Growing small scale wheat etc.

[Pasty]

I have this mad idea to grow my own grain to feed poultry / pigs. Maybe a couple acres a year. Not sure. I'm already planning a small baler for hay so that is costed but I'm looking into meat chickens and the only real way to save on production costs is to cut the cost of wheat. The crop would be planted on a piece of land which had been previously used to raise young laying birds in Salatin style chicken tractors. I know for a fact that this super-charges the soil so fertility should be high.

Next idea is pasture cropping. I've been reading of people who broadcast by hand or small machine on pasture land and then send in the animals to tread it in and keep the grass back. The concept of pasture cropping is ideal but not sure how scientific it would be to rely on cows / sheep to tread the seed in. Let's assume this works and the seed is sown and the grass is nipped off tight and the crop grows.......

Next is harvesting. Is there any sort of mini combine which would leave the straw ready for a small baler? I've seen walk behind ones but details are sketchy.

This is probably all madness but I often look at how much I spend on bought in straw and feed and wonder if there is a better way to do it which could eventually be scaled up.

Might be fun to try if nothing else.

 

[multi power]

With all due respect you would be best just buying a few ton of grain from a local farmer
Will be far cheaper than buying chicken feef

 

[Pasty]

Not so much fun though!

 

[Tim W]

I once helped harvest a few acres by hand in eastern Poland ----sickle/sheaves/aching back - it can be done if you are really keen (but at the end of it you will have a different idea of how big an acre is than you do now)

 

[An Gof]

I have this mad idea to grow my own grain to feed poultry / pigs. Maybe a couple acres a year. Not sure. I'm already planning a small baler for hay so that is costed but I'm looking into meat chickens and the only real way to save on production costs is to cut the cost of wheat. The crop would be planted on a piece of land which had been previously used to raise young laying birds in Salatin style chicken tractors. I know for a fact that this super-charges the soil so fertility should be high.

Next idea is pasture cropping. I've been reading of people who broadcast by hand or small machine on pasture land and then send in the animals to tread it in and keep the grass back. The concept of pasture cropping is ideal but not sure how scientific it would be to rely on cows / sheep to tread the seed in. Let's assume this works and the seed is sown and the grass is nipped off tight and the crop grows.......

Next is harvesting. Is there any sort of mini combine which would leave the straw ready for a small baler? I've seen walk behind ones but details are sketchy.

This is probably all madness but I often look at how much I spend on bought in straw and feed and wonder if there is a better way to do it which could eventually be scaled up.

Might be fun to try if nothing else.

You're right it's a mad idea. Just buy what you want when you want it, it'll be cheaper

 

[spin cycle]

mow it........bale it.....store it in rat free store.....put bales in chuck house to help themselves?

 

[Old McDonald]

Not such a mad idea, because I too have considered it on several occasions. So far impossible to put into practice. Sowing and harvesting are not difficult. Threshing is. I have a neighbour who threshed with a flail until he became too old and infirm to do so. I have one but have not used it.

Why wheat? You should be in a position to grow maize instead. Simple to harvest and to remove the grain from the cobs - both by hand. Good wet winter day job. Quite pleasant if you can get out of the wind in an open shed and see about you.

Pasture cropping is a mad idea. It does not work.

Mechanical very small scale combines have been on my wish list for more than 20 years. If you could possibly get hold of an Allis Chalmers 36 or 40 (meaning inches wide of the cut) that would be ideal, but I have not found one. I can send you the full detailed users manual if you want, and given oodles of time, some money, and the necessary skills, I have deduced that it is just about possible to build one. I have no intentions of trying. Check out YouTube for videos of some attempts to do what you think can be done. Not encouraging for more than about 10 square yards.

Better than maize is to grow your own protein, or both. You know that wheat is not good enough on its own as a suitable feed either for egg production or fattening poultry. Yellow lupins are of a suitable size for most poultry, except very young stock, to eat. Grow them and mix with bought in wheat (cash to farmers is always welcome, despite the fact that some will deny it) and a grain balancer mix. Somebody is bound to be still making grain balancer. If not, then make up your own. Depending on the stock you are feeding, you might be able to successfully feed your home grown grain whole.

Probably still cheaper to buy it all ready made. I only look at these things because I tend to live in places where buying what I want is not possible. I agree it is not as much fun, but I have limited time on my hands too. You should have even less "spare" time given your bigger acreage and more daily chores.

 

[Old McDonald]

mow it........bale it.....store it in rat free store.....put bales in chuck house to help themselves?

That is what I do with the yellow lupins for stock feed. No scientific info behind it but I have the feeling that the lupin seed will be better digested when it is part of the hay and chewed again as cud.

 

[KMA]

The Romans had a sort of wheelbarrow thing with a row of keyhole notches on the front which gathered the corn heads together then popped them off the stem as it was pushed forward. No use to you I know but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there

 

[Old McDonald]

KMA, I am familiar with this type of equipment. On wet days (such as today) I trawl sites from lesser developed countries for ideas that might suit me. I have had a lot of good ideas from places like Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and north African countries.

Used ag equipment is outrageously priced here (as are used cars) and often impossible to find. I designed, but never got around to building, a tractor mounted two row maize harvester using the principle. I decided to plant more trees instead of annual cropping.

 

[KMA]

Think you made the right choice

I love looking round at new ideas.

 

[martian]

The Romans had a sort of wheelbarrow thing with a row of keyhole notches on the front which gathered the corn heads together then popped them off the stem as it was pushed forward. No use to you I know but I just thought I'd throw the idea out there

2000 year old stripper-header! Fantastic...who needs new ideas, eh?

 

[martian]

You might get some ideas off these people:

http://conservationagriculture.mannlib.cornell.edu/pages/resources/twowheel.html

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

I have this mad idea

Its you is ant it, trying to throw us off the scent by posting the other end of the country about Fanny Coulter, as they are mad
Yes you are mad,
and if your mad enough then try this,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JF-Combin...973606?hash=item2a7050db26:g:MgcAAOSwxg5X0UtO

 

[theboytheboy]

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172470039417

 

[Dry Rot]

If you keep your eyes open, binders are occasionally for sale. Don't thresh, just toss the sheaves to the hens and let them do the work. Keep a couple of Highland cows to eat the straw.

I hope my hens don't see this thread. All they get is barley or wheat bought by the tonne or 50kg bag from a local grain merchant. They nest wild and roost in the trees. And they are well fleshed and very good eating. Just choose old fashioned meat birds.

 

[KMA]

Old English Game?

 

[Dry Rot]

Old English Game?

 

[martian]

Nice little 1.3m header combine from China here for $3300 (mind you, this is 5 years ago, prices might have gone up a bit). You need a 2 wheel tractor to stick it on, but that will be handy for seeding, baling and all the other jobs about the place. 2 wheel tractors are brilliant bits of kit, you see them all around the (3rd) world, but not here for some reason...

http://conservationagriculture.mann...wheel/TwoWheelTractorNewsletterJanFeb2012.pdf

 

[mikep]

2000 year old stripper-header! Fantastic...who needs new ideas, eh?

Next you may find an ancient Greek horse drawn cross slot.
Seriously forget about modern wheat not a cat in hell's chance as too nesh. Use triticale or try to get some heritage wheat.
Can you not swap chucks for wheat? May be best to barter rather than grow.