1st time with AB9:Winter Bird Food Countryside Stewardship

[smet61]

I’m in the Countryside Stewardship and planning on cropping some AB9: Winter Bird Food.
I intend to grow traditional spring barley but on a poorer yielding area use barley as the dominant seed in the bird mix. From what I see the rules state a max 90% by weight for the barley.
Has anyone any tips or advice on the best mixes and the seed rate for the barley mix?
It appears the drawback of having to leave it until February restricts rotating it with normal crops. Does anyone keep it in the same plot for the 5 year agreement duration? Any tips and advice greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[warksfarmer]

Just going into year 5 with this. Having tried various bought in so called AB9 mixes, absolutely none of them work. You always get the strongest plant take over - always.

My advice is don’t try and mix the seed in the tank as it never comes out evenly and the vibration always separates them again. Best advice is drill one type of seed properly - the one you want to actually grow, then spin on the rest. Then roll it all in.

 

[Flat 10]

Disagree. Have had some good mixes and different species dominate in different plots. Have struggled to keep them on the same plots. Aiming for 2 year mixes is harder. Should have put on nitrogen but reluctant

 

[spin cycle]

1st year back into new scheme...in my old scheme i used to sow different plants in their own plot.....but that doesn't seem to be the 'fashion'

my thinking is drill the cereal......broadcast rest on top and roll

was going to buy straights as tailor made mixes look rip off

 

[carpenter1]

@Great In Grass

 

[Brisel]

We’ve used the same plots for 5 years here. No fancy mixtures - mostly a collection of seeds left over from crop drilling with a few broad leafed crops bought in as straights spun on later. Linseed, sunflowers and utopia seem to do ok here, but some of the ingredients of the whole mix vary in how they thrive according to soil type.

 

[TJ61]

We've had AB9 for last couple of years. First year bought ready mixed "Basic wild bird seed" plus my own saved barley (mixed together in grain bucket and sown in April with combi. The results were excellent on heavy land. The second year I bought straights and mixed everything together the same way sowing again in April with the combi. This time the plants started to grow but the cold wet spring knocked the life out of them and we ended up with a very poor crop. I did however direct drill an area in May with the same mix of seed and that crop was as good as the first years. In conclusion my policy this year is to mix straights then direct drill in May.

 

[B R C]

Also disagree, my mix from @Great In Grass was very good, I think possibly the trick is not drill early.