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.
