Season Long Game Cover Crop

[Pedders]

like many others I'm sure ..the maize and artichoke cover crops sown for our commercial shoot have taken a battering with this recent weather and are now looking pretty sorry for themselves and not holding much at all with the inevitable negative effect that's having on the bag .. we're keen to expand the business for next year but to do so we need to be able to hold the birds better after christmas ...Has any one got any suggestions for something to either replace maize or as an addition that will hold birds through until late January so we can sell some more days with confidence ? nothing worse than selling a day then struggling to make up the numbers
TIA

 

[crazy_bull]

The sorghums seem to have stood well, and some shorter varieties of maize.

Kale is also standing well.

C B

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

What about miscanthus, if your cover strips are in the same spots every year?

Or a kale type winter brassica?

 

[Pedders]

....adding some sorghum sounds a good idea and some proper old school kale strips sound like they would fit the bill ...problem is growing them but we'd just have to make sure we did it properly

 

[Kevtherev]

Kale and roots are popular in this area for cover.
Some maize and miscanthus also.

 

[Brisel]

Utopia has done well here since we stopped growing kale because of flea beetle. I've never seen it nailed by the winter unless there has been a serious frost. Maybe a contender for West Sussex? Bright Seeds used to have the exclusive on utopia but it might be more widely available now. I agree about adding sorghum or millet to broaden the species mix. For weed control it might be best to have them as separate strips of one species. Miscanthus is very slow to develop, so only really a long term option.

 

[Pedders]

does kale have to be hammered by flea beetle ? if you're diligent can you control it ? or is it just not worth the hassle ..always remember the kale as being the best way back in the day

 

[ollie989898]

Kale. Sow it in early June and the stuff grows so fast it never looks back. Weed control is straight forward as well.

Sorghum/millet also want to be sown in June when the soil is very warm so suits sowing a mixture of them both at this time.e

 

[Trigger Happy]

Have under sown (broadcast) millet and sorghum into our seedbeds then drilled a very late maturing variety of maize.
Keep the row width narrow around 20" . You can use stomp and shield. The covers were hell to beat early on but the way they are still holding game is fantastic.

 

[Great In Grass]

Kale if left will flower in its second year therefore it can be treated with Cruiser SB for Flea Beetle.

 

[Great In Grass]

If going with kale go with a blend this will give varying canopy heights & various bolting times.

 

[Kevtherev]

Some of the giant kales can be very dense but hold birds well.
Strips of different varieties work well.
Maize on the local estate is grown in strips with gaps between for feeding but does let the wind swirl in and knock it about.

 

[Robigus]

We used this mix as part of our stewardship. As an added bonus it has held masses of pheasants right up to now. The snow knocked it about but they still preferred it to anywhere else. http://www.churchofbures.co.uk/products/greening-efas

• 30% White Millet
• 20% Canary Seed
• 15% Linseed
• 15% Sunflower
• 10% Triticale
• 5% Kale
• 5% Quinoa

 

[ZXR17]

Millet and Sorghum mix has stood well and it gets pretty windy here. It also seems to be more reliable to establish than brassicas. I also wanted to avoid brassicas because of our close OSR rotation.

 

[yellow belly]

I use perennial chichory which I plant in june /july with a general late planted summer mix the chichory takes over in the second year and regrows each year

no maize because of wheat micotoxins and early planting of brassicas suffer with flea beetle

 

[Smiffy101]

As above miscanthus will handle a real battering and pheasants really love it it is far denser than any other cover crop iv seen and it also doesn't need anything done to it and last years even if harvested and if you have enough acres of it in the right area of west sussex there is someone who may buy it chipped in the spring

 

[Pedders]

I don't think miscanthus is going to be suitable but certainly sorghum millet type mixes should have a place along with Kale

 

[Robigus]

We used this mix as part of our stewardship. As an added bonus it has held masses of pheasants right up to now. The snow knocked it about but they still preferred it to anywhere else. http://www.churchofbures.co.uk/products/greening-efas

• 30% White Millet
• 20% Canary Seed
• 15% Linseed
• 15% Sunflower
• 10% Triticale
• 5% Kale
• 5% Quinoa

This is a picture of a piece of the Churches Stewardship mix taken on last Saturday the 20th of January, where it still held a large number of game birds.
As above this was put in purely as a stewardship winter bird feed option. It has not been managed for the shoot at all. No feeding has been done in it. It has been full of 'little birds' (that's as detailed as my ornithological skills go) but it has also been full of pheasants and partridges.
It was originally put in as a two-year mix and that is why the kale is in it. I will reseed it after one year to keep the maximum number of species there. I had intended to drop the kale from the reseed as it provides no real feed value in the first season but it does look to have given some good structure and encouraged birds into the field.
It has twice been snowed under for two or three days.

 

[Pedders]

that looks really good ...we are planning to add some stewardship plots in too ..so that does look and sound encouraging

 

[Aardvark139]

With the picture of the crop above, adding some early season Nitrogen will make a massive difference to how well the Kale grows in year 2. We always give ours a dose when applying it to the OSR in Feb / March (about 50kg of N is ideal). It is well worth the investment as we have no establishment costs and the Kale is always fantastic, attracting loads of songbirds and game.