- Location
- Acton Scott, South Shropshire
In organic conversion and growing winter oats as part of our rotation - Winter oats - Stubble turnips - Spring Barley/undersown perennial ryegrass and red clover. Winter oats combined - spring Barley wholecropped for silage.
One line of advise has been that we should be incorporating our straw rather than baling it and then buying in bedding straw as a way of buying in P & K.
If I chop the oat straw off the back of the combine will it cause a problem for the following crop? We would probably spread FYM on the stubble, incorporate and sow turnips on top. With no bagged nitrogen to help the turnips on, will the straw breaking down rob the turnips (or a later crop) of the nitrogen as it breaks down?
Better option to bale and remove straw - process as litter under cows/heifers in straw yards and return it to the land as FYM? My problem with that plan would be that we could have more straw than I could use and no opportunity to buy in P&K through bought in straw.
Thoughts please
Colin
One line of advise has been that we should be incorporating our straw rather than baling it and then buying in bedding straw as a way of buying in P & K.
If I chop the oat straw off the back of the combine will it cause a problem for the following crop? We would probably spread FYM on the stubble, incorporate and sow turnips on top. With no bagged nitrogen to help the turnips on, will the straw breaking down rob the turnips (or a later crop) of the nitrogen as it breaks down?
Better option to bale and remove straw - process as litter under cows/heifers in straw yards and return it to the land as FYM? My problem with that plan would be that we could have more straw than I could use and no opportunity to buy in P&K through bought in straw.
Thoughts please
Colin