Grassland Herbicides 2022
by Mark Flannery & Willie Boland
April has seen a brief window of opportunity to spray grass for weeds. As we enter May we hope conditions will allow for more spraying and for grass seeds to be sown as well.
Affordable Weed Control Options this season include:
| Product | € Per Acre (inc vat) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Minstrel | Docks & Chickweed | Short | €9.20 |
| Dexstar | Docks, Chickweed, Dandeloin | Medium/Long term | €18 |
| Pasture Pack | Docks, Chickweed, Dandelion, Nettles, Buttercups | Medium term | €23 |
| Pasture Trio | Docks, Chickweed, Dandelion, Thistles, Daisy, Buttercups | Long term | €27 |
| ForeFront T | Docks, Chickweed, Dandelion, Thistles, Daisy, Buttercups, Nettles, Ragwort | Long term | €38 |
| Eagle | CLOVER SAFE Dock Control | Medium term | €20 |
Delfan Plus Liquid Nitrogen has proved its worth over the past couple of years as a suitable mixing partner with all grassland herbicides. It complements the herbicide by:
Manipulating the weeds, especially docks to open up and take in the Liquid N as feed, as a result the herbicide will penetrate deeper into the weed and get right down into the roots giving you a better kill.
It also removes any stress factor that may result in “traditional checking” of grass as the Liquid Nitrogen is 9% organic and soluble which will give the grass a boost, therefore not sacrificing any growth rates in the peak of the growing season.
For further information on our extensive grassland herbicide range log onto www.www.liffeymills.ie , or contact your local branch.
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FarmingBayer Round Up XL
€64.00 – €172.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page -
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PICA
In 2021 there was massive issues across the area with cows eating stones and other non digestable items. This is a condition called PICA and is associated with a deficiency of phosphorus/sodium or lack of sufficient fibre in the diet.
Pica can result from a lack of any or all of the below three:
Fibres: Fresh spring/early summer grass may contain low levels of fibre compared to older stalky grass. Sufficient fibre is essential for rumen health and function and when the total fibre in the diet is low, cows are at risk of acidosis.
Low Sodium (Na) high potassium levels in fertiliser/slurry spread on a field can decrease the availability of sodium in the grass, hence the deficiency of sodium in the cow’s diet. This deficiency can lead to the cows seeking sodium from elsewhere which leads to pica.
Low phosphorus (P) over 60% of Irish soils are low in phosphorus. On such soils, most of a cow’s phosphorus requirement will need to come from concentrate feed or alternative supplementation. Although clinical signs are slow to develop, untreated & long term P deficiency can lead to problems such as decreased milk yield, weights, conception, and general herd health.
THE CURE for the above can be administered by feeding Liffey Mills High Phos Breeder Cube which contains high levels of Phosphorus to compliment the existing top spec protected mineral and yeast combo found in our Breeder range.
Our offering of Dairy Cubes this breeding season is very extensive and includes:
- Optisaf Breeder Cube: Barley & Maize top two ingredients, contains maximum amounts of protected minerals and yeasts to aid against acidosis on lush grass.
- High Phos Breeder Cube: Mirrored off the Optisaf but with the addition of Phosphorus.
- Dynamic Dairy: a 13% protein cube with Maize & Barley as the top two ingredients, with protected minerals and yeasts, designed for high feeding rates of 4kg plus.
- Dairy Leader: Mirrored off the Dynamic Dairy but is 15% protein
- Dairy Choice: 15% standard cube with barley as number one ingredient, full rate minerals and calmag for 4kg feed rate.
- Master Pasture: 14% version of the Dairy choice but with calmag for 2 kg feed rate.
For more information on our full range of feeds log onto www.www.liffeymills.ie or contact your local branch or technical sales advisor.
Reseeding? New For 2022 Tetra Sward Grass Seed Mix
The ultimate grazing mixture for the intensive stocked farm that demands high digestible grass. This mix was formulated by combining the best varieties for grazing utilization and putting them together to make the perfect grazing mixture. The inclusion of Nashota and Aston Energy in the one mixture is a first of its kind and is a must if you are reseeding this year.
Tetra Sward contains 1 kg clover to aid in fixing nitrogen throughout the grazing season.
Any queries on the above or any other of our grass seed mixes please contact your local branch.
Spring Cereals
The last two weeks of April has seen excellent conditions for sowing spring crops. Almost all crops have gone in and have emerged in perfect seedbeds. We now need to focus on topdressing Nitrogen, where it hasn’t been done already and also our Spring herbicide treatments.
While spraying herbicides be aware of big difference in day & night temperatures, crops might be under stress if this is happening and could result in some scorching.
As mentioned in the previous article on grassland herbicides Delfan Plus could prove a good fit here. It is an excellent biostimulant and can reduce the scorching effect that herbicides can have on young plants.
Best practice for Wild Oats control is early treatment at the 2 or 3 leaf stage. Where wild oats is controlled at this stage we need only wait 7 days for weed control. Whereby if weeds are controlled first a time of 14 – 21 days need to be applied before wild oats are treated. We don't recommend combining weeds and wild oat control together as this can cause stress to the crop and as we have seen in previous years this stress can result in ramularia affecting the crop at a later stage.
Product of choice for wild oat control is as always Axial pro.
Contact your local Liffey Mills Rep for advice before spraying your Spring crops this year.
Winter Crops
All winter crops are looking relatively healthy at the moment with the exception of some BYDV in some Winter Barley crops. Winter Barley will be getting its final fungicide treatment in the next 7 – 10 days. We are still a long way out from harvest so a robust programme is needed to keep the crop clean. With the absence of Bravo, Folpet is a must in all final fungicide treatments in Winter Barley.
Crops at awns emerging is roughly half of its end height so care must be taken here to try to prevent lodging. Nothing is more annoying to see Winter Barley crops lying over at the end of June 3 to 4 weeks out from harvest.
If timing is too late for pgr at this stage, 3 ltr per ha of Final K is an excellent product for straw strength and brackling resistance to include with your final fungicide.
Winter Wheat will be getting its T1 fungicide treatment in the next couple of days. Timing here is crucial and the 3rd last leaf fully emerged is perfect timing. Too early and you are asking for too much longevity between T1 and T2 and too late you are putting too much pressure on your T1 treatment.
Again, Folpet needs to be used here to help prevent resistance to our sdhi fungicides. A maximum of 3 ltrs per ha of Folpet can only be used per year. At Liffeys we recommend that two applications of 1.5 ltr per ha at T1 & T2 be used for best results.
Winter Oats should be after getting its main Pgr treatment alongside its second fungicide. When the head is close to be fully emerged Oats needs its final fungicide. Product of choice here is Velogy Era.
For any other information, contact your local branch or Rep at Liffey Mills or log onto www.www.liffeymills.ie
