Low cost barley

cooksey · May 25, 2016

Hi all i am wanting to either grow a low cost barley or oat crop to be fed to sheep now including buying machinery cost spread over about 10 years growing about 7 acres a year with 4 fields in the rotation 2 are 7 acres the other 2 are 16 acres. The crop is to be used to feed sheep now the ground isn't allowed to have large amount of fertilizer. Now my questions are on a minimum fert and spray system on free draining soil with a organic matter % of 15% what straw yield and grain yields could I achieve? Also is it worth while cropping this area considering I will need all cultivation, and harvest equipment or find a contractor?

DRC · May 25, 2016

I would buy in the barley or oats you need, as in your situation it'll be cheaper and you will only need to pay for it when you need it.

spin cycle · May 25, 2016

how close are you to @Selectamatic ....i know bala...but i think he's quite a way? plough/roll/springtine/drill you could pick up for £1k total...fert spreader?...contractor for spray and combine....where/how you going to store?...propcorn poss?...or pile in dry barn with hotspot spear :scratchhead:

sounds a bit like low input stewardship barley....except we're not allowed blw herb

.....if you can put a decent seedrate...40 units of n....cheap blw herb and splash fungicide...could work

some years my low input has been nearly as good as conventional

....others (this) it'll be a disaster

DRC · May 26, 2016

I sell barley to a farm not far from you, and have a good haulier with a 20 ton blower lorry. Or I'll grow you some oats!

Selectamatic · May 26, 2016

spin cycle said:
how close are you to @Selectamatic ....i know bala...but i think he's quite a way? plough/roll/springtine/drill you could pick up for £1k total...fert spreader?...contractor for spray and combine....where/how you going to store?...propcorn poss?...or pile in dry barn with hotspot spear

sounds a bit like low input stewardship barley....except we're not allowed blw herb.....if you can put a decent seedrate...40 units of n....cheap blw herb and splash fungicide...could work

some years my low input has been nearly as good as conventional....others (this) it'll be a disaster

Not far from Bala by car, but by David Brown power.... You may as well live on the moon!!

cooksey · May 26, 2016

It's not for at home! I am looking at the national trust farm on the great orme where access for a lorry is difficult and their keen on who ever tenants the farm to grow some arable. Part of my reason is the cost of straw delivered is high so was looking to offset the feed and straw.

spin cycle · May 26, 2016

cooksey said:
It's not for at home! I am looking at the national trust farm on the great orme where access for a lorry is difficult and their keen on who ever tenants the farm to grow some arable. Part of my reason is the cost of straw delivered is high so was looking to offset the feed and straw.

then do it....anything that helps your application....offer to leave the stubble over winter untouched...then summer grazed forage crop....back into grass sept....they might like that

cooksey · May 26, 2016

spin cycle said:
then do it....anything that helps your application....offer to leave the stubble over winter untouched...then summer grazed forage crop....back into grass sept....they might like that

That's what I was thinking helps to create something for migratory birds and provides me with part of the feed for the ewes there and helps there aim of creating a mixed farm there

IH 684 · May 26, 2016

There's a fella near me who grows oats for his own sheep and cattle about 25acre for feed. All he does is disc the ground a couple of times. Spread the seed oats with a spinner and then roll. The next time he goes in the field is with the combine which is an old cabless massey. What comes out of the combine tank gets trailerd into the shed and dried naturally over the old sectioned aluminium humped airflow. He then bales up what comes out of the back of the combine.

septimus · May 26, 2016

would a heritage variety tick more of those boxes? Bere maybe?

cooksey · May 26, 2016

septimus said:
would a heritage variety tick more of those boxes? Bere maybe?

It might just I worry about lodging with the taller older varieties

neilo · May 27, 2016

I'd have thought you'd struggle with weeds if you try to do without sprays, although S.Barley shouldn't need that much. If you've got muck to put on, you would be able to get by without much fert, but otherwise you'll just end up with a very poor crop indeed.

