- Location
- Devon
As an aside, that's 4 weeks growth - or lack of - in the existing grass. Just goes to show what hammering a sward with constant over grazing in the spring does to it.
Pasture Cropping
- Thread starter Hartwig
- Start date
I tried a strip of oats drilled into the grass on the side of a field. It looks to have been eaten by slugs I don't think it hardly germinated 
barstewards
barstewards 
We've just drilled some spring spelt seed, which we had knocking about, into a poor grass paddock. We haven't had any rain here in all of April, but they talk of some tonight/tomorrow. I'm planning on sticking the mob on the drilled ground tomorrow, chewing it right down and treading the seed in. If it grows, it should grow taller than the pasture grasses/weeds and we'll be combining it in August.
However, there's a lot that could go wrong, starting with this rain. The seed wasn't very clean, with bits of straw etc in it; it's terrible stuff to flow at the best of times and kept blocking the coulters, so there's a fair bit laying on the surface. Luckily, as you plant it in its hull, this doesn't matter too much because birds don't like eating the hulled grain and tend to leave it be...so it might grow from the surface. I'll report back
However, there's a lot that could go wrong, starting with this rain. The seed wasn't very clean, with bits of straw etc in it; it's terrible stuff to flow at the best of times and kept blocking the coulters, so there's a fair bit laying on the surface. Luckily, as you plant it in its hull, this doesn't matter too much because birds don't like eating the hulled grain and tend to leave it be...so it might grow from the surface. I'll report back
Worth a try. What’s the plan if the grass ends up too strong for the spelt? Just graze it all off?
Got 30 acres of red clover, Timothy and ryegrass undersown with beans in yesterday. Did it conventionally with the plough as a couple of the fields the soil was constipated so needed a reset.
Got 30 acres of red clover, Timothy and ryegrass undersown with beans in yesterday. Did it conventionally with the plough as a couple of the fields the soil was constipated so needed a reset.
It's in half of a grass paddock, we'll electric fence the cattle out next time the mob are coming past if it looks like the spelt has got going, or just graze it if the grass is too strong. And so on onwards.
I was keen to give spelt a go as it is nice and tall (4 or 5 foot), so if it does get going, it'll head above the grass layer.
We've got another field with a mix of heritage wheats, barley and rye in, all with a clover/trefoil under-storey (and a few weeds); we are aiming for a nice 1 tonne/acre crop with no inputs, every year. Time will tell...
Have you got a home for the seed yet? Look forward to Martian branded heritage flours with your mug on the front ???.
Will be interesting to see how the clover understory goes under the wheat. Would be something to consider for the future if it works.
How is the wheat looking after the red clover we saw?
Thanks.
The seed will go into our mill: Grindswell. Not sure Martian works on a bag of flour, might appeal to the extra-terrestial market.
Point of fact, the seed is not ours, there's a bizarre law that stops you selling or giving away heritage seed, or any seed not on the list. I think Martin Wolfe had quite a battle to get his YQ blend licenced. So we'll have to hand it back to the owner once we've harvested it...the spelt is ours, but I'll be surprised if we can make more than a loaf of bread off the hectare patch. We'll see.
The wheat behind the clover went from strength to strength all winter, grew nicely through the dry and will be happy with the 10mm of rain we've just had (and still having). Shows how late you can drill if you've got something solid and nutritious to plant into.
Someone was asking on another thread how this was going. The answer is, not very well. There's still seed in the ground that hasn't germinated yet. In fact I can't see a single spelt plant. Probably not the best year to try spring sowing into pasture.
