Spring has Sprung!

Make hay while the sun shines ……an old adage that still rings true today. It has come to mean make the most of opportunities and that is what we are hoping to do at Gundowring.

Spring is an exciting and hectic time on the farm; a good spring sets us up for the year. Grass is the mainstay of the diet for cows at Gundowring and when it grows very slowly over winter it is often supplemented by silage which is essentially pickled grass. Silage makes a better feed than hay because the grass is cut much earlier in the season as has more protein and energy than later cut hay.

2011 has seen a bountiful spring at Gundowring with ideal weather for grass growth. The team has been making silage since mid-September, and are out on tractors again this week, conserving the abundant growth for times of need.

The grass is cut and raked, then chopped as it is picked up by a large wagon, before being unloaded into a pit where it is rolled to squash out as much air as possible. It is then covered to keep the pit air-tight. 

There are black clouds approaching, so fingers are crossed that the pit will be sealed before the next downpour. Nothing could be better than a shower of rain on the newly mown paddocks; the grass will grow again very quickly, however it is not so good to have rain soak the carefully cut and stored silage.

The girls are going to love this when it is ready to be fed out!