MDL POWERUP
Member
Any body grown them on a small scale (4 acre)? Pros and cons? Can it be wholecropped to good effect? Looking at protein for sheep and maybe a few cows.
-
Welcome to The Farming Forum!
As part of this update, we have made a change to the login and registration process. If you are experiences any problems, please email [email protected] with the details so we can resolve any issues.
Lupins
- Thread starter MDL POWERUP
- Start date
- Location
- Cornwall.
I think you will be lucky to find seed for this coming year Soya UK is sold out.
MDL POWERUP
Member
I've not heard anyone growing it up here but I haven't looked. Is it becoming popular again?
- Location
- Cornwall
We grew them for a couple of years.... About 5 acres a year.
The idea was to combine and get a bit of home grown protein..
It was the late damp harvests that ruined the job. They grew ok, but the lateness of ripening meant harvest in late September, and in Cornwall that usually means rain..
In order to get the seeds through the roller mill to feed, we found we had to mix it with wheat or they would just smear up and not go through..
Wouldn't have thought they would be any good as a wholecrop as the stems are pretty woody and don't look nice to eat.. similar to beans
An earlier maturing variety may improve things..
The idea was to combine and get a bit of home grown protein..
It was the late damp harvests that ruined the job. They grew ok, but the lateness of ripening meant harvest in late September, and in Cornwall that usually means rain..
In order to get the seeds through the roller mill to feed, we found we had to mix it with wheat or they would just smear up and not go through..
Wouldn't have thought they would be any good as a wholecrop as the stems are pretty woody and don't look nice to eat.. similar to beans
An earlier maturing variety may improve things..
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I’ve posted this before, but lupins were the subject of the first project I did at Harper. They had lots to offer and seemed set to be the next ‘wonder crop’.
That was in 1987, and I’m still waiting for that revolution, which maybe says all you need to know?
That was in 1987, and I’m still waiting for that revolution, which maybe says all you need to know?
- Location
- Cornwall
Ha, I did my dissertation at Harper on lupins in 2001....
Hence giving them a try when I graduated .
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Great grazing for cows, infact most people growing them in covercrops say the lupins are what the cattle home in on when you move them, ahead of peas and faba beans.
So in that respect they must be alright, they add very little to the cost of the mix at a kg or two per hectare
So in that respect they must be alright, they add very little to the cost of the mix at a kg or two per hectare
MDL POWERUP
Member
Any other crop suggestions? To compliment sheep but restricted in the fact no combine is going to come for 4 acres a lone down a one mile pot hole lonning... Also something that doesn't need a lot of spraying would be ideal. Or am I asking too much??
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
red clover
MDL POWERUP
Member
Sowing time and time until grazing? Can it be baled later on?
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
maybe try peas and barley (barley holds peas up apparently ) , either whole crop or harvest as normal and dry , very good feed for lambs , be easier to grow than lupins .
when you put it like that why bother?
Just pick up the phone and buy some protein from a merchant. Never worth the hassle.
PS I was involved with Lupinsback in the ‘90’s , blues, whites and yellows. Never did catch on.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
home'n dry on barley is the answer i believe.....trouble is getting a few bags
MDL POWERUP
Member
It's as much for the experience of growing something (hopefully useful) as it over the benefit to a point. Plus I've been asked to put it in something other than grass
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Red clover
Get 4 years out of 1 sowing
Get 4 years out of 1 sowing
MDL POWERUP
Member
What's it like to bale and wrap?
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Like grass....
- Location
- Mendips Somerset
easy , move as little as poss , row up early when still dew on it , extra layer of wrap ,(it often comes out black but stock love it )
I tried growing lupins last year, grew well in a whole crop mix, disaster as sole crop