Technology advances boosting maize productivity at its limits

A willingness to adopt new technology; carefully considered maize variety selection and targeted agronomy are among the ingredients in one Cumbrian dairy farmer’s recipe for success.

John Ferguson farms around 400 acres at Blencogo House Farm near Wigton on the southern fringe of the Lake District, milking 300 cows and producing forage and straw from 80 acres of maize, 40 acres of winter wheat, 50 acres winter barley, with the remainder down to grass.

The farm’s milk is destined for First Milk’s creamery at Aspatria, just a few miles away.

An early adopter of digital technology, John uses the Omnia Digital Farming platform; Terramap high definition soil mapping service and John Deere’s HarvestLab for on-the-go analysis of silage, slurry and FYM.

Pictured: John Ferguson, Blencogo House Farm

He has also invested heavily in winter slurry storage and has installed a slurry separator on the farm, allowing organic manures to be used to maximum efficiency.

Technology is also helping to improve milking efficiency, with two-thirds of the dairy herd milked through four Lely robotic milking units.

Maize variety selection is made with the support of agronomist Jim Clark and typically involves a visit to the Hutchinsons Cumbria Maize Trials site at Smalmstown near Carlisle, which Jim manages.

Most of the 2024 maize acreage at Blencogo House Farm was drilled to the Dekalb variety DKC3204, which will also be the farm’s primary maize variety in 2025. A small acreage of Pioneer P7034, a variety which produces highly degradable starch, is also grown for feeding first in the transition from old to new crop silage.

“The P7034 will go at the front of the clamp so we can feed it straight away. It's probably not really ready to feed till after Christmas, but nobody has that luxury nowadays,” says John.

Climate challenges

DKC3204 treated with Primary P starter fertiliser - analysis 10N 40P 2Mg 11SO3 2Zn - was the top yielding variety in the Hutchinsons 2024 Cumbria maize trials, producing a fresh weight yield of 39.92 tonnes per hectare, more than 2t/ha more than its closest competitor, and 24456.10 litres per hectare of milk (calculated at 5.3MJ/ME/L) at a value of over £11000/ha (see tables below).

This despite the challenges of growing maize in a region where conditions are often less conducive to warm-season crops.

“Growing maize this far north is more specialised, it does make it a bit more interesting,” says Jim.

“We had a shocking year for maize last year; the worst since 2012 here in the North West. It was weather related; we had a wet, cool spring and getting maize drilled in good conditions was difficult, and then we had almost no sunshine at all, but the 3204 made the best of a bad situation.”

John’s contractor finished drilling the farm’s maize on May 1.

“What should have been a week’s drilling took a month to complete,” says John.

With crops on the back foot for most of the season, 10 days of warm weather and sunshine in early September saved a lot of crops and helped with cob maturity and filling, adds Jim.

All Blencogo House Farm’s maize is grown under Samco Systems’ biodegradable film which, says Jim, provides a six to seven week greenhouse effect after drilling, doubling the number of heat units that would normally be available this far north and helping the maize crop get off to a strong start.

Without the film John wouldn't be able to grow the high yielding varieties he wants to grow, Jim adds.

“I’d say from Shapup to Lockerbie, 85% of maize is under film,” he says.

“We need to drill earlier up here, not be messing around in the middle of May drilling in the open. We need maize in the ground in the middle of April with a starter fertiliser.

“We like the Dekalb varieties for several reasons and one is that they are very vigorous out the ground, noticeably so in the plots.

“You can tell which ones are Dekalb, they stand out - the plants are big, which meansthey take more advantage of the film,” says Jim.

This early vigour trait is also considered important in ensuring maize is able to access the nutrients it needs. With early season N requirements and up to 90% of P and K nutrients typically supplied by slurry on the farm, good root development is essential.

“We need that early vigour, those big roots to pick up that N, P and K,” says Jim.

Dairy herd diet

Maize makes up around 20% of the dairy herd’s ration, with the remainder comprising 50% silage,10% grains - barley or wheat - 15% a blend of soya and rapeseed, plus 5% minerals.

Four cuts of grass silage are taken each year; the spring barley is whole-cropped in early July; wheat in early August and the maize is harvested in September/early October.

Home-grown maize could potentially replace some of the bought-in blend, but as with all components of the ration, the figures need to stack up in terms of milk output and value to the farm’s bottom line.

“We just haven't got enough land and most of the land is not good enough for maize,” says John.

Replacing the cereals with maize might be another option, he reflects, but the straw they produce is used on the farm and would be expensive to buy in.

Pictured: Jim Clark, Agronomist

Forage availability is a constant challenge for north west dairy farmers, says Jim, who suggests that maize could potentially be a valuable cash crop on arable farms in the region, as well as further afield.

“There isn't enough maize land in Cumbria to fulfil the dairy industry's needs.

“If you look at the output in tonnes of dry matter, nothing is going to touch a good crop of maize; you would feed maize every day if you could grow enough of it,” he says.

John’s forward-thinking approach to technology also extends to his maize agronomy. In addition to selecting the most productive varieties – he was one of the first farmers to trial DKC3204 on-farm - he is applying late season N to his maize in July to boost cob fill and will be trialling Primary P starter fertiliser for the first time this season.

Terramap soil mapping has enabled lime to be variably applied according to variations in soil pH across fields, while maize sap testing is used to monitor nutrient balances and availability.

Only time will tell whether 2025 will favour maize in the North West, but as the new season gets underway, it seems like a good opportunity to hear what the ideal maize variety looks like.

“As big as possible, with tremendous cob, and one that gets ready. We put a lot of wheat in after maize, so it needs to be ready,” says John.

Jim agrees: “We’re after the biggest bulk with the best quality at harvest – that’s the Holy Grail when it comes to growing maize,” he says.

Table 1 Variety trial plots 2024

Source: Hutchinsons

Table 2 Milk output trial plots

Source: Hutchinsons