New long term ley seed mix

[neilo]

not my drill. But I’ll measure the rows tomorrow

I was only half joking about the cross drilling angle tbh. I try to go at as shallow an angle as possible these days, to reduce the size of the bare patches.
I guess the ideal would be to run in the same direction, but between the existing rows, but obviously not possible. It strikes me that the next best option is to run not far off parallel.

 

[BredRedHfd]

I was only half joking about the cross drilling angle tbh. I try to go at as shallow an angle as possible these days, to reduce the size of the bare patches.
I guess the ideal would be to run in the same direction, but between the existing rows, but obviously not possible. It strikes me that the next best option is to run not far off parallel.

It's what I do with my Fiona combi. Works well....

 

[som farmer]

It's what I do with my Fiona combi. Works well....

used to use an old fiona conventional drill for reseeding, let the pipes just dangle, to 'spread' the seed, all still came up in lines, but xdrilled, did a marvellous job, actually wore the drill out, the uj joints in the seed hopper, got to slack, paid a £100 for it, at a sale years ago, probably worth that as scrap today.

 

[som farmer]

we have reseeded virtually the whole farm, some twice, over the last 4 years, been that dry, rye grasses have not performed, or lasted, which was a bugger. So, have been using 'dry' mixes, the 'result' year, should have been this year, but we have had rain, so still don't really know. Everything has grown well, and we reckon we have more fodder, than the total, of at least the previous two years, probably well into the third. It will be very interesting, to see the financial difference, this year to the prior, no bought in fodder, and very little reseeding.
Despite being a benign summer, we have still had some dry spells, and those seriously impacted, on the driest banks, acreage wise, b-all, but the grass stopped dead, we have been trialing herbs, chicory and plantain, they didn't, and provided forage, l am not sure whether plantain reseeds itself, but we have about an acre of the driest ground, that is now 75% plantain, chicory was not sown there, which exactly shows how it can help out, most of the 25% is clover, and very little grass, the cows love it, so success.
Now, while we may never have such a dry time, 3 yrs in a row, again, we have changed our thinking about leys, and now we will only use grasses that are claimed to be, 'drought resistant', we don't really know how they will react to a dry summer, but we do know, how they perform, in a 'normal' year, fine.
I do think that more care sould be taken,over selecting both type, and variety of grass, we choose, for reseeding, each farm, even each field, differ, so each ley will perform slightly/greatly differently. A range of grass leys, can only ever be, a compromise to suit all conditions.
The present cost of fert, is such, that much more effort/thought must go on inclusion of legumes, a balance between yield, and N production from them, will become ever more important. I don't think fert will return to sensible prices again, it's one of those 'things' that are high on the 'greens' hit list, high price, or a tax, will be a simple way to reduce use.

 

[BredRedHfd]

used to use an old fiona conventional drill for reseeding, let the pipes just dangle, to 'spread' the seed, all still came up in lines, but xdrilled, did a marvellous job, actually wore the drill out, the uj joints in the seed hopper, got to slack, paid a £100 for it, at a sale years ago, probably worth that as scrap today.

I looked at dropping the tubes off to do just this to save 2 passes, but unfortunately the packer roller and frame are directly beneath..

 

[som farmer]

I looked at dropping the tubes off to do just this to save 2 passes, but unfortunately the packer roller and frame are directly beneath..

ours didn't have a roller, just the shoes, the 'lines' were a bit wider, rather than a narrow one, helped a bit.
We now use a vaderstat, and xdrill, it can be very precise on depth, and sowing rate, also great for overseeding and direct drilling.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

we have reseeded virtually the whole farm, some twice, over the last 4 years, been that dry, rye grasses have not performed, or lasted, which was a bugger. So, have been using 'dry' mixes, the 'result' year, should have been this year, but we have had rain, so still don't really know. Everything has grown well, and we reckon we have more fodder, than the total, of at least the previous two years, probably well into the third. It will be very interesting, to see the financial difference, this year to the prior, no bought in fodder, and very little reseeding.
Despite being a benign summer, we have still had some dry spells, and those seriously impacted, on the driest banks, acreage wise, b-all, but the grass stopped dead, we have been trialing herbs, chicory and plantain, they didn't, and provided forage, l am not sure whether plantain reseeds itself, but we have about an acre of the driest ground, that is now 75% plantain, chicory was not sown there, which exactly shows how it can help out, most of the 25% is clover, and very little grass, the cows love it, so success.
Now, while we may never have such a dry time, 3 yrs in a row, again, we have changed our thinking about leys, and now we will only use grasses that are claimed to be, 'drought resistant', we don't really know how they will react to a dry summer, but we do know, how they perform, in a 'normal' year, fine.
I do think that more care sould be taken,over selecting both type, and variety of grass, we choose, for reseeding, each farm, even each field, differ, so each ley will perform slightly/greatly differently. A range of grass leys, can only ever be, a compromise to suit all conditions.
The present cost of fert, is such, that much more effort/thought must go on inclusion of legumes, a balance between yield, and N production from them, will become ever more important. I don't think fert will return to sensible prices again, it's one of those 'things' that are high on the 'greens' hit list, high price, or a tax, will be a simple way to reduce use.

