Thinking of having one last go at osr???

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Looking at market report this morning osr is £447 delivered am I silly in thinking about trying it? I’m thinking direct drill mid July very thick as soon as w barley is off leave until November and graze it down with sheep and come back in the spring and decided whether to plant spring crop or put n and weed control on. Would sheep take away the larvae if grazed hard enough and would it recover?
 
I’m thinking direct drill mid July very thick...leave until November and graze it down with sheep... Would sheep take away the larvae if grazed hard enough and would it recover?

If the growing point is nibbled to the floor it will struggle to get going again if we get a fortnight of sub-zero in Jan/Feb.

But I agree that £475/mt (inc bonus) is enough to give anyone crazy ideas...
 

D14

Member
Looking at market report this morning osr is £447 delivered am I silly in thinking about trying it? I’m thinking direct drill mid July very thick as soon as w barley is off leave until November and graze it down with sheep and come back in the spring and decided whether to plant spring crop or put n and weed control on. Would sheep take away the larvae if grazed hard enough and would it recover?

Whats your realistic margin going to be? All well and good seeing £475/t including bonus's but at 1t/acre its not very great is it? You'll be in the region of £120/acre input costs and £120/acre stubble to stubble costs without drying so is £235/acre worth it.
You really need that guarantee of 1.5t/acre or more for it to actually pay to do it.
 

herman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Whats your realistic margin going to be? All well and good seeing £475/t including bonus's but at 1t/acre its not very great is it? You'll be in the region of £120/acre input costs and £120/acre stubble to stubble costs without drying so is £235/acre worth it.
You really need that guarantee of 1.5t/acre or more for it to actually pay to do it.
Profit can depend on growing costs, its not worth the risk spending lots on it.
 

Rowland

Member
We used to use sumo trio with a seeder on for establishment worked best of any system we tried had a lad do it for 20-25 per acre could be more by now just normal seed rate sow last 2 weeks in August 1st 2 weeks in September in my neck of the woods the early the better. Looking around at local crops this year this method looks to have the best establishment rates. OSR is an expensive crop to grow, get a decent yield and can be worth it .
 

D14

Member
Profit can depend on growing costs, its not worth the risk spending lots on it.

Yes but if you break it down its going to need 250kg/ha of Nitrogen and about 60kg/ha of Sulphur. You could have a P 7 K holiday. Then you've got a autumn and spring herbicide, at least one fungicide, flea beetle sprays possibly x 3/4, slug pellets x 2, schlerotinia spray maybe x 2. Then there is the whole host of micronutrients etc if you use them. I don't think theres a massive margin at £475/t unless you can guarantee up towards 2t/ac which are no longer achieveable due to uk soils being sick of osr.
 
Yes but if you break it down its going to need 250kg/ha of Nitrogen and about 60kg/ha of Sulphur. You could have a P 7 K holiday. Then you've got a autumn and spring herbicide, at least one fungicide, flea beetle sprays possibly x 3/4, slug pellets x 2, schlerotinia spray maybe x 2. Then there is the whole host of micronutrients etc if you use them. I don't think theres a massive margin at £475/t unless you can guarantee up towards 2t/ac which are no longer achieveable due to uk soils being sick of osr.
That seems a "toppy" programme to me. Possible to do it with a lot less, especially as OP said he would apply nothing untill the spring then decide after grazing with sheep. Sheep will reduce N requirement. Single phoma spray, single well timed sclerotinia spray and only herbicide in spring can be clorpyralid for thisles. Astrokerb only until end Jan.
It is risky though and you are right to highlight this.
 

GeorgeK

Member
Location
Leicestershire
The problem is it can look good and suck up inputs all the way through to spring then get hammered by larvae and not yield. I think there were some trials grazing and mowing OSR to remove the larvae but don't think they were a huge success, knocked the yield back quite a bit?
There are some good looking crops around this year but only time will tell, ours looks good from the road but has a lot of larvae in some plants
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Last time we tried I spent £2k on seed and got nothing back. If I had any home saved I would have used it but after a break there is no HSS and big risk using bought in. Without more flexibility and understanding from the seed police we won’t be sticking our necks out again.
 

Cow1

Member
Integrating livestock and arable. What’s not to like about it? Had the same idea myself as the only way I would consider WOSR again. There’s a value for the sheep grazing, the plant should have a massive root structure and hopefully carry less disease and larvae when you take the sheep off.
 

tr250

Member
Location
Northants
Integrating livestock and arable. What’s not to like about it? Had the same idea myself as the only way I would consider WOSR again. There’s a value for the sheep grazing, the plant should have a massive root structure and hopefully carry less disease and larvae when you take the sheep off.
Yes this year recon we could make a fair profit from the sheep alone at the price they are making. Took our last little thing with a few ewes the thrapston 2 weeks ago and he made £119 for the worst lamb of the year
 
Last time we tried I spent £2k on seed and got nothing back. If I had any home saved I would have used it but after a break there is no HSS and big risk using bought in. Without more flexibility and understanding from the seed police we won’t be sticking our necks out again.

That’s why we always keep 2t. Current stock is 3 years old and will still grow if planted.
 

EddieB

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Staffs
OSR seed cost is scary. Plus with most of the other costs are loaded at the front end it is certainly a risky proposition. One of my neighbours always drills seed straight off the pile and it seems to grow well. I must be a mug paying full whack for new seed.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,292
  • 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