fodder radish grazeing with sheep

just to keep this out of the other topic's

a few questions on the radish's
do sheep eat them and what kinda yeilds ??
do they handle rougher ground IE disked native ground
do they work like on the tin and push down in to the sub soils breaking up hard pans etc ??

the ground might be worked again so not realy looking from a pure DD point of view more from what the plant can do

 

Sheep defo eat them. Not as good as turnips or fodder rape for yield or everyone would be growing them and seed a lot more expensive. They certainly send a long root down but not sure I'd rely on them for subsoiling. I'd say they are good at maintaining good soil structure as when the root rots the worms love it and will benefit from the root channels.

 

The seed is not too expensive, cheaper than Tyfon.

 

thanks Dan ..

even rapes will put down a large root system but not driveing tap root down which may help a bit out here with some compacted soil types

 

Go to YouTube and search for Daikon Radish, usually first video, watch it, very interesting.

 

yea intresting .. just got some native ground thats got a hell of a thach on it just thinking disc it till eneff dirt about to cover seed then put in some form of crop graze it off then rework it

turnips may work same as fodder rapes be more looking for something that may drive down deeper banking rain fall is like banking money in dry years

 

seems i maybe too late this year to try them need to go in mid/late summer to get good rooting ..

but rases a question for a fodder mix not so much a cover crop what kind of mixes bit of rape few turnips etc hand full of grass splash of oats etc

but here is the real nuts and bolts question has any one done trials of say tillage radish and rape mix Vs rape only and some sub soiled .. and followed it to the following year to see what diffrence between the areas IE machine sub soiled , tillage radish root worked and just a fodder crop with no deep working

 

I'm thinking grazing would be the best way to get rid of it prior to drilling but on clay soils I think the damage from the animals would start to erode any of the good the radish root had done and also not many arable fields are fenced so what about damage from the fencing job even if its temporary.

A roll to break the tops then glyphosate?

 

damage from sheep fencing is negligible - one pass with a quad bike

 

trick would be don't graze the hell out of it so roots not broken also pick the grazeing days have a wet day paddock with the aim of sub soiling to fix the probs in just one area .. if the weather is not that great for grazeing might be better just leaveing the cover crops to do there own thing and become mulch

 

just to bring this back up
can get some seed so thinking oats and raddishs to try them out or just go raddish for a start then DD grazeing oats in once raddishs grazed out
any ideas

 

I put in some fodder radish (Bokito) 3.5kg/ha mixed with forage rye (protector) 130kh/ha on a 22 acre field, notilled, after wheat this autumn with 3 acres fodder beet (Feldherr) along a headland where the wheat had been lost due to waterlogging over winter.
It has been grazed in 3 blocks, split with electric fence.
It has kept 100 lambs since late October and they have done very well on it. They are just finishing it off now, some ready to go, others will need finishing inside on pellets and hay.
I grazed just fodder beet last year and the lamb didn't do that well, but it was very wet last year and exceptionally dry this. I don't know if it's the better weather or the mix of feed that has made the difference but they have done well on it.
Its primary purpose was to finish the lambs, with soil improvement as secondary.

 

so did the radish break the soil up ??
looking at them mainly for turfy native ground as a frist crop to break up sod

 

Don't know yet.
I'll have a dig to see how deep they went.

 

We have found it is better to take an early bite then go back, the re-growth does some more loosening of the top few inches and radish doesn't get too tough...as soon as it gets stalky you get tempted to leave them grazing to get it chewed off and they bugger up the top couple of inches-IMO

 

Mt agro says everytime the farmers says the barassica crop is breaking the compaction he digs with shovel and you see the roots running horizontal underneath...they not that good at busting dirt...no idea with turnips...

Root mass will be what makes dirt easy to knock into shape imo...so if its winter and you can grow oats or clover or whatever is cheap that would be the main aim...might be bit less feed but second year will make up for it...turnips may help hold grown together if needed ..i.e hilly ground? Maybe??

Good luck!!

Ant...

 

rape roots i find harder to break down were radish or turnips should break down faster

 

Mix of crops will have made most of the difference. Protein is too low in grazed fodder beet, so lambs don't finish well on it, unless you are only grazing the tops (higher protein) and lifting the rest.

I'm surprised 100 lambs have cleared 22ac already, or are you leaving a lot of residue for OM?

 

Saw this on twitter may be some of the reason for the following crop boost

 

ummm intresting i did read about the N released but there was talk that due to the fast break down if following crops not planted quickly there could be some loss if late planting and radishs had died early
in planted with grasses or other crops if radishs died from frost etc the other crop will mop up the free N from break down
i'm going to talk to some seed guys and try to get some seed to try maybe split planted with oats eather inter row or mixed sowing not sure maybe every other row radish and other oats due to seeding depth etc