarmac and thrown onto an adjacent railway line, where it burst into flames and blocked the railway services into London. [HS/23]

1976 (Spring):

1. Less than 50% of normal RAINFALL in the south-east of England during spring: contributing to the ensuing problems during the SUMMER DROUGHT.

1976 (June/July):

1. No previous HEAT WAVE in Britain, nor any since, has ever come close to the duration of the late June/early July 1976 HOT SPELL. From the 22nd June to 16th July, the temperature reached 80 degF daily. Even more remarkable, from 23rd June to 7th July, a period of 15 consecutive days, the temperature exceeded 32 degC somewhere or other in the country.

1976 (May75 - Apr76):

1. For England and Wales, the 12 month period May 1975 to April 1976 was the DRIEST 12 month period since the series began (?EWR) in 1727.

1976 (Summer):

1. It was easily the DRIEST, SUNNIEST and WARMEST summer (June/July/August) in the 20th century (at this date, but see 1995 - which is now regarded as the driest). Only a few places registered more than half their average summer rainfall. In the CET record, it was the WARMEST summer in that series.

2. It was the WARMEST summer in the Aberdeen area since at least 1864.

3. It was the DRIEST summer since 1868 in Glasgow.

4. Probably the HOTTEST summer for over three centuries. CET values were (with anomalies rel. to 1961-90 averages): Jun:17.0(+2.8), Jul:18.7(+2.6), Aug: 17.6(+1.8). In particular, for the period mid-June to mid-July, 1976, this was one (of two, the other being in 1826), WARMEST 30-day periods in the CET series, with a value of 19.7degC.

1976 (September+October):

1. For England and Wales as a whole (EWR), it was the WETTEST such spell in the entire record ... back to 1727. The combined EWP value for September & October=305mm. (Since 1727, the rainfall of September 1976 is 10th wettest in the series.) [ The wettest September + October totals since 1727 were during 1903 (310mm), 1841 (295mm) and 1960 (290mm), therefore the total for 1976 (September+ October) at 305mm is close to a record. ]

1976 (Autumn):

1. A notably VERY WET autumn for all areas ( except for north and west Scotland.) In some parts of northern England, and the extreme south, 200% of average rainfall was recorded. [ Coming after the notably dry spring/summer of course ] Information taken from here: http://alturl.com/x7kf9

Now let's look at the current situation, courtesy of Bryce Anderson from DTN/The Progressive Farmer website, the link to which is on the right hand side bar of my page.

The development of that northern high pressure block is still to be determined; however, La Nina is definitely around and, in fact has reached some historic levels. The Australia Bureau of Meteorology announced recently that its records of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)--the barometric pressure component of El Nino/La Nina which tracks the comparison between Tahiti and Darwin--had an average value of +21.1 between August and December 2010. That average is the second-highest Aug-Dec value on record--second only to the La Nina of 1917-18, which had a value of +24.4. But--more to the point in terms of crop concerns--the current La Nina moved past the La Nina of 1975-76, which had a reading from August through December of +18.8.


Now, here's where it gets interesting if you're looking for comparisons. I checked with our contributing analyst Joel Karlin of Western Milling for some corn yields for 1976--and found out--as I thought--that '76 was a real have and have-not year in the Corn Belt.
Here are the numbers. The U.S. national yield declined by 4.2 percent. And in some selected states, Joel sent these yield figures: Eastern Corn Belt states were above trendline for the year, with Illinois +2.1 pct; Indiana +10.4 pct; Ohio +7.6 pct; and Kentucky +23.3 pct.



But, the Western Corn Belt had a much different story: Iowa's yield was down by 11.4 pct; Nebraska down 10.6 pct; and Missouri down 22.3 pct. I don't have yield information for other states west of the Mississippi, but after talking with producers in Sioux Falls about the 1976 season I have no doubt that such declines in yield were similar or even greater.



Now, 1976 was an entire generation ago, and corn production is far, far more advanced. This account is also a look at just one of many parts in the production scenario. Still--the strength of this La Nina bolsters ideas that its influence will be around through at least the first half of the 2011 season--and we will not discount its presence as we approach the end of winter.

