Grain maize

[Flat 10]

@turbo I might know a man who would buy it. PM me

 

[bobk]

Still plenty to cut in sunny france , the drying bills will be horrendous

 

[ollie989898]

Went quite well, started Nov 5th, which is about normal, 2 1/2 days combining to get the 290 tons done. Excellent yields, just over 16t/ha @ 32% MC. The key this year was the long daylight hours back in June and July.
Then last week ploughed and followed with combi, odd wet corners but pretty decent considering. Another 2" rain since won't have helped though, some dry weather needed.

Do you put nitrogen on yours? Also where does it go after harvest?

 

[SRRC]

No bagged N, just lots of pig slurry. Newer varieties with such high yields seem to demand much more P and K than the book suggests, MAP or DAP essential down the spout too.
Too much N tends to encourage the plant to hang on at the end of the growing season, I want it to shut down by mid October and be brown by the end of October. Green hangs up inside the combine.
I ignore any yield claims and choose the earliest variety with the best standing power, for best financial return I want to be sure of getting wheat in afterwards.
My pig unit has a wet feed system, so the grain is milled with a Gruber knife mill into a clamp, ensiled and then introduced into the wet feed system via a hopper. The mill will deal with moistures up to about 40% but 30/35% ideal.
Maize is attractive because it's a spring sown break crop that I can feed to the pigs.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

I have a rule about planting stuff that needs a heater in the combine

Does it sound similar to Bucket?? ?

 

[Farmer Roy]

No fungicides really and modest fertiliser spend. Most grain varieties will be November cutting which necessitates tracks. Also the header must follow the rows so drilling needs to sensible.

interesting what you say about fertiliser use

I would have said that it has about the highest fert requirements here of any of our grain or fibre crops . . .

it is probably one of the most expensive grains to grow / ha we have, but is a relatively minor crop

ideally, we don't need to dry it though, but needs to be under 14 % ( ideally 12 % ) to store successfully

 

[Farmer Roy]

I have a rule about planting stuff that needs a heater in the combine

haha
we grow a lot of things that are planted in the summer & harvested with heaters in the cabs . . .

 

[Devon James]

Seen this in France- holds whole grain maize at 35% moisture in an air tight container so keeps

 

[Farmer Roy]

How big is it ?
Only looks about 20 or 30 tonne in that pic ?

 

[Devon James]

How big is it ?
Only looks about 20 or 30 tonne in that pic ?

We didn't ask but a bit more than that we think, but tis an option

 

[SRRC]

interesting what you say about fertiliser use

I would have said that it has about the highest fert requirements here of any of our grain or fibre crops . . .

it is probably one of the most expensive grains to grow / ha we have, but is a relatively minor crop

ideally, we don't need to dry it though, but needs to be under 14 % ( ideally 12 % ) to store successfully

Interesting that for you it's an expensive grain, for me it's by a mile the cheapest!
Seed is expensive, but modest fertilizer and just one herbicide, no fungicides.
I haven't got the actual figures to hand, sorry.
I had assumed maize would be a serious crop for you as it is in the Americas, isn't it the biggest grain crop worldwide?

 

[Farmer Roy]

Interesting that for you it's an expensive grain, for me it's by a mile the cheapest!
Seed is expensive, but modest fertilizer and just one herbicide, no fungicides.
I haven't got the actual figures to hand, sorry.
I had assumed maize would be a serious crop for you as it is in the Americas, isn't it the biggest grain crop worldwide?

too hot in many places &
needs too much water for us to grow as a dry land crop, most is grown under irrigation, & it isn’t as tolerant of high temperatures as cotton
Grain sorghum is our major summer grain crop & is a much better dry land option, along with dry land cotton

we don’t really use fungicides on any crops here apart from legumes / pulses. Grass weed & broad leaf control in corn ( maize ) is pretty similar to sorghum here

seed / ha is VERY expensive & yeah, in my experience of growing it under irrigation, the fert requirements are eye watering compared to growing cereals, oilseeds, cotton or legumes . . . Largely because of the large bio mass produced & of course the high yields possible

 

[Farmer Roy]

Out of interest, what would your average fert rates in say wheat, compared to grain maize, be ?

 

[Brisel]

Interesting that for you it's an expensive grain, for me it's by a mile the cheapest!
Seed is expensive, but modest fertilizer and just one herbicide, no fungicides.
I haven't got the actual figures to hand, sorry.
I had assumed maize would be a serious crop for you as it is in the Americas, isn't it the biggest grain crop worldwide?

Rice is the most widely grown cereal, followed by maize, then wheat.

 

[funny farm]

Looking for a header for grain maize for a John Deere combine to try and get the last of ours that we didn’t cut for forage if anyone knows of one to buy or hire at sensible money, thinking it’s probably better crimped that foraged for our own use now!!

 

[Brisel]

Ask the Maize Growers Association. NAAC will have a list of contractors too.

 

[SRRC]

Out of interest, what would your average fert rates in say wheat, compared to grain maize, be ?

To get a 10/11t/ha wheat needs about 200kg/ha N and something like 60kg/ha P and K.
On my maize I don't use any bagged N, just that from a generous slurry application. It does get 125kg/ha of DAP .