Farmers looking to avoid the dip in first cut silage quality seen last season could benefit from cutting silage early, according to nutritionist Pete Isaac.

He believes that mild conditions have resulted in high winter carry over, which makes monitoring grass growth and potentially cutting ahead of usual essential.

By planning to go four or five days earlier than the date you might have in mind, if conditions go against you, it also provides a bit of leeway to get it right.

Pete, a nutritionist at Mole Valley Feed Solutions, suggests walking fields now to look for any indication of early seed head emergence, with the aim to cut before heading.

He said: "Last year there was a wide range in silage qualities, with a weighting towards lower energy crops.

"A lot of that was down to the growing season, which you couldn’t do anything about, but this year there’s a lot of grass about so to avoid the same mistakes as last year, it’s worth planning to go a bit earlier than you would normally.

"There’s a lot of grass out there. If you leave it too long, you’ll get a lot of lower quality silage in the clamp.

"If you’re using a contractor, speak to them about what you’re trying to achieve and if they’re offering you different dates, opt for the earlier ones. By planning ahead and cutting at the optimum time, the improvements in the quality of the silage you make and the benefits at feed out could be huge.

“It’s OK to save costs by not using an additive, but you’re losing out on the added nutritional value of using one, which could be worth as much as 1.6 to 1.7 litres a cow a day more.