The acreage of grain maize grown in the South West this year will increase as the crop continues to attract greater interest from livestock farmers looking to increase their production of home-grown concentrates, as well as arable growers wanting a profitable spring-sown cash crop.

But, according to grain maize specialist Nickerson Direct, the key to producing the crop successfully lies in choosing the correct variety and managing it correctly throughout the growing period.

“Grain maize provides a much more concentrated form of energy than forage maize, so it has a very important role in achieving the correct energy-density in rations, enabling cows to eat more and produce more milk. The crop is also very convenient, allowing livestock farmers to ‘top up’ lower-quality forages and those who buy in straights to purchase the exact tonnage they require as and when they need it, which benefits cash-flow,” states Simon Montgomery, a Seed Specialist for Nickerson Direct in the South West. He adds: “The high energy content and slow starch degradation characteristics of crimped grain maize make it an ideal moist concentrate feed for high-performance dairy and beef animals. It is convenient, reliable and ideal for use on farms where maize silage is limited but where additional starch is required in the diet. A typical nutrient analysis being 65%-75% drymatter, 14.0 per cent -14.5 per cent ME, eight to nine per cent crude protein and 60-70 per cent starch.

Whilst grain maize can provide an ideal forage solution, Mr Montgomery warns that many farmers make the mistake of trying to produce grain maize using conventional forage varieties. He states: “Conventional forage varieties will only dry down slowly to a minimum of 30 per cent moisture, making the crop difficult to combine in the often wet, windy conditions we generally experience late in November or December. Growing specialist grain maize varieties will make a big difference, but producing a good crop requires a different technique in terms of variety, plant population, nitrogen management and timing, so specialist advice is essential.”

Grain maize should be sown as early in April as possible, when the soil temperature reaches 8°C, into light, free-draining soils in south-facing fields that warm up quickly during the spring and drain well right through until harvest. Whereas crops grown for crimped maize production typically require a seed rate of 38,000-40,000 seeds/acre, for grain maize production this should be reduced to 36,000-38,000 seeds/acre.