Previous tenant here used to put very little on the corn fields he farmed himself. One 10ac field was in SB the year before I arrived, the neighbour baled it for him, and he got 11 round bales of straw off 10 acres. That was on soil with P & K indices of 2 (after muck for a couple of years I suspect), so not poor. I limed it, fed it according to RB209 recs and sprayed appropriately. I had over 60 bales from the same field, same variety. I suspect grain yields would have been tripled too. Sometimes a cheaply grown crop can be expensive.

ajcc · May 27, 2016

Doubt you would want to Autumn reseed.....winter salt burn, summer drought are going to be likely site problems.....spring barley and stubble turnips and fodderbeet grazed in situ are the crops that work in a similar situation here.
These "native breed sheep" do they have to be pedigree or are cross- bred sheep allowed?

Charlie--chalk · May 27, 2016

neilo said:
I'd have thought you'd struggle with weeds if you try to do without sprays, although S.Barley shouldn't need that much. If you've got muck to put on, you would be able to get by without much fert, but otherwise you'll just end up with a very poor crop indeed.

Previous tenant here used to put very little on the corn fields he farmed himself. One 10ac field was in SB the year before I arrived, the neighbour baled it for him, and he got 11 round bales of straw off an acre. That was on soil with P & K indices of 2 (after muck for a couple of years I suspect), so not poor. I limed it, fed it according to RB209 recs and sprayed appropriately. I had over 60 bales from the same field, same variety. I suspect grain yields would have been tripled too. Sometimes a cheaply grown crop can be expensive.

So the previous chap got 110 bales from 10 acres and you got 60? And you say your crop was better? Or have I missed something??

neilo · May 27, 2016

Charlie--chalk said:
So the previous chap got 110 bales from 10 acres and you got 60? And you say your crop was better? Or have I missed something??

Oops

. No, 11 bales off 10 acres. Post edited now, if you remove your quote now, nobody will know what a numpty I was.

DieselRob · May 27, 2016

Charlie--chalk said:
So the previous chap got 110 bales from 10 acres and you got 60? And you say your crop was better? Or have I missed something??

Trip to specsavers perhaps... he said 11 not 110

neilo · May 27, 2016

DieselRob said:
Trip to specsavers perhaps... he said 11 not 110

No, I made a mistake, which I have cunningly changed now.

@Charlie--chalk has better eye sight than me.

7610 super q · May 27, 2016

neilo said:
I'd have thought you'd struggle with weeds if you try to do without sprays, although S.Barley shouldn't need that much. If you've got muck to put on, you would be able to get by without much fert, but otherwise you'll just end up with a very poor crop indeed.

Previous tenant here used to put very little on the corn fields he farmed himself. One 10ac field was in SB the year before I arrived, the neighbour baled it for him, and he got 11 round bales of straw off 10 acres. That was on soil with P & K indices of 2 (after muck for a couple of years I suspect), so not poor. I limed it, fed it according to RB209 recs and sprayed appropriately. I had over 60 bales from the same field, same variety. I suspect grain yields would have been tripled too. Sometimes a cheaply grown crop can be expensive.

Yes, herbicide is a must. The trick comes with minimising chemical spend later on...........

cooksey · May 27, 2016

ajcc said:
Doubt you would want to Autumn reseed.....winter salt burn, summer drought are going to be likely site problems.....spring barley and stubble turnips and fodderbeet grazed in situ are the crops that work in a similar situation here.
These "native breed sheep" do they have to be pedigree or are cross- bred sheep allowed?

That could work with reseeding in spring. And you must have read the national trust thread to know they want native sheep

and they are keen on a native bred ewe and putting a continental terminal sire on some.

cooksey · May 27, 2016

neilo said:
I'd have thought you'd struggle with weeds if you try to do without sprays, although S.Barley shouldn't need that much. If you've got muck to put on, you would be able to get by without much fert, but otherwise you'll just end up with a very poor crop indeed.

Previous tenant here used to put very little on the corn fields he farmed himself. One 10ac field was in SB the year before I arrived, the neighbour baled it for him, and he got 11 round bales of straw off 10 acres. That was on soil with P & K indices of 2 (after muck for a couple of years I suspect), so not poor. I limed it, fed it according to RB209 recs and sprayed appropriately. I had over 60 bales from the same field, same variety. I suspect grain yields would have been tripled too. Sometimes a cheaply grown crop can be expensive.

They are keen on minimal spray being used and only to control thistles docks and nettles so it's working out if just controlling them is going to be enough for keeping a crop growing well. I would be planning on mucking the ground heavily as there also not wanting much fertiliser used on the farm

Low cost barley

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