Autocast rape

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Does Tony Reynolds at Thurlby still establish his that way?

My turnips Claydon sown 8th August seem ok though with more around on my emerging osr I'll have another look this afternoon.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
He did for many years while he was searching for the perfect no till drill, whatever one of those is! Last time I saw inside his shed he had as many drills as the rest of us had cultivators!
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
Think best approach is to transplant the superb rape plants growing on the concrete yard where no flea beetle seems to bother them despite millions pouring out of the adjacent grain store only a few weeks ago and still managing to clamber out even now. They seem to ignore these tasty plants and determined to wander off for a field. Have concluded Flea Beetle will survive a nuclear winter or meteorite strike!
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
The OP is a serious point though. I had been pondering the same - returning in effect to the early 2000's when Autocast was used as cheap. Off the combine would be earlier and cheaper - and if then failed less loss cost. Hey ho.
 

Case290

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Worcestershire
Auto cast some hear first time as reasons above , and seams to have all come. Photo weeks old
C48249B3-B2B4-4F4F-A95B-805A454ED08E.jpeg
D28E21B1-2158-40AE-A469-2229D1D7EAB3.jpeg
E330C7B6-C932-48E4-904B-60869971B3AB.jpeg
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Here’s a cover crop broadcast into the standing wheat crop 4 days before harvesting.
FC0280A8-9ACF-4FB4-9639-1662B6D439A5.jpeg


There are good reasons autocasting isn’t very popular.

There are always unexplained patches in the crop where it never establishes.
No gain in yield and herbicide choice is restricted - not worth doing pre em residuals and less reliable results from Kerb later on.
Slugs can work freely under the straw mat.
It slows the combine down but well trained operators and trailer drivers can mitigate the stoppage time
Long hypocotyl lengths believed to make the plants more frost susceptible.

Good bits;

Cheap
Timely
You could redrill later if necessary Mostly pigeon proof stubbles afterwards, just cut the ears off.
No fancy no till drill required, just a hard-to-calibrate Techneat. Twin hoppers for sluggies also available.
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
At Groundswell there was a talk with a picture of combine with disk drill coulters mounted on the back of a combine header. They were using it for fast reliable establishment of cover crops, but it did make me wonder. It was in one of Fredric Thomas’s talks.
 
Last edited:

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Here’s a cover crop broadcast into the standing wheat crop 4 days before harvesting.
View attachment 832801

There are good reasons autocasting isn’t very popular.

There are always unexplained patches in the crop where it never establishes.
No gain in yield and herbicide choice is restricted - not worth doing pre em residuals and less reliable results from Kerb later on.
Slugs can work freely under the straw mat.
It slows the combine down but well trained operators and trailer drivers can mitigate the stoppage time
Long hypocotyl lengths believed to make the plants more frost susceptible.

Good bits;

Cheap
Timely
You could redrill later if necessary Mostly pigeon proof stubbles afterwards, just cut the ears off.
No fancy no till drill required, just a hard-to-calibrate Techneat. Twin hoppers for sluggies also available.
Here’s a cover crop broadcast into the standing wheat crop 4 days before harvesting.
View attachment 832801

There are good reasons autocasting isn’t very popular.

There are always unexplained patches in the crop where it never establishes.
No gain in yield and herbicide choice is restricted - not worth doing pre em residuals and less reliable results from Kerb later on.
Slugs can work freely under the straw mat.
It slows the combine down but well trained operators and trailer drivers can mitigate the stoppage time
Long hypocotyl lengths believed to make the plants more frost susceptible.

Good bits;

Cheap
Timely
You could redrill later if necessary Mostly pigeon proof stubbles afterwards, just cut the ears off.
No fancy no till drill required, just a hard-to-calibrate Techneat. Twin hoppers for sluggies also available.
Is the hypocotyl when it has a stem before the stem? Noticing this in our oat drilled after the stripper header. Never seen it before. Small thin stem things for an inch or two above the soil then the big thick rape main stem.
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Is the hypocotyl when it has a stem before the stem? Noticing this in our oat drilled after the stripper header. Never seen it before. Small thin stem things for an inch or two above the soil then the big thick rape main stem.
Yes that’s the hypocotyl.
 

oil barron

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
Here’s a cover crop broadcast into the standing wheat crop 4 days before harvesting.
View attachment 832801

There are good reasons autocasting isn’t very popular.

There are always unexplained patches in the crop where it never establishes.
No gain in yield and herbicide choice is restricted - not worth doing pre em residuals and less reliable results from Kerb later on.
Slugs can work freely under the straw mat.
It slows the combine down but well trained operators and trailer drivers can mitigate the stoppage time
Long hypocotyl lengths believed to make the plants more frost susceptible.

Good bits;

Cheap
Timely
You could redrill later if necessary Mostly pigeon proof stubbles afterwards, just cut the ears off.
No fancy no till drill required, just a hard-to-calibrate Techneat. Twin hoppers for sluggies also available.

I can’t make my mind up if that stubble is really tall or not from the picture.
 

snarling bee

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
When the proverbial hits the rotating blades autocast my come back into fashion. Some round here swear that it is then best way to avoid CSFB problems. And kerb works well too.
I agree with what you say about the unexplained bare bits in every field.
You never get the highest yield but you got a cheap crop.
 

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