Interest growing in potential of forage maize

UP UNTIL now, the growing of forage maize in Scotland has largely been limited to the south-west, with dairy farmers being the main supporters of the crop. But yesterday more than one hundred farmers attending a conference in Dumfries heard there were now wider geographical opportunities for maize growing and that beef producers should also be looking at this crop as a major source of forage.

Hugh McClymont, manager at the Scottish Agricultural College farm at Crichton Royal, said he believed there were now "huge opportunities" for finishers of beef cattle, as forage maize can produce large quantities of starch.

Two husbandry factors are helping spread the potential for growing maize in Scotland. New varieties are coming forward that mature much earlier than the original ones that crept up from England in the early 1990s. Growers now also have the option of using a biodegradable plastic, which increases soil temperatures at the early stages of growth and thus helps shorten the overall growth period.

"We used to see crops being harvested in October and November, and that can be difficult. Now with the use of this polythene cover, crops mature more quickly and harvesting often takes place in September," Mclymont said.

Even though the polythene costs 185 per hectare, McClymont believes it is well worthwhile in ensuring a mature crop, especially now there is no problem with plastic residues.

As proof of increased interest, he cited the fact that seed suppliers of the new varieties had this year taken orders from farms outwith the south-west, with interest being shown in the east of Scotland and up into Lanarkshire.

McClymont said that this year he had harvested a crop of forage maize in September, with 17 tonnes per hectare and a dry matter content of 29 per cent.

The same field was then sown down in grass after the maize and with a good take will feature later this spring when the Crichton Royal hosts the Scotgrass event on 11 May.

Maize has been grown at the Crichton since the early 1990s and although some years have given better yields than others, there have been "no disasters", and the farm now has 70 hectares of the crop.

He pointed out to his audience that unlike grass for silage if there is a bad period of weather at harvest, the dry matter of the maize crop increases as the crop ripens, whereas grass maturing keeps its high moisture content making it more difficult to ensile.