Maize as a Game Crop

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berty75

New Member

• Nov 22, 2016

• #1

Hi all,

I run a little shoot on our family farm in North Yorkshire. We have never had much luck with growing maize, mainly because we have just planted it and neglected it as its purely for a hobby of shooting pheasants/partridge.

As we are starting to put a few more birds down, we are now taking the crop more seriously. Can anyone help me on any of these questions/any other top tips. A variety with good standing power, to last a season and maybe cobless?, fertiliser and when to apply, weed control chemicals pre and post emergent? Drill width for a game crop? Seed rate (I have read an article that if the seed rate is too high, the crop focuses on growing tall and can reduce standing power?) . Also does anyone under sow it with something else to give cover late in the season when it gets a bit thin?.
Come spring/ when the soil is warm enough we will drill it with a normal air drill, blocking off coulters.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Bert

 

Great In Grass

Member

✓

Location

Cornwall.

• Nov 22, 2016

• #2

Attached some light reading and some suitable maize varieties.

 

Attachments

• Game Maize.pdf

  212.4 KB · Views: 30
• forage maize technical guide FE 2011.pdf

  4.8 MB · Views: 24

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Half Pint

Member

• Nov 22, 2016

• #3

This season we put ours in with a 6m Vaderstad blocking 2 out of 3 rows which worked well leaving just enough room for beaters to walk between rows. Blocking 2 out of 3 rows has the added advantage of the markers not needing to be adjusted on this drill.

 

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berty75

New Member

• Nov 22, 2016

• #4

Great In Grass said:

Attached some light reading and some suitable maize varieties.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much these are very helpful!

 

ollie989898

Member

Location

Hanging from a twig, in a deep sleep.

• Nov 23, 2016

• #5

Hi Berty.

Game maize is a doddle. The problem is that it is always piddly little amounts.

No such thing as cobless maize as such, you just choose a variety with a high FAO number so it doesn't get enough degree days to mature.

Normally game maize goes in horrible neglected corners.

Get out and roundup the areas when you can travel in February. Plough it nicely, and make a perfect seed bed. Normally these places are hungry as sin as no one bothers to put any dung on, so chuck on say 3 CWT of 20.10.10.

Drill the stuff at 40,000 seeds but don't rush to be the first to do it. Wait until mid May.

Pre-emergence, you want PDM (Stomp Aqua) or Wing-P if you are feeling wealthy.

Watch it come up and keep eye out for birds and slugs.

When weeds begin to arrive, take a photo of the field and then close up, and I will tell you what to apply and when. Agronomy by remote! It's dead easy as there aren't 50 options for maize anymore.

Game maize is normally a blend of varieties, can be had dirt cheap, normally less than £40 a bag in most cases.

 

corkman2013

Member

Location

co.cork

• Nov 23, 2016

• #6

Would you grow sweetcorn the same way. Local contractor has samco seeder

 

ollie989898

Member

Location

Hanging from a twig, in a deep sleep.

• Nov 23, 2016

• #7

corkman2013 said:

Would you grow sweetcorn the same way. Local contractor has samco seeder

Click to expand...

Slightly different. Different breeding and it wants warmer better sites.

Also BEWARE: maize herbicides are not all cleared on sweetcorn- you can kill the crop with them.

 

corkman2013

Member

Location

co.cork

• Nov 23, 2016

• #8

Was planning on using stomp aqua as pre em. Using plastic. Base fertility 400kg 8.5.18 . I have been looking at Tozers catalogue. Field is south facing, 100m above sea level, 5km fr climate coast, climate simular to Pembroke or North Cornwall

 

yellow belly

Member

Location

south west lincolnshire

• Nov 24, 2016

• #9

we use perennial chichory and artichokes which are a lot easier to maintain in a difficult maize year

the problem with maize is it increases the don levels in wheat crops grown near it

 

mikep

Member

Location

Arse end of Surrey, UK

• Nov 28, 2016

• #10

Badgers have 90% of ours as they can reach the cobs or push the plant down.

 

Michael S

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

Matching Green

• Dec 29, 2016

• #11

Gave up with maize here due to badger and deer pressure. Now grow intermediate sorghum having tried dwarf sorghum. Stands all season and the songbirds enjoy the seed. Intrestingly I visited a shoot who had settled on intermediate sorghum having given up on maize and tried giant sorghum which didn't stand all season in their exposed area. Depending on your elevation you maybe to far north for sorghum would be my only caution.

Michael

 

britt

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

leics/warks border

• Dec 31, 2016

• #12

We gave up maize because it encouraged rats.

 

Oakbank

Member

BASE UK Member

• Feb 20, 2017

• #13

To avoid Badger, Rat and Deer problems you can use Maize, but go for one with a high FAO number and plant it a bit later than normal (beginning / middle of June). Make sure you don't maul your seedbeds about too much and dry them out first, then bank on getting some rain when Wimbledon starts ;-)
The crop should not get enough heat units to form a proper ripe cob if you delay planting and use a late variety, although a long, late summer can still catch you out. All maize will eventually produce a cob as otherwise you could not produce any seed of that variety. The variety we use is normally grown in southern Europe where it gets higher temperatures for a longer period and it stands incredibly well through the winter.

 

britt

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

leics/warks border

• Feb 21, 2017

• #14

We grow Kings campaign mix instead.
It's quite happy being notill drilled, easy to grow, there are good herbicide options, produces lots of seed for all types of bird, doesn't attract rats and badgers, is eligable for ELS, is warmer than maize and grows on the sort of ground that is often only available for cover crops (which is often not ideal for maize).