Combining grain maize

jg123

Member
Mixed Farmer
Only did some cover crop maize a few years ago as an experiment, it was surprising how much we got. Biggest issue was no heater on the combine, I was frozen.

Bg
Yep did it in Glamorgan around Christmas years ago, no heater..... and your feet didnt move all day with hydro drive 🥶 was a proper stripper header tho, did a good job but was heavy. Needed extra rams to lift header
 
I am currently looking at this. there's a few doing it round here now. Some to dry, some to crimp.

I like the look of it to crimp, but I'm unsure on the saleability of the crimped grain.

Discuss.....

Tried it about 12 years ago. Yield was extremely variable from literally nothing upto 5t/acre. Average was 3t/acre. Weed control extremely poor even though it had the full works. Putting it under plastic speeds up the whole process so you aren’t harvesting late in crap conditions but adds another cost.
You’ll struggle to get milling wheat quality after it because of mycotoxin levels.
And don’t underestimate the volume of trash afterwards. At the time we ended up discing then ploughing to try to get rid of it due to the mycotoxin risk but it didn’t work.
We put it on a heavier clay soil and in hindsight it would of been better on a loam soil.
The seed is very expensive and it mines your soil of nutrients.

It would have to be serious money to do it again and I think all these people jumped into it the last 2-3 years are going to have a shock when they realise what it’s doing to the soil through over working of it to grow it but also nutrient removal.
 
Last edited:

Pebd99

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Month off yet?
 

Attachments

  • 858B204F-D669-4464-B01B-0F574DAED110.jpeg
    858B204F-D669-4464-B01B-0F574DAED110.jpeg
    230.5 KB · Views: 0

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
The beauty of a maize header is you run on the trash.
Month off yet?
Poor pollination by the looks of it. Left to combine it won’t have much for bushel weight, not enough daylight hours in the days now to accumulate the required heat units to finish properly. I’d chop it for silage and save yourself major headaches
 

Pebd99

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Sorry, but there is absolutely no chance that will combine this year, the first frost ( which can’t be far a way) will kill that stone dead.
How long does it take from late milk stage to maturity? Was 3-4weeks late in getting it in the ground. Sown the 2nd of June. It also ran out of water around the end of July. How much quicker does it grow being planted under plastic?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 65 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.1%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.2%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,287
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top