Wet Weather Resilience Planning: Castle Kennedy & Wigtown – Event Summary

This meeting was run in both Castle Kennedy & Wigtown

The prolonged wet weather that we have experienced since Autumn 2017 has had a massive impact on farm businesses across South West Scotland.

Forage budgeting was discussed and attendees were given a worksheet to enable them to do some basic calculations on their own farm following the event.  Those who attended shared their experiences of using alternative bedding to reduce straw use. Local vets gave an overview of the current problems they are seeing on farm and answered questions form the floor on topics including listeria and fluke.

We then moved on to discuss slurry spreading, reducing soil compaction and increasing forage yields this summer through targeted slurry spreading and fertiliser use.  The improved grassland utilisation from the use of rotational or paddock grazing systems was also discussed.  This could allow more silage to be grown if grass is grazed more efficiently.

We also focused on mental health awareness and the importance of looking after yourself and others in times such as these where stress levels are high.

Key messages:

In order to survive the remainder of the winter and allow your business to recover over the summer, the following key messages came from these events;

• Do a forage budget, both for the current year and for 2018/19 so that you know how much silage you need to cut
• Whatever bedding you use, ensure pens are kept clean for high risk groups such as lambing ewes, calving cows & young calves
• Consider using urea for an early fertiliser application – it is more suited to cold, wet conditions that AN
• Grab a spade and dig a hole to assess soil compaction
• Applying slurry with a dribble bar or trailing shoe can increase 2^nd cut silage yields by around 20%
• Rotational grazing can increase grassland utilisation by 65% and paddock grazing by 80%

You can read the presentation slides used at these meetings through this link.  Related information and handouts which were available to take home from the events can be downloaded using the links below.