Over winter cover crop

[DieselRob]

What cover crop would you recommend following winter barley and before spring beans? No osr in the rotation. Suggested so far is white mustard

 

[tw15]

Depends on what you want from it . If you want to break up the deeper soil then daikon raddish in the mix .
To give plenty of rooting and nitogen capturing phacelia .
My mix is 2kg phacila
2 kg raddish
1 kg mustard
2.5kg vetch
50 kg either s oats or s barley hss
That costs roughly £27 - £28 ha plus the value of cereal in the mix .
Grazier will graze of with sheep in Feb .
You can make it cheap or you can go full monty mix and support the likes of the DSV pension fund .
The more diverse the mix the more it does but do keep a eye on costs .
Mustard is cheap on its own and really does not do much in my book .

 

[Great In Grass]

As @tw15 says purchase a mix that makes a good 'base' then add something of your own.

This is one we offer;
5.00kg Fodder (Oil) Radish
0.50kg Berseem clover
6.50kg Spring Vetch
0.50kg Phacelia
Total = 12.50kg to seed 1 ha.

Add something out of the shed Oats and bring the mix up to 25kg and sow 25kg/ha.

If I remember correctly the mix is around £23.75 (£9.61/ha) per 12.5kg excluding the cost of your seed of course.

 

[Brisel]

You've got plenty of options now that reduce as time goes on. Vetch, linseed, phacelia, buckwheat for early biomass, berseem clover, barley volunteers. Any stewardship considerations or demand for fodder crops locally?? Too late for turnips but forage rape might be ok still. What is your establishment method for spring beans?

 

[DieselRob]

Thanks for the replies, main objective is a biomass crop and to just keep something growing on the land.

I'm already growing stubble turnips elsewhere on the farm for my own use, I don't need anymore grazing crops really.

Current establishment method is plough and combi for my sins but DD is very much of the forefront of my attention going forward so a few demos might get lined up in spring.

 

[teslacoils]

Soil type?

 

[ollie989898]

Id stick with radish or mustard if it was me. Keep it simple

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Just get some sweepings outvthe shed. No point spending over £15ha on a cover crop

 

[aylshamslurry]

White mustard is the cheapest option thats what I do
I just broadcast behind the carrier at 8kg ha and gives plenty of bio mass