Break crops

[Drillman]

Taken on a lump of heavy land it’s been barley after barley after barley and I’m sure is sick of the stuff. It’s also as tight as and needs a good pull up.

OSR I’m not impressed with the returns or the risk any more, And never got control of it till it was too late.

Spring oats?. Nah too much of the dreaded black grass.

Peas? Hmm don’t fancy trying to scrape them up off the floor.

Beans? Need different concaves in the combine and I don’t think our drill will bury them deep enough.

sublet for spuds vining peas etc, nope tenancy terms forbids it.

SFI options look the most viable and would in time give a good entry for wheat.

what to grow though, would like some sort of production from the land, Baled and wrapped preferably.

Grass mix, herbal ley, Lucerne or something else? Got plenty hungry cattle kicking about in winter to eat it so that’s not an issue.

 

[ollie989898]

I think I'd wait until spring, soil test, put right any pH, P or K issues and then drill it with kale or redstart. Graze over it in summer with your cattle (will be a boon if we have another hot dry summer as all the food will be stood there looking at you), and then run discs over it and drill with wheat in the autumn?

Puts you back into cereals, gives a break from pests and disease and seed for fodder crops is cheap.

You could do my grass/red clover and spring barley trick and mow and bale that but grass seed is expensive and it will want to be left for two years+ to do any good.

Lucerne only practical if it drains freely. Hates wet feet. Can be sprayed for blackgrass if you know how.

 

[HarryB97]

Herbal ley for SFI is the obvious choice. Make up your own mix, no fert, high in protein and you get paid

 

[Pigless]

Taken on a lump of heavy land it’s been barley after barley after barley and I’m sure is sick of the stuff. It’s also as tight as and needs a good pull up.

OSR I’m not impressed with the returns or the risk any more, And never got control of it till it was too late.

Spring oats?. Nah too much of the dreaded black grass.

Peas? Hmm don’t fancy trying to scrape them up off the floor.

Beans? Need different concaves in the combine and I don’t think our drill will bury them deep enough.

sublet for spuds vining peas etc, nope tenancy terms forbids it.

SFI options look the most viable and would in time give a good entry for wheat.

what to grow though, would like some sort of production from the land, Baled and wrapped preferably.

Grass mix, herbal ley, Lucerne or something else? Got plenty hungry cattle kicking about in winter to eat it so that’s not an issue.

When you enter a new block of land, is it a separate holding with its own SBI no ,or do you add it to your own?
Just thinking you have to do the option for three years and can you move the requirement from one holding to another?

 

[Spud]

Taken on a lump of heavy land it’s been barley after barley after barley and I’m sure is sick of the stuff. It’s also as tight as and needs a good pull up.

OSR I’m not impressed with the returns or the risk any more, And never got control of it till it was too late.

Spring oats?. Nah too much of the dreaded black grass.

Peas? Hmm don’t fancy trying to scrape them up off the floor.

Beans? Need different concaves in the combine and I don’t think our drill will bury them deep enough.

sublet for spuds vining peas etc, nope tenancy terms forbids it.

SFI options look the most viable and would in time give a good entry for wheat.

what to grow though, would like some sort of production from the land, Baled and wrapped preferably.

Grass mix, herbal ley, Lucerne or something else? Got plenty hungry cattle kicking about in winter to eat it so that’s not an issue.

Why do you need different concaves?

Fodder beet or grass would be my thoughts

 

[Drillman]

Why do you need different concaves?

Fodder beet or grass would be my thoughts

Axail flow and need wide wire ones for beans we've 2 narrow and the rear is wide, for beans I believe we need 3 wide ones

 

[Drillman]

When you enter a new block of land, is it a separate holding with its own SBI no ,or do you add it to your own?
Just thinking you have to do the option for three years and can you move the requirement from one holding to another?

Added to existing holding in our case

 

[More to life]

I’d be tempted to keep growing barley rent to pay.

