Catch crops 2018

[Will 1594]

Where does the marl come from? Interested to see pictures not heard of this being done in modern times.

Just digging a clay bank off and tipping in a really sandy field ,it’s very dry and hard ,put around 3000ton on 15 acre

 

[mixed breed]

Update. Had some very good downpours here and the fencing posts are going in better. Catch crops looking better also

In the ground Five weeks:
turnips, quite thin and open

and rape.

Seven weeks in the ground:
Turnips bulbing up nicely

And mustard to hide a child in

Although the rain has helped bring everything on, some of the drier parts of the fields will never recover.

 

[Brisel]

Phacelia worth looking at too, lots of seed in a kilo.

Will it do much now? Mine is quite small but the July broadcast stuff looks like it may flower which will please the local beekeepers

 

[DRC]

Update. Had some very good downpours here and the fencing posts are going in better. Catch crops looking better also

In the ground Five weeks:
turnips, quite thin and openView attachment 717362 and rape. View attachment 717358


Seven weeks in the ground:
Turnips bulbing up nicelyView attachment 717360
And mustard to hide a child inView attachment 717464 Although the rain has helped bring everything on, some of the drier parts of the fields will never recover. View attachment 717370 View attachment 717374

Mustard looking good. What’s the plan with it and how did you establish it

 

[Flat 10]

Claydon sown turnips into baled wheat stubble 5/8/18. Just starting to bulb up now. View attachment 716842

Vetch/buckwheat/phacelia cover crop broadcast into the standing wheat 26/7/18 and the wheat harvested 2 weeks later. Straw chopped. The oilseed rape plants are volunteers from last year.
View attachment 716846
View attachment 716848

Cover crop pre spring barley? When will it be destroyed/grazed? Vetch buckwheat etc....

 

[mixed breed]

Mustard looking good. What’s the plan with it and how did you establish it

Efa catch crop, lightly cultivated and sowed with the combi @4kg/acre, the volunteer barley is the other crop
Though id graze it with lambs once the retention date has passed, to be honest they could do with escaping into there now.

 

[Flat 10]

Efa catch crop, lightly cultivated and sowed with the combi @4kg/acre, the volunteer barley is the other crop
Though id graze it with lambs once the retention date has passed, to be honest they could do with escaping into there now.

I never knew lambs would eat mustard

 

[DRC]

Efa catch crop, lightly cultivated and sowed with the combi @4kg/acre, the volunteer barley is the other crop
Though id graze it with lambs once the retention date has passed, to be honest they could do with escaping into there now.

Hasn't there been a relaxing of the rules due to the drought, or did I dream that!

 

[neilo]

I never knew lambs would eat mustard

I was told, and I hope, they do. I have 12ac DD’ed into Winter Barley stubble that smaller lambs will be going into later this week. A bit variable in yield, and you can see the extent of any tree roots coming out from the adjoining wood, but about 2’ high in places. Field is destined for Winter Barley again, so needs to be off within the next 3-4 weeks really.
I will be turning 300 or so lambs into the whole field, who will no doubt tramp a bit in before they get a taste for it. I don’t expect them to grow that well on it, but it will store them whilst giving the grass a breather to get going properly, hopefully.....

 

[mixed breed]

I never knew lambs would eat mustard

I've not grown and fed it here for over 20years. When my grandfather (the sheep man) was alive, we always had to grow a field of it as he reckoned it was "the best drench (wormer) they will get" i'm not sure weather he was right or not, but we gave up growing it because it doesn't hold up to frosts like turnips do.

 

[neilo]

I've not grown and fed it here for over 20years. When my grandfather (the sheep man) was alive, we always had to grow a field of it as he reckoned it was "the best drench (wormer) they will get" i'm not sure weather he was right or not, but we gave up growing it because it doesn't hold up to frosts like turnips do.

I was advised that it’s the last crop you can get away with sowing, but also the first you need to graze.

 

[Brisel]

I never knew lambs would eat mustard

Do you think it should be mint or cranberries instead, keeping the mustard for beef cattle?

 

[Flat 10]

Do you think it should be mint or cranberries instead, keeping the mustard for beef cattle?

I should have rephrased that, i didn't know anything ate mustard apart from some insects. How is your cover crop pictured above going to be controlled/grazed? Is it preceding spring barley?

 

[Brisel]

I should have rephrased that, i didn't know anything ate mustard apart from some insects. How is your cover crop pictured above going to be controlled/grazed? Is it preceding spring barley?

Sorry, I was just thinking of my stomach & pre-marinating the meat...

I've not seen it done but I'm led to believe that sheep will eat mustard, though it must be a bit spicy. My cover crop of vetch/phacelia/buckwheat and volunteer osr/wheat will be sprayed off in Jan/Feb ahead of March direct drilling. The grazier I have lined up for the turnips asked if he could graze some but he'll have to wait until the Countryside Stewardship SW6 prescription allows grazing in late Jan.

 

[mki]

My deep till radish
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0dGLQUm5PYKoag8ixdGBizbSg

 

[Chae1]

Have produced some neeps.

 

[choochter]

Have produced some neeps.

View attachment 733544

Nice neeps!

 

[mixed breed]

twelve weeks since I took the above photo, I honestly thought at the time I wasted my time and money. We turned the store lambs into it today.

Wonderful how nature has a way of catching up.

 

[APJ]

Chuffed how these have turned out, took an age to get going.

 

[ollie989898]

These brassica-type forage crops always look pretty ropey to begin with in a dry time, doesn't matter how you establish them, I think an einbock is as good as anything. Drill them at 2kg, make sure the slugs aren't going at them and try not to look at them too much. They are like weeds really. They do like fertility mind.