I select all my grasses to suit a particular field , it helps that I have ploughed every field many times so I know the soil type and what it will do , we range from peat over clay to free draining light land , I'm surprised mind how hard we are being hit by chickweed in Autumn Reseeds, never had a problem in spring seeding , but Im doing more Autumn seeding as spring seeding is being hit by dry weather and you lose the field when you most need it

 

[Bury the Trash]

those grass plants will be in that drill line for their lifetime ,don't expect anything other ,those gaps will be populated by weeds of some type, ultimately weed grasses i guess.
That's why here broadcasting reseeds is used every time even if the process takes longer and costs are higher at that point.
then even round 'holes are better because there's likely to be a clover seedling or 2 that will get a break.

none of this stuff is rocket science.


the very worst thing about that above is where the drill lines actually cross ,imagine (or d the maths on the mount of seed /plants there are at that 'cross'

 

[Derrick Hughes]

those grass plants will be in that drill line for their lifetime ,don't expect anything other ,those gaps will be populated by weeds of some type, ultimately weed grasses i guess.
That's why here broadcasting reseeds is used every time even if the process takes longer and costs are higher at that point.
then even round 'holes are better because there's likely to be a clover seedling or 2 that will get a break.

none of this stuff is rocket science.


the very worst thing about that above is where the drill lines actually cross ,imagine (or d the maths on the mount of seed /plants there are at that 'cross'

Where are the drill lines in this ,?
Drilled in the spring
That's a very wet field but holding up well to grazing ATM
Is your seed coming through , mines up

 

[som farmer]

we prefer drilling to broadcasting, a legacy from when we had arable ? The plus side is accuracy, the down side is the open diamond, giving an in for weeds.
Using clover, and herbs, weed control is a bit of a problem, it's round-up the old sward, just grass, spray and put the clover/herbs back in, umbilical slurry, seems to reweed it.
Been thinking to include some small leaf clover, to help ground cover, thicker ground cover, gives some weed suppression, unless, anybody has a better suggestion ?

 

[Bury the Trash]

Is your seed coming through , mines up

yes just coming through, pretty good i reckon for the time of year seeing as its nearly Nov.

no fred beetle flies around either..

some seed went a bit deep looks like it , was a bit plumb when sown but none the less rolled before sowing.
also took a heck of battering the other day from thunder rain intense cloudbursts mind you.

#lovegrowinlittleseeds

 

[som farmer]

not sure what those hard bits are, we don't have them !
cross drilled with vaderstat 29 th august, you would be able to find 1 or 2 stones, on the brow.
it has been a wonderful autumn for reseeding, just grass seed, will spray for weeds, growing well also, before adding clover and herbs in the spring, this field was seriously docked.
It has come up without the gaps, diamonds that can get, with xdrilling.

 

[Bury the Trash]

sown on Aug 29th well It should look like that though there's nothing spectacular about that,like you say especially this autumn.
show us some that was double drilled with a vaderstadt 8 days ago,now that would be interesting
and don't worry mow it and you will see the drill lines ,and you will see them 12 months from now also.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

sown on Aug 29th well It should look like that though there's nothing spectacular about that,like you say especially this autumn.
show us some that was double drilled with a vaderstadt 8 days ago,now that would be interesting
and don't worry mow it and you will see the drill lines ,and you will see them 12 months from now also.

I will be able to drive on mine that was drilled 8 days ago despite all this rain, which is critical to get it sprayed, just waiting for the 3rd leaf then I'm away , will you drive on yours ?

 

[som farmer]

sown on Aug 29th well It should look like that though there's nothing spectacular about that,like you say especially this autumn.
show us some that was double drilled with a vaderstadt 8 days ago,now that would be interesting
and don't worry mow it and you will see the drill lines ,and you will see them 12 months from now also.

un fortunately, we don't sow ley grass after early oct, we have sown some westerwold grass, after that, once over, but very distinct lines ! However two different end uses, former to stay down, the latter for one, or possibly two cuts, pre maize, the ground the w/wold is in, would be happy to leave, till early june, before maize.

 

[Bury the Trash]

I will be able to drive on mine that was drilled 8 days ago despite all this rain, which is critical to get it sprayed, just waiting for the 3rd leaf then I'm away , will you drive on yours ?

no, no way.
wont spray it either.
would hope to put a few couples on it in the late winter early spring will be useful and earliest..... if we're lucky.
saves us work in the spring though and looking at stubble all winter knowing youve got to do something to it ultimately when like you say the spring could be very dry..
as that ground is now absorbing and storing the winter rainfall of course.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

no, no way.
wont spray it either.
would hope to put a few couples on it in the late winter early spring will be useful and earliest..... if we're lucky.
saves us work in the spring though and looking at stubble all winter knowing youve got to do something to it ultimately when like you say the spring could be very dry..
as that ground is now absorbing and storing the winter rainfall of course.

What if you get chickweed in it , you won't have a back up plan

 

[Bury the Trash]

What if you get chickweed in it , you won't have a back up plan

well actually i could spray later if i wanted too with care all bar a particularly heavy clay based part of one field that is.
my 500l 12m sprayer will go on a little tractor .
but there wont be chickweed as it was ex. cornfields that were kept clean.

Part of our challenge is such variable soil types ,even within a smallish field.

and of course again its all about context. here we are using old (but useful to us.) types of machinery and get the best from them not expensive new drills that we cant justify or use contractors to which there doesn't seem a point if you love the practical work itself.

if i had the money surplus i might i guess, buy drills and things like some do

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I know from experience that I have to spray autumn Reseeds here , that's one of the reasons l like direct drilling as I can get on the land to do it , ploughed cultivated ground would be to soft here

 

[Bury the Trash]

Course's for Horses.