Balansa clover

[matttargett4]

I was going to post an update and this thread popped up today.

direct drilled balansa from farm marketplace into undisturbed spring wheat stubble, on poor ground, around the 20/8/20, completely untouched until it was cut on the 5/6/21, yes it was late but we were busy and it wasn’t a priority, it had been flowering for over a month by then and probably 50% of the flowers were gone, cut, left a couple of days, raked, left a day and baked and wrapped, 70 odd 120*90*1500 bales from 10 acs, 82% dm, 9me and 18% cp according to the tests, we’ve just finished feeding it to dairy replacements for about a month since housing, it wasn’t buffered at all, fed ad-lib, they were keen for it which helped, I was worried about low energy but was expected to only be a stop gap so just kept an eye on them.
animals look excellent without exception and if I had more of it I would have left them on it all winter without any worries.
i havent really thought about the cost per tonne but it must be pretty cheap, best suited to arable ground where your struggling for a break crop in that respect.

overall pleased, might do it again if the situation arises

 

[neilo]

Hi,
From where do you buy FixatioN?

Where are you? In the UK, Germinal imported some from the US.

Personally, I wouldn’t pay much for it. I couldn’t get it to last long here, under mowing or rotational grazing. It will make a big (wet) silage crop though I guess.

 

[iulianV]

Where are you? In the UK, Germinal imported some from the US.

Personally, I wouldn’t pay much for it. I couldn’t get it to last long here, under mowing or rotational grazing. It will make a big (wet) silage crop though I guess.

I'm from Bulgaria and I want to use it for cover crop.

 

[neilo]

I'm from Bulgaria and I want to use it for cover crop.

Berseem clover would be cheaper and easier to obtain I would think, and do a similar job?

I’ve no idea if Germinal would (or could) send seed to Bulgaria, but it might be worth enquiring if you really want to try Fixation. @Kevtherev or @Great In Grass might be able to give you contacts details of someone that might be able to help.

 

[som farmer]

we over seeded some long leys with it, last autumn, will await the spring, with interest, Ours didn't actually say it was fixation, which l hadn't heard of then. Got ours of NWF, at £176 for a 20kg bag, 2.5 kilos/ac. We have a drill, so for that kind of money, cheap little experiment.
Going forward, intending to experiment with other legumes, as a dairy farmer, other than the unavoidable, N and protein are 2 of the dearest inputs, and anything we can grow, on farm, to cut them, will show on the bottom line.
It is going outside of our 'comfort zone', and l suspect there are many 'new' crops, we can do, and if the climate change zealots are correct, we may be 'warm' enough to try more 'tropical' ones. I always work on the principle, if you don't try them, you will never know.

 

[ollie989898]

Which clover would you pair with oats to drill in the spring for a whole crop of sorts and at what rate? Don't want the cost of it getting too insensible.

I suppose if you put 4kg of red clover in there you would get a ready to go red clover sward by the end of August.

 

[som farmer]

Which clover would you pair with oats to drill in the spring for a whole crop of sorts and at what rate? Don't want the cost of it getting too insensible.

I suppose if you put 4kg of red clover in there you would get a ready to go red clover sward by the end of August.

