Salvaging whole crop

A lot of our rye has gone down this year and we are pondering whether to mow the fields with a Big M and group it into rows. Have been told this is the best way to salvage the crop that’s on the ground but it could be at the expense of some of the heads which could get knocked off and lost.

There’s probably about a quarter of the affected fields which has gone completely horizontal and by the time it’s ready for cutting in another week’s time more could have gone down. So it’s weighing up whether to accept the losses with the disco header, or try to group it and accept the loss of some heads with the groupers.

What would you do?
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
If the direct cut header won’t get it you havnt got much chance with a mower? Why not try it with the direct cut, if you can’t get it, drive around the patch and send the mowers in, going back in with pickup header likefor grass after you’ve finished. How stoney are you? I wouldn’t want to pick up to many acres with a pickup reel if you have the corn cracker in..
 
The English rye seems to be cut a lot earlier, it’s only starting over here now. Straw still pure green, heads still filling out, prob be ready another week to ten days. The power is in the starch so we don’t go until the grain is at soft dough, straw rarely gets too far advanced. Usually 38-45% DM. Never need a corn cracker

We have cut flat stuff before with the disc header and she would struggle to get it, tends to run over the top of it. Can try cutting it all one direction or others claim to have had success mowing instead.
 

DRC

Member
The English rye seems to be cut a lot earlier, it’s only starting over here now. Straw still pure green, heads still filling out, prob be ready another week to ten days. The power is in the starch so we don’t go until the grain is at soft dough, straw rarely gets too far advanced. Usually 38-45% DM. Never need a corn cracker

We have cut flat stuff before with the disc header and she would struggle to get it, tends to run over the top of it. Can try cutting it all one direction or others claim to have had success mowing instead.
No location mentioned, so where’s over here.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
No location mentioned, so where’s over here.
Northern Ireland he’s based.

@Rob_AD you can angle a mower into the ground to get it where as you can’t with a direct disc because foreign objects going through and no forward tilt..

I’ve seen plenty of people fail to combine spring barley and have mown it with a plain mower and then combined the mown swath as it’s already detached from the ground, they managed to get 80% of the barley.
 

Ian01

Member
Location
In the East
The English rye seems to be cut a lot earlier, it’s only starting over here now. Straw still pure green, heads still filling out, prob be ready another week to ten days. The power is in the starch so we don’t go until the grain is at soft dough, straw rarely gets too far advanced. Usually 38-45% DM. Never need a corn cracker

We have cut flat stuff before with the disc header and she would struggle to get it, tends to run over the top of it. Can try cutting it all one direction or others claim to have had success mowing instead.

And your happy feeding rye at 38-45% dm? We aim to be finished by the time we reach 36 ish, much higher and it doesnt clamp well and is not overly digestable
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
How long have you been growing it Rob? What growth regs did you put on? We finished ours 10 days ago and I was worried (falsely) we were a bit late. Variety?
 
We have been at it 5 years, in that time we have grown Pro Gas, Pro Power, Hell Top and this year Eterno. They have been pushing shorter straw and heavier grain yield, its hard to say really if the grain is getting much better but they are def getting shorter. Pro Gas would have been above my head, Eterno is only slightly above my waist.

Growth reg program we have:

1st Application:- End of March. Growth stage approx 30. Moddus at 0.15L/Ha plus Chlormequat at 1.0 L/Ha.

2nd Application:- Second half of April. Growth stage approx 32. Medax Max at 0.2Kg/Ha plus Chlormequat at 1.5 L/Ha.

We got a sample of our clamp silage tested for biogas yield a couple of years ago, it achieved 237m3 / ton fresh weight which is well above book value. I don’t know the technical term for the stage when we cut, but the grain is like soft dough, there’s no moisture at all and can be squeezed but is slightly firm and will stick to your fingers. When it hits that point I send the chopper in. The straw will usually be half green half yellow, dry matter usually high 30s early 40s depending on the year. Never had any problems ensiling and never used a corn cracker.
 
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DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
So has it gone down according to variety? Only our second year here, first year was a shambles, treated as a steep learning curve......

We went once with 0.3 Moddus and 1.15 Chlormequat early Apr (GS31) but have been struck by how springy the crop has been all summer since, would've been astonished if any of it went down. Ours was about eye level or about 5'6". We've been big fans of Moddus at the right time over anything else since it was introduced. Sorry I haven't any advice on gathering it up.
 
Couple of pics taken yesterday. The stuff that’s gone down is on heavier land, the stuff still standing is mostly on lighter ground. It’s hard to say what the cause has been, we don’t usually get this happen but it has been pretty wet here of late and the heavy showers have knocked it down. More heavy rain tonight. Pigeons are now having a field day

C1361200-98BC-45C9-BD85-D8EF959AF337.jpeg


7363A840-1D29-4F25-9CDF-BDEB948C4C0F.jpeg
 

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