So where does that leave us here in the south west? Well, I am not counting my chickens, however my advice is get all land prep done earlier, consolidate moisture in seedbeds and plant early, don't wait for a calender date. Don't ladel nitrogen on, as this will encourage rank vegetative growth which will exaccerbate moisture stress, conserve every blade of grass you can if a livestock farmer and hope like hell we have rain at critical growth stages to see crops through.

Positive Weather Solutions are currently saying it will be a drier, earlier spring too so lets pray that September and October don't produce swamp conditions and make establishing next years(2012) crop hard work. Here is their current outlook. Take note, given they got last year pretty much right, as well as forecast a very cold winter last year and the year before..... http://alturl.com/cwmce

South West Farmer Press release, for those that don't get this publication.

PRESS RELEASE

Specialist grain maize variety harvested ‘a month early’
25th October 2010

Growing a specialist variety of grain maize and managing it according to specific advice from leading grain maize experts Nickerson Direct has resulted in North Cornwall farmers Michael and Anthony Grills being able to start harvesting an excellent crop of Lorado on 14th October, four weeks earlier than traditional forage maize.

Continuing pressure on the dairy industry has encouraged Michael and Anthony to focus on increasing efficiency and cost-effectiveness over the last few years, during which they have expanded their dairy business from 250 to 320 cows, with the eventual aim of reaching 500. They have also implemented major advances in genetics and nutrition, reduced costs, improved attention to detail and increased profitability.

Until 2009, cropping at West Trelay Farm, Marhamchurch included 60-80 acres of forage maize, which was included in the ration at the rate of one part to two parts grass silage. However, the Grills found it difficult to achieve to achieve consistently good results from forage maize and variability in the clamp made correct rationing difficult.

In early 2009, Nickerson Direct Seed Specialist Simon Montgomery suggested that Michael and Anthony include grain maize with the forage maize as an additional energy source to supplement grass silage, its higher energy/starch content significantly improving milking performance and making the ration easier to manage throughout the year.

The initial crop produced an average of 5 tonnes per acre of grain which was put into the clamp for £68/t, making it very cost-effective. The maize fed tremendously well, with average butterfat content increasing from 4.1%-4.2% to a maximum of 4.54% during the winter and never dropping below 4.2% this summer, while protein remained at 3.34%-3.38% throughout. The resulting increase in the quality of the milk, all of it contracted to Dairy Crest for cheese production, netted the Grills a 1.25p/litre quality premium worth £35,000 per year.

It was so successful that this year they substituted the area of forage maize for grain maize, drilling 90 acres of Lorado between 18th and 21st April. The crop established quickly in favourable conditions, grew consistently throughout the season despite being subjected to severe drought stress and in terms of maturity behaved more like a Group 9 than its official NIAB Group 7 rating would suggest.

By the second week of October the crop was 12' high and ready to harvest, contractor Phil Strout combining 4.5-5 tonnes per acre (at 29%-34% moisture) of what Anthony Grills describes as ‘a wonderful product, like gold dust’, although he acknowledges that their location on relatively dry ground in North Cornwall favours the crop.

Simon Montgomery states: “In recent years, livestock farmers looking to increase their range of home-grown concentrates and arable growers looking for a spring-sown cash crop have shown an increasing interest in grain maize.

“Dry grain production requires varieties with rapid dry-down rates, harvested after the leaves have died back and typically followed by the removal of 10%-15% moisture in a dryer, which increases the cost of the final product and is a major factor in steering producers towards moist storage after crimping.

“The high energy content and slow starch degradation characteristics make crimped grain maize an ideal moist concentrate feed for high-performance dairy and beef animals. It is convenient and reliable, ideal for use on farms where maize silage area is limited but where additional starch is required in the diet. Typically, the nutrient analysis for crimpled grain is 65%-75% drymatter, 14.0%-14.5% ME, 8%-9% crude protein and 60%-70% starch.

“Grain maize provides a much more concentrated form of energy than forage maize, which is very important in achieving the correct energy-density in rations, enabling cows to eat more and make more milk. It is also very convenient, allowing livestock farmers to ‘top up’ lower-quality forages and those who buy in straights to purchase the exact tonnage they require, as and when they need it, which benefits cash-flow.

