Continuous spring barley

Considering continuous spring barley on some of the poorer ground here as it seems to withstand drought much better than wheat here. I am also running out of viable break crop options. Trying to keep it low cost so will it work with zero till or very min till or will last years residue still be infectious by the time the next years crop is drilled? Would a robust fungicide programme or dressed seed sort that out or would ploughing be mandatory to avoid a build up of disease? Thanks.
The best crops I have here at the moment are direct drilled spring barley on all soil types. Not quite direct drilled as the land was lightly shuffled over in the autumn with a stubble cultivator but it now looks the best crop by far. Ploughed land isn’t so good due to spring moisture loss and cobbly seedbeds so I want to avoid ploughing if I can.
This is what they did in the 1950s when grass weeds were a problem and wet autumns

I have done the maths with stewardship low input option and cover crops
looks quite good depends on yield
 
Following on a little for this thread, if reliable 3 tonne yields can be had using a few years of continuous spring barley, I wonder if that might be the answer to land with a serious blackgrass issue? You could say, plough down one year and then direct drill it or something for the next 2 or 3 or more years so that the layer above where you ploughed would become blackgrass free? You could do stale seed beds, autumn/winter fallow, plough or even put a cover crop in if you wanted to be eco-friendly?
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
Following on a little for this thread, if reliable 3 tonne yields can be had using a few years of continuous spring barley, I wonder if that might be the answer to land with a serious blackgrass issue? You could say, plough down one year and then direct drill it or something for the next 2 or 3 or more years so that the layer above where you ploughed would become blackgrass free? You could do stale seed beds, autumn/winter fallow, plough or even put a cover crop in if you wanted to be eco-friendly?
Reliable 3t yields?! Wouldn’t be classical SB land that’s for sure
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I seem to get 2.5-2.7t. But it's grown on a shoestring, 1 fungicide, no growth reg etc. I'm cover cropping mustard inbetween. Frankly not sure if it helps or not.

Edit, 2 questions....

Why do folks hate mustard ?
Would a growth reg help stop brackling ?
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Over the last 5 years or so spring barley here has achieved 2.5 to 2.8 t per acre on some very poor land, that’s to say sand that’s prone to burning up. Winter wheat on the same land had achieved 2 to 4 t per acre but with a much bigger spend and extremely variable quality. My lighter fields won’t be going in with wheat again. It will be spring barley or enviro schemes. We are reducing sheep numbers (culling out but not replacing) due to trade agreement risks and getting fed up of them. I am not suggesting this approach is right for others, just mulling over options for a largely grade 3 light land farm that is slow draining in winter and dries out quickly in the spring.
 

Cowcorn

Member
Mixed Farmer
There cutting malting barley in Wexford atm doing 3.5 ton acre according to reports . A lot of it would be continuous barley . Hard to beat that sort of crop with winter cereals if you have the right ground . Have a look at the spring barley thread on the Forum for Farming . Am i allowed mention the opposition ????:)
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
There cutting malting barley in Wexford atm doing 3.5 ton acre according to reports . A lot of it would be continuous barley . Hard to beat that sort of crop with winter cereals if you have the right ground . Have a look at the spring barley thread on the Forum for Farming . Am i allowed mention the opposition ????:)
Some you can, one in particular you can't. :rolleyes:
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Hardly the BFF as its technically on life support !!! Great forum though in the past reading some of the old threads .
Probably the best forum. I literally can't mention the other one for fear of being banned from this one. Can't even PM the name. All very childish really.
 

Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
Would the owners cropping rules allow you too stubble turnips the ground and then have somebody winter sheep on it? Financial rewards would be minimal but benefits too your spring barley crops would be maximum
 

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