Letting OSR ripen natural

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
Is swathed OSR better able to stick hail or wind etc?
Up until the last two years I swathed every acre of Canola. See hail turn the top of swaths white and wind roll swaths across a field. Tried leaving stubble 15 inches tall and press swath into the stubble to stake the swath to keep it from blowing. It worked but the wind would still flip swaths if winds above 50kmh. Have split the acre between swathing and straight cutting and after a severe wind storm had swaths in a neighbours field half a mile away but the crop still standing was barely touched. This past year nothing was swathed or sprayed. Seeds were slightly larger in unswathed crop Due to longer seed fill period. Best to try have a dense uniform crop that’s branching is tangled to reduce canopy movement.
 

Gadget

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sutton Coldfield
Up until the last two years I swathed every acre of Canola. See hail turn the top of swaths white and wind roll swaths across a field. Tried leaving stubble 15 inches tall and press swath into the stubble to stake the swath to keep it from blowing. It worked but the wind would still flip swaths if winds above 50kmh. Have split the acre between swathing and straight cutting and after a severe wind storm had swaths in a neighbours field half a mile away but the crop still standing was barely touched. This past year nothing was swathed or sprayed. Seeds were slightly larger in unswathed crop Due to longer seed fill period. Best to try have a dense uniform crop that’s branching is tangled to reduce canopy movement.
A few years ago, in NZ, I saw a front mounted machine that bent the OSR over breaking the stems. Parts of the stems were still attached and it stopped th OSR blowing away, I believe that it had been imported from Canada. It was the same width as the combine.

1185.JPG
 

idle git

Member
Mixed Farmer
With glyphosate prices so high shall i just let the rape ripen naturally? I have the combine capacity to do it which i haven't in the past.
its conventional so more at risk from rain and wind.
crops looks good and even at the moment, are growing quick. Would probably still roundup any pigeoned areas etc
Done it in the past with success but that was when we were growing crops of rape which filled rhe field from hedge to hedgs, the gappy bits can be a pita but probably spray thos bits off,

But it can be late harvesting, I cut a very good of compass after I had cut all my wheat and even then I was still a week to soon
 

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
A few years ago, in NZ, I saw a front mounted machine that bent the OSR over breaking the stems. Parts of the stems were still attached and it stopped th OSR blowing away, I believe that it had been imported from Canada. It was the same width as the combine.

View attachment 1020582
See that machine here a few years back. Never caught on as too much crop damage from tractor wheels and if wether turned wet there was a mass of green in the wheel tracks. Now with the anti pod shatter gene in major varieties is not needed. The gene toughens pods beyond belief. Canola as dry as 10 percent the pods still bend. Threshing can still be good but tighter concave clearance needed.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
If you don’t mind harvesting the crop a week later and 2% wetter, you should get higher oil contents. Beware if the crop is weedy or uneven as it might not ripen enough until late August.
 

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
If you don’t mind harvesting the crop a week later and 2% wetter, you should get higher oil contents. Beware if the crop is weedy or uneven as it might not ripen enough until late August.
I found it wasn’t the seeds were wetter or unfit to cut it was the stalks were too green to go thru the combine. After plugging my lexion solid and wasting4 hours pulling mushy stalks out then pushing the cylinder backwards with a 2by 6 and my matbro I decided to walk away for ten days. On return it was night and day difference. patients is needed.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
Is swathed OSR better able to stick hail or wind etc?
I would think so, main problem I would have thought is if very thick swaths get soaking wet and then don’t dry out very well especially if it stays wet.
But might not be such a problem in the eastern countries.
I think @MrNoo , or his late father did a lot of contact swathing years ago, so perhaps @MrNoo will comment.
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Oh yes, we had a couple of swathers, home built based on Repco pea cutters. Father built them when OSR was first being grown over here.
Nothing nicer than a day sat in the swather, door open chugging up and down in a lovely even crop of OSR but also nothing worse than sat in the swather door shut on a stinking hot day trying to swath flat as a board OSR, door normally shut due to all the weed seeds floating about, block the radiator too!
We used the swathers until about 10 years ago now, was a relatively quick job and always found it brought the harvest forward by almost 10-14 days, we'd have combined and worked down the land way before next door got into theirs direct.
It seemed to be weather hardy even in that year when we had horrific rains, the OSR had been swathed and just sat there, going blacker by the day. When we got going, it was dire, kept getting stuck and I remember i was a great relief when I only had to drop a trailer off and pull the combine out twice in one day!!
But the crop was still there in the pod, some was knocked out in the rain but most was still there.
I think we used to charge about £10/ac when we stopped, still have one of the swathers sat in the hedge, canvases in the shed still, I used to use about 20ltr of diesel a day as the old engine (B275 engine) just chugged along at half revs
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
If you don’t mind harvesting the crop a week later and 2% wetter, you should get higher oil contents. Beware if the crop is weedy or uneven as it might not ripen enough until late August.
Tempting, will the extra 2% moisture cost more to take out than the glyphosate cost? Then there's wheeling losses, 2 sprayer passes, if I use podstick? More questions than answers for me.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
For anyone interested,I believe TFF member @Gav ,is or was involved in selling
“HoneyBee” swathers in the uk.
Must be a niche market for contract swathing with a wide, front of tractor mounted swather but that market may be about to get bigger.
 
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Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
For anyone interested,I believe TFF member @Gav ,is or was involved in selling
“HoneyBee” swathers in the uk.
Must be a niche market for contract swathing with a wide, front of tractor mounted swather but that market may be about to get bigger.
Why, there used to be lots swathed around here, but cannot remember seeing one in the last 3 years, partly due to large combines not really fitting the system, and vario headers cope really well.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
With glyphosate prices so high shall i just let the rape ripen naturally? I have the combine capacity to do it which i haven't in the past.
its conventional so more at risk from rain and wind.
crops looks good and even at the moment, are growing quick. Would probably still roundup any pigeoned areas etc


been a long time since we pre harvest glyphosate OSR - yields better left to ripen naturally
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Tempting, will the extra 2% moisture cost more to take out than the glyphosate cost? Then there's wheeling losses, 2 sprayer passes, if I use podstick? More questions than answers for me.
Glyphosate 4 l/ha at £8/litre is £8/t on a 4 t/ha yield. That’s expensive drying depending on your setup. What is 1-2 weeks worth at that time of year when you consider preparing the land for the next crop? You have a longer exposure to hail storms too.

Maybe 3 l/ha on the headlands and weedy patches as a minimum?
 

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