“Many farmers have tried to produce grain maize using conventional forage varieties, but these will only dry down slowly to a minimum of 30% moisture, making the crop difficult to combine in often wet and windy conditions late in November or December. Growing specialist grain maize varieties will make a big difference, but producing a good crop requires a different technique in terms of variety, plant population, nitrogen management and timing.

“It is essential to choose the correct variety. Lorado was bred by Limagrain specifically to perform well in Northern Europe. It is one of the earliest-maturing varieties in the Maize Growers Association trials and under favourable conditions does not require covering with plastic. Despite being the tallest on the NIAB list, it has excellent standing power, good disease resistance, excellent early vigour and good cob tip cover, which eliminates the risk of mould infection from ‘snouting’. Lorado produces excellent yields of high-quality grain, has superb dry-down characteristics and will reach 25% moisture, making it easier to harvest.

“Grain maize crops should be sown as early in April as possible, when soil temperature reaches 8°C, into light, free-draining soils in South-facing fields that warm up quickly during the spring and drain well right through until harvest. Whereas crops grown for crimped maize production typically require a seed rate of 38,000-40,000 seeds/acre, for grain maize production this should be reduced to 36,000-38,000 seeds/acre.

“In addition to its many economic benefits, grain maize also has significant environmental benefits. The defra guidelines indicate that farmers should sow a green cover crop after harvesting forage maize to prevent soil erosion. With grain maize, however, this is not necessary as the stova is chopped and spread, creating a ‘mat’ that allows machinery to travel on the land more easily, greatly reducing soil erosion/run-off, improving soil structure and lowering the export of Phosphate and Potash from the field/farm, a big win-win situation given the current rising cost of fertiliser.”

Maize- It's nearly ready, but for what...?

Six different varieties planted in trials at Petrockstowe, the latest maturing variety Nescio being about 2 weeks away from harvest, the earliest about a week away.

Down at Bude, the earliest planted material is almost ready, with Sapphire being cut yesterday 20th September near Poughill. Not sure what the drymatter level is but they always are first to cut in the area. The Beethoven at Cann Orchard on the south side will be fit to cut this week, the field on the north side next, is almost there, probably end of next week.

The Lorado is looking very good generally, eyespot is now entering a lot of crops in the area following the long wet spell, however with cob development so far on now I don't think this is going to cause any problems with cob maturity. I am confident we are going to see yields reaching 5 ton/ac on the best fields.

There is however a glut of unsold standing maize in the area, traditionally Bude has always been a very good area to grow maize, however buyers have been very scarce this year, even though the quantities of good 1st and 2nd cut silage are not there this year following the very dry summer, although most have bet the farm on 3rd cut giving enough quantity to see them through the winter. Cash flow seems to be the major issue affecting buying in maize silage this year, more so than in the past it seems, although with the latest small price rise offered by Tesco this last week, things my change.

Combining maize last year has now however effectively put a floor on the price of maize this year given the rise in wheat values this autumn. Effectively, maize is worth at least £400/ac regardless if it's for forage, or for grain/crimping and from a grower and buyer prospective it means a lot less storage space being required and less transport needed to move it from farm to farm. This from a buyers perspective could make cashflow decisions far easier to manage.

Now that there are two dedicated contractors, Phil Strout and Roy Prouse, fully kitted up to combine maize, growers aren't being forced into getting shot of standing crops cheaply, so it will be interesting to see how this developes further.

Lets hope the weather plays ball.......!

Maize- a good start.

Maize drilling weather for most arrived around the 15th of April, although some was drilled earlier still, but under plastic. The soils were generally dry, well worked and friable, some of the heavier clay soils needed a bit more working down, but seedbeds seemed to be good. Daytime temperatures were up in the high teens, low twenty's when drilled, although night time temperatures were dropping down near freezing on some nights. The average soil temperatures were however well over 10 Celsius and stayed that way.

This is Lorado grain maize, drilled at 94,000 seeds/ha.

The second image is a site at Sticker where we are doing a maize under plastic trial, using 2 varieties, LG31 93 and Nescio, firstly to see if they would come through the plastic, as well as looking at these varieties compared with Justina, the variety normally stipulated. This has been drilled at 98,000 seeds/ha, compared with my recommended rate of 110,000/ha to maximise yield potential. After all, if you are growing maize under plastic, you need an extra 17t/ha to balance out the increased cost incurred over open field forage maize.