But, following on from various observations on KP's ongoing thread, I think it'll be worth a go trying to grow a cereal crop in a pasture that has been sheep-wrecked by set-stocking over the years. We've just taken back a bit of land that used to grow fair to good crops, then went into an arable reversion scheme twenty something years ago and has been mostly nibbled down by sheep to below ankle height, ever since. As a result, all the plants there, grasses and broadleaves, have become bonsai. Rather than spray this off and reseed, I reckon it'll be worth cutting a winter cereal in this September, graze it hard, remove animals, graze again in March if there's a bite and then shut the gate until harvest. No fertiliser, no sprays. Cost: a bit of seed and an hour or two of tractor and drill. Combine the one tonne/acre organic wheat in August, sell the grain for a fortune and graze the aftermath.
What could possibly go wrong?
But, following on from various observations on KP's ongoing thread, I think it'll be worth a go trying to grow a cereal crop in a pasture that has been sheep-wrecked by set-stocking over the years. We've just taken back a bit of land that used to grow fair to good crops, then went into an arable reversion scheme twenty something years ago and has been mostly nibbled down by sheep to below ankle height, ever since. As a result, all the plants there, grasses and broadleaves, have become bonsai. Rather than spray this off and reseed, I reckon it'll be worth cutting a winter cereal in this September, graze it hard, remove animals, graze again in March if there's a bite and then shut the gate until harvest. No fertiliser, no sprays. Cost: a bit of seed and an hour or two of tractor and drill. Combine the one tonne/acre organic wheat in August, sell the grain for a fortune and graze the aftermath.
What could possibly go wrong?
My tech skills aren't up to loading the advert for tomorrow's Webinar on Pasture Cropping. So I'll do my own:
Groundswell and the PFLA are putting on a webinar tomorrow at 5pm, with me in the chair and Andrew Brewster from Scotland, Andy Cato from France and Andrew Howard all talking about different approaches to this subject. AB successfully stitches forage rye into his pastures to get an early bite for his cattle, AC grows milling wheat in his pastures and is looking to expand his operation to the UK and AH needs no introduction on this forum. It'll be gripping. Sign in on Groundswell or PFLA website
groundswellag.com
Groundswell and the PFLA are putting on a webinar tomorrow at 5pm, with me in the chair and Andrew Brewster from Scotland, Andy Cato from France and Andrew Howard all talking about different approaches to this subject. AB successfully stitches forage rye into his pastures to get an early bite for his cattle, AC grows milling wheat in his pastures and is looking to expand his operation to the UK and AH needs no introduction on this forum. It'll be gripping. Sign in on Groundswell or PFLA website
Groundswell Agriculture No-Till Show & Conference - News
Groundswell Agriculture No-Till Show & Conference news articles and interviews with our speakers, ambassadors and exhibitors.
groundswellag.com
Last edited:
- Location
- Hertfordshire
@martian will it be recorded?My tech skills aren't up to loading the advert for tomorrow's Webinar on Pasture Cropping. So I'll do my own:
Groundswell and the PFLA are putting on a webinar tomorrow at 5pm, with me in the chair and Andrew Brewster from Scotland, Andy Cato from France and Andrew Howard all talking about different approaches to this subject. AB successfully stitches forage rye into his pastures to get an early bite for his cattle, AC grows milling wheat in his pastures and is looking to expand his operation to the UK and AH needs no introduction on this forum. It'll be gripping. Sign in on Groundswell or PFLA website
Groundswell Agriculture No-Till Show & Conference - News
Groundswell Agriculture No-Till Show & Conference news articles and interviews with our speakers, ambassadors and exhibitors.
awkward
Member
- Location
- kerry ireland
Did you try this? How is it going?
Yes, it'll be recorded and be watchable afterwards
Recording of Andy Cato's great presentation at Groundswell. He tells of his various attempts at pasture cropping and why he thinks it's an important way forward for organic wheat growing. The interesting bit will be how well it works in the UK, he seems to have it sorted in SW France. The inter-row mower is key.
- Location
- North Norfolk
Good to catch up with this on video, one of the presentations I missed live.
There is a small bit showing him growing maize in an understory (at 8 mins 30), when we tried this here for a DEFRA trial the understory outcompeted the maize. I wonder about trying an inter-row mower.