Preserving barley pea crop for feeding

[zetor-man]

I've got some barley and pea mix planted, and hoping to combine

intend to feed it to dairy beef this winter

what's the best way of preserving, i have some propcorn, probably not enough , and its scarce

or

use a urea type product.

i favour the urea type treatment, as its rumen friendly, id be concerned about getting the barley peas ripe enough , as green heads could dpoil this treatment process


What are other peoples thoughts?

Zm

 

[Longlowdog]

Cut and wrap the whole lot, no combine?

 

[Hesstondriver]

can you not get it below 17% moisture and store it dry ?

 

[neilo]

Cut and wrap the whole lot, no combine?

Presumably he wants to feed livestock, not rats.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Op . pity not to take it to combing stage, needs a bit of patience/ lucky timing at ripening stage, depends a bit on what varieties youve. used.
try to get it to 16%< or a bit more and keep it blown or 17/18% and borrow a mobile drier or get someone to dry it for you if poss , i would.
another thing that you could do again with good timing required , is spray it (with a wide sprayer) preharvest with glyphosate to even the ripening up.

its good to have as grain to feed plus the baled straw / haulm mix will be very useful to have, most likely having decent feed value as well in its self.

 

[zetor-man]

thanks

I'm a bit concerned about desiccating , if the weather turns bad for two weeks it can be a problem, with head losses


I have sown Westminster barley and planet peas, they look to be well matched for maturing at the same time


Zm

 

[Pistonbroke]

Western seeds at Carmarthen push it as a concept. They would probably advise

 

[betweenthelines]

can you not get it below 17% moisture and store it dry ?

Have successfully stored grain at 18% before. Just need to keep blowing cold air through it to stop it warming up.

 

[Jimfandango]

Might be a stupid question, but I guess you don't have a clamp to put it in?

 

[d williams]

Op . pity not to take it to combing stage, needs a bit of patience/ lucky timing at ripening stage, depends a bit on what varieties youve. used.
try to get it to 16%< or a bit more and keep it blown or 17/18% and borrow a mobile drier or get someone to dry it for you if poss , i would.
another thing that you could do again with good timing required , is spray it (with a wide sprayer) preharvest with glyphosate to even the ripening up.

its good to have as grain to feed plus the baled straw / haulm mix will be very useful to have, most likely having decent feed value as well in its self.

Do you wrap the pea and barley straw???

 

[Bury the Trash]

Do you wrap the pea and barley straw???

no, not if its fit to be dry baled . ie if its combined. but might need to leave it a day or 2 before baling.

 

[zetor-man]

What is the best feed value ?

Whole crop and put in a small clamp

or

combine crimp and treat it.


don't want to have to buy in meal for store cattle

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Can you crimp peas

 

[zetor-man]

i was thinking roll and propcorn

or maxamon

 

[neilo]

What is the best feed value ?

Whole crop and put in a small clamp

or

combine crimp and treat it.


don't want to have to buy in meal for store cattle

If you wholecrop and clamp it you will have a palatable bulk feed, high in starch and about 14% protein.

If you combine & treat it then whatever you will treat it with will cost money, but you will have a higher protein ration to feed with whatever forage you have, probably to get to a 14%CP ration(?), with the work of storing it and putting it into troughs.

IF you are set up for bulk feeding, and have room to clamp it, I would suggest wholecrop will be the cheapest, easiest way to use it.

 

[zetor-man]

is it possible to feed whole crop with a layer of silage ontop of the clamp to store cattle with the need for diet feeder ?

 

[neilo]

is it possible to feed whole crop with a layer of silage ontop of the clamp to store cattle with the need for diet feeder ?

We used to feed 300 milkers with no diet feeder. Grass, wholecrops & maize in layers in the pit, then pull out and mix roughly with the telehandler, before dumping into racks.
Simple, cheap & easy.

A guy locally used to ensile wholecrop in a layer over his grass silage, then self feed behind an electric fence wire. He wasn’t on a high output, but very low costs….. and easy.

 

[Jimfandango]

If you are putting it in the clamp make sure to put a layer of grass on top to keep the rats from finding it. It's good stuff though

 

[Dog Bowl]

Not sure how peas fare under urea treatment but when treating barley with urea it becomes unpalatable to rats etc.
I'm going to try urea treated barley this season. Got local contractor with the machine to do it.

 

[neilo]

Not sure how peas fare under urea treatment but when treating barley with urea it becomes unpalatable to rats etc.
I'm going to try urea treated barley this season. Got local contractor with the machine to do it.

They say that, but my rats are quite happy to eat holes in the sheet to get at it, even when there's 150t of untreated barley sitting in the shed 10 yards away. Squirrels seem to be especially fond of it for some reason.