not sure l would use oats, they lodge to easily.
we grew hybrid rye, and vetches last year, awesome, 15 ton/ac, followed by a heavy maize crop.
balsana is meant to self seed easily, so as long as you leave it to seed, 1 cut, should get some 'free' balsana in the following yr. We are trying it out in older leys, we cannot plough, to try and increase feed value of them, and the fixated N.
All legumes are quite obviously going to increase in importance, especially with the price of fert. And there are many types, some probably never heard of, and it will be interesting to see how 'consultants' advise, going forward, to reduce, or replace purchased fert. It has been an important part of crop production, for 50 yrs ? and an easy, convenient product to apply, we really don't know what the price will be, after this year, politics come into it, and they are unpredictable. But l think it will not return to £200's again, so, that makes fert, as we know it, a fairly short lived chemical fix, going forward, there are choices guvs will have to make, unwelcome ones. If fert stays high, food production will fall, on a global stage, if food is short, prices will go up, that's supply/demand. I really don't think many politicians, scientists, green zealots etc, know what will happen, if they keep removing chemical fixers, that allow us to produce cheap food.
Basically, farmers need a price for product, that leaves a profit, however small, if not, we wont grow it, we cannot grow it. So that leaves guvs, around the globe, facing food inflation, in a bad year, rampant inflation, which will hurt. Choices are, let food costs rise, which means less tax for guvs, - food is zero tax, more spent on food, less on taxable goods, re-introduce subs for farmers, to keep costs low, or let people starve, perhaps, as well, find alternatives. Doesn't leave much room, for manoeuvring, does it ?

 

[ollie989898]

not sure l would use oats, they lodge to easily.
we grew hybrid rye, and vetches last year, awesome, 15 ton/ac, followed by a heavy maize crop.
balsana is meant to self seed easily, so as long as you leave it to seed, 1 cut, should get some 'free' balsana in the following yr. We are trying it out in older leys, we cannot plough, to try and increase feed value of them, and the fixated N.
All legumes are quite obviously going to increase in importance, especially with the price of fert. And there are many types, some probably never heard of, and it will be interesting to see how 'consultants' advise, going forward, to reduce, or replace purchased fert. It has been an important part of crop production, for 50 yrs ? and an easy, convenient product to apply, we really don't know what the price will be, after this year, politics come into it, and they are unpredictable. But l think it will not return to £200's again, so, that makes fert, as we know it, a fairly short lived chemical fix, going forward, there are choices guvs will have to make, unwelcome ones. If fert stays high, food production will fall, on a global stage, if food is short, prices will go up, that's supply/demand. I really don't think many politicians, scientists, green zealots etc, know what will happen, if they keep removing chemical fixers, that allow us to produce cheap food.
Basically, farmers need a price for product, that leaves a profit, however small, if not, we wont grow it, we cannot grow it. So that leaves guvs, around the globe, facing food inflation, in a bad year, rampant inflation, which will hurt. Choices are, let food costs rise, which means less tax for guvs, - food is zero tax, more spent on food, less on taxable goods, re-introduce subs for farmers, to keep costs low, or let people starve, perhaps, as well, find alternatives. Doesn't leave much room, for manoeuvring, does it ?

I think this was mentioned on another thread, even with nitrogen being the price it was, it added less than 2ppl to a litre of milk as I understand it. So for dairy at least, I think nitrogen will remain in use for some time.

 

[neilo]

balsana is meant to self seed easily, so as long as you leave it to seed, 1 cut, should get some 'free' balsana in the following yr. We are trying it out in older leys, we cannot plough, to try and increase feed value of them, and the fixated N.

Yeah, you would think it would be a great addition to pastures.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and you'll find a few of us thinking/hoping for the same and giving it a go. It hasn't delivered.

Cheap enough to buy some seed and trial it though, which is always an interesting project.

 

[som farmer]

I think this was mentioned on another thread, even with nitrogen being the price it was, it added less than 2ppl to a litre of milk as I understand it. So for dairy at least, I think nitrogen will remain in use for some time.

N is at a price, that use will be reduced, in all sectors, unless product price goes up to match.
Adding 2ppl a litre, would put many producing at a loss, so for those, problems.
the whole problem is food is to cheap, our margins have been cut to the bone, there isn't really any slack left, so, if food, milk beef lamb or corn, is wanted, prices will have to rise, and we see they are being dragged up.
But, we are the bottom rung, any extra money coming in, is taken by those above us, on that ladder, and they probably need it as well. So prices have to substantially rise, for farmers to benefit.

 

[som farmer]

Yeah, you would think it would be a great addition to pastures.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and you'll find a few of us thinking/hoping for the same and giving it a go. It hasn't delivered.

