Establishing forage rape after grassland

[JPB]

Hi.

I'm hoping to grow a bit of forage rape or kale in some old grass leys this summer ready for outwintering some cattle next winter.
I was thinking spraying off after grazed hard, maybe June/ July? Then directing drilling straight in. Would it benefit to disc the field first or how will it perform direct drilling in. I'm guessing the land has been in grass for at least 20 years and I plan on to start reseeding some the following spring. Land is fairly heavy

Any suggestions or advice would be gratefully received

 

[neilo]

If you haven’t already, take a spade out and check for compaction. If there’s a compaction layer, I would break it up before the fodder crop, so you can DD the following grass in. If there’s no compaction then DD the rape into the sprayed out grass (need good growth to spray, so don’t graze hard first).

Test for and sort out pH, P&K in advance, but don’t lime just before spraying with glyphosate.

 

[scrubbuster]

I did the same last year with a stubble turnip, rape and kale mix. Rotavated and broadcast half and DD the other half. DD came in thicker with smaller plants and the broadcast stuff more sparce but big healthy plants. I would say make and educated guess that there is more tonnes per acre on the DD stuff and it was cheaper to establish

 

[scrubbuster]

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/238258/

 

[Global ovine]

Old pasture with some thatch or even clumpiness should be double sprayed with Roundup. 3L/ha and 2L/ha three weeks apart gives a cleaner seed bed than 5L/ha in one application.
I agree with the above compaction advice.