Forage Systems Silage Competition

Grass still makes up 95% of the forage intake of the Irish national herd. It is hugely important to get this right as measuring your ability to produce grass is a key to the profitability of your farm.
This competition serves to highlight the benefits of measuring grass and maximising profitability and will facilitate young farmers to develop and hone their grass management and silage making skills. It is very important that a farmer knows, not only what and how much grass they should conserve when grass is plentiful, but also when and how much to supplement when grass is scarce. The nutritional characteristics of the silage sample will form the basis to assess the winner of this year’s competition. Forage Systems are the leaders in growing, preserving and feeding of all feeds which can be produced on farm. Forage Systems have pioneered different technologies in this area which have proven very successful. Whether it is the most suitable variety of crop to sow, the best advice on growing the crop, the most suitable additive to preserve it or the best nutritional advice on feeding, Forage Systems have the answer. Forage Systems’ sister company KW Forage Systems is better known for its range of alternative feeds including dry, moist and liquid products and are the leaders in developing traceable management systems for the food and beverage industry.


Who is eligible to enter?
A current member of Macra na Feirme who is involved in the management and decision making of the grassland and the crop sampled.

Results
Results will be available at the National Ploughing Championships in September and regional winners will be announced.
Regional winners will be decided based on sample results.
(Competition regional categories: Munster, Leinster, North West).
There will be two finalists in each region who will receive a Grasstec products and services voucher for €65
and go forward to a National Final which will take place in October.

Prize
The overall national winner will receive a place on the Today FM Ski Trip in January 2014.

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* 1. Your Name:

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* 2. Address:

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* 3. Email:

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* 4. Mobile no:

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* 5. Macra Membership Number:

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* 6. What type of farm enterprise do you have?

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* 7. Number of Livestock?

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* 8. Total acreage of grass silage cut?

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* 9. Average tonnage of silage per acre?

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* 10. Cutting date?

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* 11. Weather conditions:

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* 12. Average age of sward (yrs) of grazing swards and silage swards? no. of grazing swards and no. of silage swards.

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* 13. Frequency of reseeding?

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* 14. Brand of grass seed used?

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* 15. Key influencer in deciding what and when to re-seed?

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