Soaring feed, fuel and fertiliser prices and the need to maximise returns from natural resources were the core themes at Grassland and Muck 2008, held at Stoneleigh Park on 21st and 22nd May. The event organised by the Royal Agricultural Society of England and partnered by Yara UK, attracted 12,255 visitors.
Opening the debate on the first morning, NFU President Peter Kendall said that with the changes going on in the industry, “the timing of this event has been critical to explore how we as farmers can implement new technologies into farming practice and how we can make the most of available resources like the sun and soil.”
In the light of rising fertiliser prices, many exhibitors focused on the practical and economic value of clover, muck and residual soil nutrient levels as an integral part of getting grassland economics right.
Grassland consultant Duncan Findlay of AgResource commented that leys incorporating a high clover content have the ability to fix nitrogen around at the equivalent of 200 kg nitrogen per hectare per year. “With the current price of nitrogen around £300 per tonne, the actual nitrogen value of clover in the ley is worth around £180/ha per year. So for a 5 year ley, this means that for every 100 hectares at current nitrogen prices maintaining a good standard of clover is worth a staggering £90,000 over that 5 year period!”
The Manure and Nutrient Management Centre, sponsored by the England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative, proved popular, with around 100 farmers taking up the offer to have their farm muck and slurry samples tested on the ADAS stand. The NIRS testing technique used was a resounding hit giving farmers a detailed nutrient and dry matter breakdown enabling accurate fertiliser top-up requirements to be calculated.
According to Mark Tucker from event partner Yara, the Grassland & Muck Event partners, “fertiliser prices are higher for this season because global demand is outstripping supply. This means that farmers will need to make the most of every kg of fertiliser they apply and also maximise the nutrient value of muck and slurry. To put the value of muck into economic context, an application of a typical cattle slurry, at 40t/ha, would provide N worth £17/ha, P2O5 worth £26/ha and K2O worth £46/ha giving a total contribution of £89/ha.”
The speakers at the series of Forums sponsored by Keenan offered visitors practical advice on improving swards and maximising dairy and beef production from grass. The seminars were followed by practical demonstrations of ration mixing and measuring dry matter content.
In the popular grass plots, British Seed Houses launched two new seeds, AberMagic and AberGuard. AberMagic is a High Sugar Ryegrass new to the NIAB Recommended List and, according to BSH, offers the highest sugar levels of any perennial ryegrass. Also new to the Recommended List was AgerGuard, a white clover offering enhanced resistance to the widespread pest clover eelworm.
Another seed product launched at the show was the redesigned Sinclair McGill Castlepark grass/clover mixture from Advanta Seeds. The mix now includes continental plant types and varieties specifically chosen for their ability to withstand longer periods of drought.
Emphasising the need to make the most of grassland in times of spiralling costs, EBLEX launched a new technical manual, “Improving Pasture for Better Returns”. Published as part of the Better Returns Programmes in association with the British Grassland Society, the manual highlights the benefits and practicalities of reseeding swards. Another useful addition for the farm office bookshelf was the NIAB Recommended Grass and Clover list 2008.
The combined might of 40 exhibitors resulted in an impressive display of machinery power on the 77ha (190 acre) site. Non-stop demonstrations in 65ha (160 acres) of standing grass included the debut of Claas’ twin engine Jaguar 980 self-propelled forage harvester which features new V-MAX chopping cylinder with a new design of curved blades. In addition, Kverneland focused on the arrival of their 55 cubic meter self loading forage wagon within the Taarup range. The TA 10055R packs a 1.85m wide pick-up that feeds a 1.43m wide, 800mm diameter V-max rotor. Lely pulled out the stops to ensure that the company’s entire range of farm machinery was on demonstration, including the Splendimo mower, the Lotus 520 and 1020 and their range of windrowers and balers. Also Spaldings launched a new variation to their range of flatlift sub-surface cultivators.
In the adjacent Muck area, over 650 tonnes of muck were spread by a host of exhibitors including the first UK showing of the 300HP Challenger TerraGator and the first outing for the Hi-Spec Engineering Xcel manure spreader; also Kuhn’s Pro-TwinSlinger 9150 litre front-discharge manure and slurry spreader was also on show.
Tractor power was also impressive with no less than 14 of the new Same Deutz Fahr Agrotron M series tractors, the M620, the M640 and the M650; and their telehandler from the Agrovector range. Making a UK debut was the Claas Xerion 3800 tractor towing a 24,000 litre Kaweco slurry tanker.
Commenting on the success of Grassland and Muck, Alice Bell, the RASE’ Event Organiser, said “the content and demonstrations at the event were wholly appropriate for the period of change and reassessment that the UK farming industry is currently experiencing. The host of advice on tap gave visitors some invaluable take-aways for the period ahead which will combine a boom time for prices coupled with the pressures of unprecedented input costs.”
Adding to Alice’s comments, Peter Kendall concluded that “farming is more important than ever and farmers are at a cross roads with decision-making about their future. The key thing going forward is that the industry has to work together to find solutions; the timing of the Grassland and Muck Event has been critical to share information on new technologies which will help to make us more profitable and efficient for a prosperous future.”
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Notes for Editors
Grassland & Muck 2008
Grassland and Muck 2008 is the triennial event for the industry. Partnered by Yara UK Limited and proudly presented by the Royal Agricultural Society of England.
Yara UK Limited
- Yara UK Limited is the UK business unit of Yara International ASA, with our head office at Immingham in NE Lincolnshire.
- Yara UK Limited is the leading supplier of agricultural fertilizer-both in solid and liquid form- and horticultural and amenity fertilizer, to the UK market.
- Yara International ASA, the parent company of Yara UK, is a leading chemical company that converts energy and nitrogen from the air into essential products for farmers and industrial customers. As the number one global supplier and developer of mineral fertilizers and agronomic solutions, we help provide food for a growing population.
- Yara International ASA has 6,800 employees, operating in 120 countries and with a turnover in excess of £3.5billion. The head office of Yara International is in Oslo, Norway.
- The Business model for Yara comprises three business
segments:
- Upstream- global production plants
- Downstream- the global sales and marketing of fertilizers and plant nutrition products, divided in to nine business units of which the UK & Ireland is one unit.
- Industrial- the sales and marketing of products for industrial applications
- The name “Yara” is taken from a Nordic word meaning ‘good harvest’.
- For further information on Yara UK Ltd, please see www.yara.co.uk
- For further information on Yara International ASA, please see www.yara.com
For further information please contact:
Alice
Bell, RASE
Tel: 02476 858 276
Email:
aliceb@rase.org.uk
Rosie Carne, Yara UK Ltd
Tel: 01469 554643
Email:
rosie.carne@yara.com
Jane Craigie, Event PR
Tel: 01466 780078
Email:
jane@janecraigie.com
