Fallow it or crop it.?

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Not all of us have allowed Blackgrass to get a foothold... (y)

at least not yet!! :bag:

There isn't much here. Leaving volunteer barley from September to harvest with no residual chem I'd say was too high risk. Not easy to rogue, made worse when it's not in a drilled crop.

In any case, I think in terms of £££ noone will offer enough to silage it, unless ad plants are short.
 

GeorgeK

Member
Location
Leicestershire
Our clay loam is saturated but still in lovely condition, no way are any tractors going on it, I don't care what the neighbours do. Best to leave it and have a go at getting some osr in early I think
IMG_20200117_090251286.jpg

This old bus don't cost much sat in the shed!
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Cowcorn

Member
Mixed Farmer
Our clay loam is saturated but still in lovely condition, no way are any tractors going on it, I don't care what the neighbours do. Best to leave it and have a go at getting some osr in early I think
View attachment 853812
This old bus don't cost much sat in the shed!
View attachment 853813
That ground is in great order, and begging to be ploughed when the March wind doth blow !!! A good crop of spring barley in around Patricks day maybe ? Still be cut in time to drill Osr . I bet you a score that barley on that well minded loam will beat fallow anytime. As well you have think of the tractor its not fair to have her all dressed and nowhere to go !
 

GeorgeK

Member
Location
Leicestershire
That ground is in great order, and begging to be ploughed when the March wind doth blow !!! A good crop of spring barley in around Patricks day maybe ? Still be cut in time to drill Osr . I bet you a score that barley on that well minded loam will beat fallow anytime. As well you have think of the tractor its not fair to have her all dressed and nowhere to go !
Thanks, never say never! It's wetter than it looks though and the last two dry years have done so much good I'd hate to venture into it unless it's properly fit
 

Pierre

Member
Location
Bottesford
2018 was a bloody awful spring. Can I get by with bps, mid tier, bit of silage? Not without last year's good harvest. But I'm not in it to survive, I'm in it to make money. So even if it's a disaster we'll be setting up for a good autumn planting.

This is my current head scratcher. Volunteer winter barley. It looks a carpet, but mainly as each plant has goodness knows how many tillers. It's to weedy to leave to harvest grain, but for very little cost I could put digestate on it, and a sniff of proline and a blw herbicide, then now it in June. Alternately I could spray it off in Feb and drill with oats for the grain. There are 130ac like this.

Could I ask which variety of oats you will be growing and when you will be drilling this year?
 

teslacoils

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
You'd be lucky to get £40/ac from it. Be cheaper to Harrow in spring barley and turn it into silage / ad food. Or Harrow in barley, and plough it it. Grass seed too dear for that unless for own stock.
 

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Expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive offer for farmers published

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Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer from July will give the sector a clear path forward and boost farm business resilience.

From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Sir Mark Spencer MP Published21 May 2024

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Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July have been published by the...
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