Cereal Stubble to Grass - How To do it.

[Funny Farmer]

Thinking of just spraying off the stubbles then broadcasting the grass seed, chain harrowing it in and Cambridge roll - or should I be going all out ploughing, power harrowing etc etc?

 

[robs1]

Thinking of just spraying off the stubbles then broadcasting the grass seed, chain harrowing it in and Cambridge roll - or should I be going all out ploughing, power harrowing etc etc?

That will work fine but your ground must be a lot drier than ours to even think about harrowing it let alone rolling

 

[Funny Farmer]

That will work fine but your ground must be a lot drier than ours to even think about harrowing it let alone rolling

Yeah, it's like a paddy field at the moment -lol

 

[Kevtherev]

What grass are you intending to sow?

 

[Sausage]

We had two 5 acre fields side by side this year which we did this to. Loamy fairly light grey stuff.
We paraplowed and power harrowed one and plough and power harrowed the other. Both were pre-cultivated to get a chit.
To be honest they took about the same time to work (paraplow is 3 leg, so you can’t get on really, we aim to get a shakerator to speed it up).
Seed was wagged on followed by rolling.
The ploughed field has noticeably worse wheelings, but they’ve both come up the same. Given the choice I wouldn’t plough again, if wagging on, it’s going to be rough to drive over. Doesn’t matter too much to us as it is for grazing.

 

[Funny Farmer]

What grass are you intending to sow?

HM.8 Equigraze - Equine / Pony / Horse Paddock Grass Seed Mix (Acre Pack) (5+ Years Grazing)

2.00 kg GENESIS Perennial Ryegrass Early Dip
4.00 kg BOYNE Perennial Ryegrass Int Dip
4.00 kg CANCAN Perennial Ryegrass Late Dip
1.50 kg COMER Timothy
0.50 kg EVORA Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass
2.00 kg MAXIMA Strong Creeping Red Fescue
14.00 kg per acre

 

[Tractor Tim]

I direct drilled 40 acre with a gd twice at half rate into wheat stubble on light ground it has come really well. Also had 15 acre that was disked up to get a bit of tilth and let it dry that doesn't look anywhere near as good,plants are much smaller and just seems to be struggling. Imho with the weather we are getting and the time of year it's too late for grass seed.

 

[yellow belly]

Too late not wait till spring

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Its to late now

 

[Kevtherev]

Too late for anything except Italian or westerwold and then only if it stays mild and favourable.

 

[Tarw Coch]

Thinking of just spraying off the stubbles then broadcasting the grass seed, chain harrowing it in and Cambridge roll - or should I be going all out ploughing, power harrowing etc etc?

Apart from the weather this year, it depends what you want to do with the grass you sow. As a temporary cover crop, establish by the quickest, cheapest method
For a longer term grass ley I have yet to see a stubble field that would be fit to work on in subsequent years without some cultivation to level the fields first……..but rough grass fields are a pet hate of mine.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Apart from the weather this year, it depends what you want to do with the grass you sow. As a temporary cover crop, establish by the quickest, cheapest method
For a longer term grass ley I have yet to see a stubble field that would be fit to work on in subsequent years without some cultivation to level the fields first……..but rough grass fields are a pet hate of mine.

Horse grazing long term

 

[milkloss]

Depends how rough the field is (tramlines etc). Scratch and roll to see how level its is, repeat until level. Them maybe power Harrow/drill combo.

springtime job now though as others have said.

 

[Funny Farmer]

Thanks for the replies, I was half hoping to give it a go but the way the way the weather has been it'll be the spring now before we can get on anyway. The wheeling aren't too bad so in the spring I'll try the "min till" approach and see how we do.

 

[ollie989898]

I wouldn't try to sow that mixture now. Around here it would have a high chance of failing.

The best way to establish grass on stubbles is to run a min-till cultivator up and down the tramlines to remove them, then lift the depth of the cultivator up until you have just enough to loosen and create a tilth in the upper most few inches of soil. Till the whole field at an angle to the tramlines and previous work, then powerharrow it or do whatever to get the required level of tilth. Drill or grass/harrow box the seed on. Don't broadcast it, grass seed is too expensive for that lark.

Roll with flat roll until you get bored. Two passes I believe are optimal.

 

[farmerm]

Horse grazing long term

If inheritance tax is a consideration don’t do it…

 

[Funny Farmer]

If inheritance tax is a consideration don’t do it…

We are rotating from another field so it's no difference and in the past we have mixed a few sheep in the same field to keep the weeds down, don't know if that helps?

 

[farmerm]

We are rotating from another field so it's no difference and in the past we have mixed a few sheep in the same field to keep the weeds down, don't know if that helps?

Sheep in the field helps, better still only sheep and no horse on the day the valuer arrives.

 

[DrWazzock]

If you have “difficult to kill” weeds in the stubbles or it’s likely to have had a seeding from thistles etc then I’d plough. We grass seeded a subsoiled ex beet field in the spring. It had had a fairly heavy dose of glypho but the cranesbill weed came back from nothing and nearly smothered the grass during the long dry period in late spring early summer. Nothing will eat the cranesbill so it remains competitive with the grass. There are also a fair number of Buck thistles about. Ploughing would have lost valuable moisture, though that isn’t a problem now, but I would have ensured a cleaner start. Yes there would still be weedseed brought up but they’d not have the head start that perennial weeds in the stubbles might have.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Surley if you burn off the stubble at seeding nothing will have a head start
Im not a fan of burrying weeds only to plough them back up at a later datë