OSR replacement

[DRC]

With so many farmers giving up growing, or at least reducing OSR. What are people’s planned rotations going forward. More pulses, or longer runs of cereals?. Other break crops, such as grass maybe.

 

[teslacoils]

Grass, grass, grass
Winter beans
Winter oats
Spring or winter barley

Back to grass.

 

[DRC]

Grass, grass, grass
Winter beans
Winter oats
Spring or winter barley

Back to grass.

I know you’ve mentioned grass recently. What will you do with it to make it pay, as I can’t seem to. Not to grow and sell anyway, and large amounts of cattle tie up huge amounts of capital for little return

 

[DRC]

Grass, grass, grass
Winter beans
Winter oats
Spring or winter barley

Back to grass.

i presume wheat will fit either side of the beans

 

[Beowulf]

Is anyone growing quinoa as a break crop?

I appreciate it's a niche product, but with veganism and gluten-free diets becoming more popular the demand is increasing. It's mostly imported at the moment, but I understand there are a few hundred hectares grown successfully in the southern half of the UK.

It's drought tolerant and prefers light sandy soils, isn't terribly fussy about PH and is combined in September. In a game of chicken and egg there might well be a bigger home-grown market to be developed if farmers were willing to take the leap of faith.

 

[teslacoils]

i presume wheat will fit either side of the beans

No, I was going to forget the wheat.

Not quite sure on the use of the grass. It may end up being a fertility building exercise. All is academic as in a world without kerb, pdm, flufenacet, cypro, epoxi, CTL, roundup, I'd argue your crop choice came down to what chem you had left.

 

[AF Salers]

@teslacoils

Fertilty building grass & legume ley getting paid £££/ha/yr under a stewardship agreement then your combinables before back to the £££ fertility building ley. Reduced workload, reduced hassle, reduced chem & N requirement, improved soils, all DD, - sounds champion provided gov't coughs up when they are contracted to?

 

[DRC]

Is anyone growing quinoa as a break crop?

I appreciate it's a niche product, but with veganism and gluten-free diets becoming more popular the demand is increasing. It's mostly imported at the moment, but I understand there are a few hundred hectares grown successfully in the southern half of the UK.

It's drought tolerant and prefers light sandy soils, isn't terribly fussy about PH and is combined in September. In a game of chicken and egg there might well be a bigger home-grown market to be developed if farmers were willing to take the leap of faith.

Nearby friends have that market pretty well sown up in the UK. They do have contract growers around the country though.

http://www.britishquinoa.co.uk/

 

[DRC]

I thought there would’ve been more replies to this thread. Maybe people just haven’t decided

 

[DRC]

@teslacoils

Fertilty building grass & legume ley getting paid £££/ha/yr under a stewardship agreement then your combinables before back to the £££ fertility building ley. Reduced workload, reduced hassle, reduced chem & N requirement, improved soils, all DD, - sounds champion provided gov't coughs up when they are contracted to?

I’ve been close to doing this twice, but the payment fiasco has put me off for now.

 

[DrWazzock]

It's a dilemma. I might try more Lupins for home consumption, as a protein source for the livestock. Grown them before. Yielded well on this acidic sand. Easy to combine, like a user friendly bean, but a bit late in the year so you need a good hot drier ready and waiting, not blown bins.

I'm coming round to the barley, beet, grass, livestock, (cattle and sheep), forage crops and Lupins system, not necessarily in that order. It suits our variable but mostly sandy soils and cuts out the risk and stress of OSR and wheat.

I never thought I'd say that OSR is a bigger pain than livestock but the day has arrived.

 

[Lexion1000]

If you can grow osr successfully in your area it’s still the best break crop out there in my opinion.I

If you’re in an area where maize is in demand it can pay very well. It also helps clean up grass weeds and spreads workload around the year. Also a very good opportunity to get lots of muck on the land.

 

[Clive]

I thought there would’ve been more replies to this thread. Maybe people just haven’t decided

I think the lack of replies shows how lost for an answer to this problem so many are !

