FARMERS at a maize open day in Wensleydale learned everything they needed to know about growing the crop.

Hosts for the event at Thorney Farm, Spennithorne, were Metcalfe Farms and it was organised by KW Alternative Feeds in conjunction with Grainseed (Maize).

Growers heard how forage maize crops were well on their way towards harvest, with the first crops below York and those on good land around Northallerton being on the point of cutting.

This year has been challenging, because of the lack of sunshine before August, but growers who had ensured that compaction was removed before drilling and who had applied herbicides at the correct time were looking forward to a good harvest.

Neil Groom, from Grainseed (Maize), told visitors that maize liked the sun on its back. Once it began growing, it was amazing how quickly it grew.

"Starch is now being laid down in the kernels in crops around Leyburn and Wensleydale and we are looking at harvest from mid-October onwards," he said.

Growers were urged to strip the cob leaves off five or six plants in a row to assess eveness of maturity and then to break a cob in two two-thirds of the way down to assess grain maturity.

Some varieties produce very early colouring in the grains which was only skin deep, so it was important to look at whole grain moisture. Mr Groom said crops were ready for harvest when the last drop of moisture could be squeezed from the kernels.

The weather forecast and availability of harvesting teams also needed to be taken into account, as well as future cropping plans.

During the open day, held on Thursday of last week, the most mature variety in the trials field was Nancis, which is favoured by many growers on challenging maize growing land.

Steve Allen, of KW Alternative Feeds, said the ability of a crop to be mature at harvest and cut at higher dry matters made a big difference to the feeding characteristics of the silage.

"If feeding maize silage at 26pc dry matter, the intake of forage is much higher than feeding maize at 22pc," said Mr Allen. "If intakes are higher, milk yields are also higher and it is easier to construct the winter ration. Cows can drink all the water they require from the trough, we should not feed them wet forages."

Metcalfe Farms take dry matter samples weekly and last week's results rose by 3.2pc to 21pc. This will continue to increase rapidly now starch is being laid down in the kernels. On average, the weekly increase is 1-2pc throughout October, but in good weather rises of 3pc a week are common