Follow the maize – starting the new season

21 April 2025

Good maize starts with good preparation. Shropshire farmer Mark Fitton explains his approach.

For Mark Fitton, who milks 250 Procross Swedish Red x Montbéliarde x Holsteins and feeds maize at up to 70% of the winter silage ration, producing good maize is serious business.

Growing around 35ha on medium land that he describes as “almost perfect for maize”, he invests in giving it the best possible start. And it pays off.

Despite the difficult growing season, his maize silage from 2024 – his first year using Ecocool additive and consolidating with a packer roller – analysed at 71.7% D value, 11.3 MJ/kg ME and 29.7% starch.

Initial preparations

Initial preparations begin with fields being mucked and ploughed. “We did a bit of soil damage in the wet 2024 harvest, so repairing it was important,” Mark explains.

Then, the focus turns to optimising nutrition. After taking on his maize land in 2013, Mark says low phosphate (P) and potash (K) indices had to be replenished. Now, soil is tested annually for all nutrients plus organic matter for nutrient management planning.

“All my maize is continuous maize. With continuous maize you've got to soil test for nutrients every year. It’s a hungry crop. 

It very rarely needs P, only in the diammonium phosphate (DAP) starter fertiliser that we use, and it’s very rare we apply nitrogen (N). Every year we have to apply K (muriate of potash) and the odd field needs lime, but as we soil test every year this tells us what’s needed.

Glyphosate is also applied if needed to kill off any weeds that come through the winter, but Mark says this is rare.

“We then put separated solid muck on – or if the land is dry enough, we’ll go with slurry. But it needs to be dry. We make a few wheel ruts, but go through with a Sumo afterwards which sorts that out.

“We apply K before or after going through with the Sumo. It then gets power harrowed in, as does the lime. Fields are power harrowed twice around the headlands and once in the middle.”

Seed rates and drilling

The crop is then drilled at 45,000 seeds/acre along with the DAP starter fertiliser. “That is a must to get the crop out of the ground quickly,” Mark explains.

However, he is contemplating trying 50,000 seeds/acre. He admits the denser crop will need careful management and could be later maturing, but believes this will be outweighed by extra yield.

We aim for the last week of April to plant, but we’ve got to go with the weather. Once drilled, I apply a pre-emergence herbicide if rain is coming to activate it. If it’s a bad year for weeds, I’ll apply a post-emergence herbicide once or twice. If the crop is struggling it will get a foliar feed. It had that in 2024.

After that, Mark says eyespot does not tend to be a problem, so is largely able to shut the gate.

By staying proactive with his management practices, Mark ensures his maize crop thrives—setting up his herd for success. What did you learn last season that you'll be implementing this year to improve your crop?