Cheap enough to buy some seed and trial it though, which is always an interesting project.

any carry over, would be bonus, although in the states, volunteer balsana is a problem, in following corn crops.
We are looking at it from a 1 yr crop, to sow into older grass, to lift food value, and a bit of N.
Milk from forage, is crucial to profit, so anything we can do, to lift feed value of grass, impacts rather well. We have r clover leys, giving us higher protein silage, but we cannot grow continuous red, because of wilt.
N has been an easy cheap fix, but N and protein, seem to be on a ever upwards spiral, all we are looking at, is improving protein levels, in crops, especially in older leys, we cannot plough. It may well be, that we grow some legumes, as straights, as we have done with r/c and lucerne, a case of experimenting, that could give us great returns, as l said, N has been an easy fix.

 

[Kevtherev]

Berseem clover would be cheaper and easier to obtain I would think, and do a similar job?

I’ve no idea if Germinal would (or could) send seed to Bulgaria, but it might be worth enquiring if you really want to try Fixation. @Kevtherev or @Great In Grass might be able to give you contacts details of someone that might be able to help.

That man on a bike of course

 

[neilo]

That man on a bike of course

He can’t peddle fast enough to work with Germinal can he?

 

[som farmer]

Yeah, you would think it would be a great addition to pastures.

Go back to the beginning of this thread and you'll find a few of us thinking/hoping for the same and giving it a go. It hasn't delivered.

Cheap enough to buy some seed and trial it though, which is always an interesting project.

did as suggested, bloody long thread ! Sounds like it all sort of fizzled out, full of promise to start with, and then went quiet.
Still, if you don't try these things, you never know, and will await the spring with interest.

 

[Kevtherev]

did as suggested, bloody long thread ! Sounds like it all sort of fizzled out, full of promise to start with, and then went quiet.
Still, if you don't try these things, you never know, and will await the spring with interest.

Don’t know why it didn’t deliver as I thought which is a shame.
Very promising in its first year but just seemed to disappear in second year.

 

[Kevtherev]

May be a case of it prefers to grow in a pure stand ???

 

[som farmer]

May be a case of it prefers to grow in a pure stand ???

we overseeded some old, much less productive pasture, we are not allowed to plough. In the hope it makes better silage, and fixes N. Might be to wet, for a pure stand ? Most of our silage is analysing at 16%, Some r/clover leys have come back at 19% protein. Very good silage, is worth a lot, and as both fert and protein prices are rather 'hot', anything we can do, will help, and we are quite happy to try different 'things'.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

May be a case of it prefers to grow in a pure stand ???

will grow with anything if conditions are favorable. Wetter the better in spring too. If you expect it to persist though you need to let it seed down properly and make hay from it so the seed drops out. Silaging it isn't conducive to it coming back. And it's not designed to grow all summer either. Likes a cool winter and then once flowered in spring that's it.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

will grow with anything if conditions are favorable. Wetter the better in spring too. If you expect it to persist though you need to let it seed down properly and make hay from it so the seed drops out. Silaging it isn't conducive to it coming back. And it's not designed to grow all summer either. Likes a cool winter and then once flowered in spring that's it.

We quickly figured out that it loves to steam along in the spring, moreso if the spring is steamy (like you guys get, here it is cold-wet then warm-dry by comparison).
I occasionally see a plant where we put the balansa in, but the micro-leafed sheep-shagged white clover would grow twice the biomass in our conditions.

 

[neilo]

will grow with anything if conditions are favorable. Wetter the better in spring too. If you expect it to persist though you need to let it seed down properly and make hay from it so the seed drops out. Silaging it isn't conducive to it coming back. And it's not designed to grow all summer either. Likes a cool winter and then once flowered in spring that's it.

Not much chance of making hay of it in the UK IMO, the hollow stems would take a month of our summer temperatures, by which time any regrowth would be back up through it.