DD on livestock farm

GTB · Aug 21, 2016

SilliamWhale said:
Why do you do a one year IR with rape?

The reason being after the ST or rape have been grazed the IR recovers well enough for grazing after lambing. We have over 2000 ewes grazing mainly on the hills in summer and autumn but we need every available blade of grass from October/Nov to early May.

SilliamWhale said:
Why not just a brassica on its own and then a cereal

Yes that may be the answer. How many years could I do that before weeds and disease become a problem? Maybe could do 40 acres of wholecrop followed by roots for x amount years then back to grass then do the other 40 acres??? Would we get enough forage for the winter? i.e. does one crop of wholecrop equate to two cuts of silage?

SilliamWhale · Aug 21, 2016

Weeds will never become a problem i dont think

scholland · Aug 22, 2016

How well does the simtech work on ploughed ground? Much preperation needed before seeding or would front press and seeder do enough on light land?

neilo · Aug 22, 2016

scholland said:
How well does the simtech work on ploughed ground? Much preperation needed before seeding or would front press and seeder do enough on light land?

I've never used it on ploughed ground, but I have drilled into min-tilled ground without any problems. If it's very loose, you could roll beforehand, or get the front roller wheels from Simtech (replacing the row of cutting discs). I've never had to though, drilling swedes, grass or S.Barley.

scholland · Aug 22, 2016

neilo said:
I've never used it on ploughed ground, but I have drilled into min-tilled ground without any problems. If it's very loose, you could roll beforehand, or get the front roller wheels from Simtech (replacing the row of cutting discs). I've never had to though, drilling swedes, grass or S.Barley.

Ta neilo, which simtech do you have? what are the running costs like, metal etc?

neilo · Aug 22, 2016

scholland said:
Ta neilo, which simtech do you have? what are the running costs like, metal etc?

Mine's the T-Sem 3m. I bought it secondhand (from George Simon) in 2013 and it had a new set of boots/wearing points thrown in as part of the deal, along with a set of sponge discs for the seed metering (normally £100 a full set). Those points are still on, but due for changing this winter. Supposed to do around 500ac on a set of points/'T' boots (which would appear to be about right, but depends on stones, etc) so roughly £1/ac on wearing metal. Had a couple of aging pipes & rubber fittings that have split/worn out, as you would expect on a secondhand machine, and two cutting disc axles have broken (modified replacement kit is about £80 each). Other than that, it hasn't cost anything much, yet.

Obviously the cutting discs will need replacing at some point too, but plenty of life in them yet.

It's a very simple drill, with little to go wrong and most things can be sorted quickly with a spanner, a big hammer and/or a welder.

Just dear to buy, even secondhand, in the first place. Hopefully it'll hold it's value well too though.

Yale · Aug 22, 2016

This years dd swedes.

Germination

2 months on.

GTB · Aug 22, 2016

Yale said:
This years dd swedes.

View attachment 386790

Germination

View attachment 386792

2 months on.

View attachment 386794

What drill did you use and was the muck spread before or after drilling?

Yale · Aug 22, 2016

GTB said:
What drill did you use and was the muck spread before or after drilling?

Grazed grassland with a week or two of regrowth sprayed off with roundup mid May.

Sowed with Aichson 21 May,variety invitation,cruiser treated against flea beetle.

Liberally dressed with loose box fym next day or two,also 3cwt/acre prilled lime and 3cwt p+k fert

Germinated and attacked by flea beetle at about 10 days so application by spray of Bandu and foliar feed,boron and micronutrient.

Attacked once more 14 days later so another application of Bandu,foliar feed and Laser to control a detrimental amount of grass regrowth.

Shut the gate and hope for the best,seems to be doing well.

Yale · Aug 22, 2016

Forgot to add,sown with slug pellets but also span on an extra 2kg per acre with bike as there were a few slugs around and had some pellets to spare.

Seed rate was near 700 grams per acre as dd guy had changed tyre on drill but not realised it had a smaller circumference,generally aim for 500 grams per acre however seemed to be poorer germination with this variety so rate was satisfactory

neilo · Aug 22, 2016

Yale said:
This years dd swedes.

View attachment 386794

Shocking! I can see a weed.

This year's crop is certainly not up to your usual standard.

Yale · Aug 24, 2016

neilo said:
Shocking! I can see a weed. This year's crop is certainly not up to your usual standard.

Today's photo shows how the weeds have stretched above in places,quite a few sow thistles etc.

One of the larger specimens by my size 9's.

scholland · Aug 24, 2016

Yale said:
Today's photo shows how the weeds have stretched above in places,quite a few sow thistles etc.
View attachment 387946

One of the larger specimens by my size 9's.
View attachment 387948

Look good, i sew a neep/swede/kale mix after 1st cut its fairly motoring on and considering it was only sown mid June it looks well, I'll try take a picture tomorrow.
The more i look at it the more the simtech seems the drill I'd like to try, seems very versatile.

Cows 'n grass · Aug 24, 2016

I'm just venturing into dd on a stock farm down here as well. We grow about 50ac SB an 50 ac kale. So far the SB has all been conventionally established by this is my second year dd kale.

A few pics of this years forage rape for summer grazing.

Drilled May 12( later than planned) in to what was probably a 5 year ley and was mostly docks.

~40t ha FYM
200kg 0:20:30
100kg 40:0:08
Claydon drill
2.5 kg ac + slug pellets
May 20th

15th June (1st rain in a month)

17th June

Last week

scholland · Aug 24, 2016

Cows 'n grass said:
I'm just venturing into dd on a stock farm down here as well. We grow about 50ac SB an 50 ac kale. So far the SB has all been conventionally established by this is my second year dd kale.

A few pics of this years forage rape for summer grazing.

Drilled May 12( later than planned) in to what was probably a 5 year ley and was mostly docks.

~40t ha FYM
200kg 0:20:30
100kg 40:0:08
Claydon drill
2.5 kg ac + slug pellets
May 20th

View attachment 388084

View attachment 388094

15th June (1st rain in a month)
View attachment 388102
17th June
View attachment 388104
Last week
View attachment 388106 View attachment 388114 View attachment 388118

Looks good! Do you hope to try dd barley next year?

Cows 'n grass · Aug 24, 2016

I might try a field. The SB is a bit of a pain really but I have to grow it for 3 more seasons to fulfill an HLS agreement that was already on the land when I took it on 2 years ago.

The dairy cows are the main enterprise and I don't want the SB to compete with them so at the moment I'm just growing it continuously on the same fields away from the dairy. My only good crops of SB have been when it's drilled into dust. The ground is long term arable with poor structure and low OM so I'm not quite sure how to break the cycle without moving the barley into my precious cow ground.

scholland · Aug 25, 2016

Sown 22/6 neep/swede/kale mix

scholland · Aug 25, 2016

martian · Aug 25, 2016

That is one big slug

scholland · Aug 25, 2016

martian said:
That is one big slug

Never used pellets, you think i should price a pallet load now I'm thinking about dd?!

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