 

[ollie989898]

Could go with beet if the landlord was sympathetic. Sounds like it desperately needs a break from cereal in my view.

 

[Drillman]

Could go with beet if the landlord was sympathetic. Sounds like it desperately needs a break from cereal in my view.

Yes it needs a non cereal crop on it.
barley will do well to wipe its face

 

[homefarm]

I would stick with spring barley too. Then grow continuous wheat as the take all should be well broken with continuous barley.

Has worked on a block we took on which growing was continuous poor spring barley.
4tonnes of lime has transformed it along with plenty of P and K. Does not improve vernight but poor barley in my experience is usually low ph.

 

[Grass And Grain]

I would stick with spring barley too. Then grow continuous wheat as the take all should be well broken with continuous barley.

Has worked on a block we took on which growing was continuous poor spring barley.
4tonnes of lime has transformed it along with plenty of P and K. Does not improve vernight but poor barley in my experience is usually low ph.

We are considering putting a field into continuous wheat. If we went wheat, wheat, barley, wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat,wheat.

The barley as a third cereal would be decent enough, and probably a lot better than a third wheat, then go to continuous wheat after that. Do you think that's a reasonable way to get into continuous wheat? Will it work?

 

[Cowcorn]

We are considering putting a field into continuous wheat. If we went wheat, wheat, barley, wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat,wheat.

The barley as a third cereal would be decent enough, and probably a lot better than a third wheat, then go to continuous wheat after that. Do you think that's a reasonable way to get into continuous wheat? Will it work?

Depends ,how heavy is the ground ?? Year three and four are usually the worst before take all decline sets in .
Continuous wheat can yield very well when everything goes with it .
We grow 30 acres and plenty of slurry before ploughing seems to give it a kick .

 

[Salopian_Will]

We are considering putting a field into continuous wheat. If we went wheat, wheat, barley, wheat, wheat, wheat, wheat,wheat.

The barley as a third cereal would be decent enough, and probably a lot better than a third wheat, then go to continuous wheat after that. Do you think that's a reasonable way to get into continuous wheat? Will it work?

I'd take the hit with a third wheat on the basis that wheat after barley is generally held as a no-no. You have more herb options too with the wheat. One dirty barley crop could make cont wheat unviable.

We used to grow quite a lot of continuous wheat but found it too difficult to keep the grass weeds at bay without ploughing. We will do WW/WW/WB on occasions though.

 

[tw15]

Axail flow and need wide wire ones for beans we've 2 narrow and the rear is wide, for beans I believe we need 3 wide ones

Cheap enough to get sh ask oliver Bocassion hell get you some as brings a lot of kit from france if you cant find any here

 

[Grass And Grain]

Depends ,how heavy is the ground ?? Year three and four are usually the worst before take all decline sets in .
Continuous wheat can yield very well when everything goes with it .
We grow 30 acres and plenty of slurry before ploughing seems to give it a kick .

It's so heavy, that it's downfall is probably that it won't get drilled some autumns. This year, it's still looking at me as a stubble.

Father wants to put it in continuous wheat, but I don't think we'll get it drilled every year. Well, I'm almost certain we won't, so we could go through the pain of years 3/4, then it could be fallow.

Think I might go wheat, stewardship, wheat, stewardship, etc.

 

[nxy]

It does sound like classic bean growing land and compared to the costs involved in growing a crop these days, the investment in two additional concaves does not seem huge.

If nothing else they will enhance the second hand value of your combine. They are still a pain to change though.

 

[DRC]

If you’ve got cattle to feed then a grass ley for 3 yrs, then 3 yrs cereals.
Get some muck on as well.

 

[ollie989898]

Heavy land that possibly won't get drilled in an adverse autumn is surely a place where a good rotation will be essential. Want's cattle on it for starters in my view, it sounds broken and uncared for.

 

[Fish]

To be fair, if your running a big wire in P3, you only need to swoop out the small wire in P2, which is the easiest to change any way.
To cut beans I’ve never changed the front concave, always run a small wire in that position.