There are plenty of alternative break crops imo but most can’t even consider them as their existing high fixed cost structure, built around high gross output crops like wheat and OSR will not support such high cost businesses

The solution is going to be a massive re adjustment of fixed cost structure that matches the lower gross output farm business of the future if you still want to be profitable

 

[Clive]

If you can grow osr successfully in your area it’s still the best break crop out there in my opinion.

If everyone cuts it back to a more sensible 1 in 6 type rotation it will not. be a problem to grow

It’s not CSFB to blame imo it is us as farmers - we have over done it and yet again killed the golden goose

Same lessons true for blackgrass and many other issues - we have bought them upon ourselves mostly via abuse of rotation and products

Many about time we start learning from past mistakes rather than repeat them ?

 

[teslacoils]

2yr legume fallow. I'm actually going to plant some outside the stewardship scheme to mow. This pic was a fortnight ago.

 

[yellow belly]

I’ve been close to doing this twice, but the payment fiasco has put me off for now.

the payment fiasco is getting sorted but the flea beetle fiasco is getting worse
plenty of farmers will still hope for a better rape crop next year

my target rotation has moved from 50%cereals 50% rape 10 years ago to 66 % cereals 10% rape 26% other break crops
in reality we have had less than 50% rape in many years due to establisment problems
too dry too wet too late harvest slugs flea beetle
better to plan less rape than be forced to have less rape

 

[Adeptandy]

If everyone cuts it back to a more sensible 1 in 6 type rotation it will not. be a problem to grow

Many about time we start learning from past mistakes rather than repeat them ?

This farms not grown OSR for 11 years, and not sure its ever grown it, next door farm doesn't grow it either, emerged OSR didn't last a week here, so can't see how that theory of rotation 1:6 works out

 

[DRC]

I actually don’t grow rape, but seeing all three neighbours with what look like good looking crops is making me consider it again on the heavier land that can’t grow maize constantly . This year is showing that up badly. I need to pay rent , so legume fallows without a payment aren’t appealing . I do have some continuous wheat, but that doesn’t look the best this year. I’ve been offered the chance to grow more hybrid rye , which could be harvested early then put a cover crop before going back to wheat. Trouble is the rye really likes the lighter ground.

 

[Brisel]

I thought there would’ve been more replies to this thread. Maybe people just haven’t decided

A mediocre osr crop produces a net margin better than some very good alternatives!

The agronomy firm I use for crop walking produced a very good table of the osr yield equivalent for other break crops. I'm not going to post it because I and other clients have paid for it (indirectly). I will put a few up for comparison though. It was a simple gross margin comparison using reasonable costs, yields & prices.

Winter osr assumption is 3.7 t/ha @ £310/t gross output £1147/ha V costs £539.65/ha GM £607/ha. The price has gone up since - this only makes the other crops look worse!

Winter oats - 3.91 t/ha. That's the equivalent osr yield for the same gross margin. It doesn't take into account things like grass weed control, sustainability, straw sales, extra grain storage, better/worse following first wheat crops etc.
W beans 3.01 t/ha
Spring osr 2.04
Spring linseed at 2 t/ha and £350/t = osr equiv 2.41 t/ha
Some niche crops look very attractive e.g. grain maize but the figure doesn't consider having to dry 15% moisture out of the crop, the late harvest, specialist headers and the fusarium in the following wheat. No root crops considered here either.

You get the idea. Look at your own long term yield averages. If you are a great pulse grower but struggle with osr then perhaps you might reconsider but pulses should only be grown max once in 5 years to avoid pest/disease build up. What about reducing your osr area and alternating your breaks with maize/pulses/oats? That spreads your risk further and everything likes longer rotations.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Brisel]

I actually don’t grow rape, but seeing all three neighbours with what look like good looking crops is making me consider it again on the heavier land that can’t grow maize constantly . This year is showing that up badly. I need to pay rent , so legume fallows without a payment aren’t appealing . I do have some continuous wheat, but that doesn’t look the best this year. I’ve been offered the chance to grow more hybrid rye , which could be harvested early then put a cover crop before going back to wheat. Trouble is the rye really likes the lighter ground.

Rye is not a take-all break.