How often...

[Clever Dic]

Probably a numpty question but I am looking at tweaking our current cropping which is quite simple being continuous short term grass reseeded every two years or Timothy every 4 years and nothing else.
I am thinking if I wanted to put in a wheat crop every X years as a cash crop maybe increase my total acerage to do this how good a break is the grass crop and how many years should I go between one wheat crop to the next only using my grasses as the break.
Many thanks for advice.

 

[Flat 10]

I think it all depends on how bad the wireworm and leather jacket s are/will be and I don’t have the answer to that. Other than if you had 2 ryegrass 1 ww it wouldn’t have built up that badly. Others will know more than me about pest cycles.
How do you establish grass reseeds?

 

[Clever Dic]

I think it all depends on how bad the wireworm and leather jacket s are/will be and I don’t have the answer to that. Other than if you had 2 ryegrass 1 ww it wouldn’t have built up that badly. Others will know more than me about pest cycles.
How do you establish grass reseeds?

All autumn sown reseeds..
3X Xpresss, cambridge roll, then Sumo trio, roll again and when time drill with a PH combination cambridge roll and straight after flat roll.
If time pressing or extending a 2 year to 3 years Moore Unidrill 1/2 rate Westerwolds in early October.

 

[deleted user 837354]

Probably a numpty question but I am looking at tweaking our current cropping which is quite simple being continuous short term grass reseeded every two years or Timothy every 4 years and nothing else.
I am thinking if I wanted to put in a wheat crop every X years as a cash crop maybe increase my total acerage to do this how good a break is the grass crop and how many years should I go between one wheat crop to the next only using my grasses as the break.
Many thanks for advice.

I had clients who put wheat in every 4-5 years with grass leys in between. Basically as soon as you exhaust the leys or they get too laden with weed grasses. As you know a good wheat crop and a sniff of flufenacet or ally cleans up land a treat.

Wireworm never frightened me in cereals- make good seed beds, drill into warm dirt and keep seed rates at 325 and above. Nothing you can do about leatherjackets, sowing them mid-September rather than late October means the wheat will be moving fast.

Behind any grass your main concern should be BYDV in my opinion.

If you get a nice clean stubble and the soil is in good nick you might find a light pass with a sumo is all that is needed to get a tilth for your grass seed.

No need to be pulling up grass every 2 years if you can help it.

 

[Chae1]

Leatherjackets haven't been an issue for us taking out long term ley.

Plenty farmers thought it was the end of the world when dursban banned as they routinely applied it when ploughing up ley.

We would plough up 50 acres of 6-7 year ley every year and had no problems. Touch wood. Its another example of farmers being sold to.

 

[Brisel]

Probably a numpty question but I am looking at tweaking our current cropping which is quite simple being continuous short term grass reseeded every two years or Timothy every 4 years and nothing else.
I am thinking if I wanted to put in a wheat crop every X years as a cash crop maybe increase my total acerage to do this how good a break is the grass crop and how many years should I go between one wheat crop to the next only using my grasses as the break.
Many thanks for advice.

4 year or less shouldn't be too bad for wireworm & leatherjackets, though they could still be an acceptable risk. The ley needs to be dead for at least a month before you sow your wheat to starve out the frit fly that will occupy the ley from year one. Grass isn't a good take-all break, so don't expect Farmers Weekly/pub yields from your wheat but intensive grass will leave some fertility behind, even if it hasn't had muck plastered all over it.

 

[Barry]

One thing to consider is that if you come out of fields that have been grass for a couple of years then your land is ideally suited to growing high grade cereal seed crops which want a 2 year break. Obviously you need to consider storage etc.

 

[bankrupt]

don't expect Farmers Weekly/pub yields from your wheat

 

[cotswoldcs]

Wheat can be a high yielding and profitable crop to grow in a rotation. There are better crops to consider if you want the following grass crop to benefit. Beans for example would add nitrogen and help with better soil structure. Wheat will do very little good for your next crop of grass. It might be worth doing and if aiming to maximize profit wheat is a good choice.

 

[Clever Dic]

One thing to consider is that if you come out of fields that have been grass for a couple of years then your land is ideally suited to growing high grade cereal seed crops which want a 2 year break. Obviously you need to consider storage etc.

Yes good idea thanks..will follow that idea. I have no drying or storing facilities but then again no blackgrass or volunteer cereals either.

 

[Clever Dic]

Wheat can be a high yielding and profitable crop to grow in a rotation. There are better crops to consider if you want the following grass crop to benefit. Beans for example would add nitrogen and help with better soil structure. Wheat will do very little good for your next crop of grass. It might be worth doing and if aiming to maximize profit wheat is a good choice.

I appreciate your thoughts regarding other benefits re other crops than wheat but I am not pushing my grass for yield (max of 60 units) and also happy to deal with any volunteers with a fairly early silage cut.

 

[cotswoldcs]

I mean no offence by this but looking at your avatar I think your talents are wasted on producing wheat... If we could form a partnership I'm thinking about sowing some oats - what do you think?

 

[DrWazzock]

I’d go OSR then wheat. Second year after ploughing sees biggest N return for us, it we have clover in the leys. We plough or direct drill after 4 to 7 years depending on circumstances at the time.

 

[Bury the Trash]

I mean no offence by this but looking at your avatar I think your talents are wasted on producing wheat... If we could form a partnership I'm thinking about sowing some oats - what do you think?

Not quite sure what you have in mind but perhaps You should consider doing the 'croc Dundee' test first ir

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

I have no drying or storing facilities .

You would be within our catchment area.

Our storage ownership is subject to full tax relief and our annual charges include intake haulage.