To grow milling wheats as feed wheats?

To those growing high yielding group 1 & 2 wheats, is anyone planning on growing them as feed wheats?

My concern at the moment is with the increasing acreage of group 1 and 2 varieties with the likes of Skyfall and Siskin that the cost of growing them as milling wheats is not going to be covered by what are likely to be falling premiums.

What defaultable forward premiums are on offer at the moment? What chances are there of achieving milling spec if the crop is treated as a feed wheat?
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
To those growing high yielding group 1 & 2 wheats, is anyone planning on growing them as feed wheats?

My concern at the moment is with the increasing acreage of group 1 and 2 varieties with the likes of Skyfall and Siskin that the cost of growing them as milling wheats is not going to be covered by what are likely to be falling premiums.

What defaultable forward premiums are on offer at the moment? What chances are there of achieving milling spec if the crop is treated as a feed wheat?
Try it. I bet you will get a premium of around £5 in an 'ordinary' year. If the varieties stack up from a yield and disease point of view (and do well on your farm) why wouldn't you if you thought premiums were insufficient for late N, good ear wash?
 
Have Siskin, Cordiale and Skyfall in the ground. Will definitely treat Cordiale as a milling wheat because there's quite a bit of local demand for it and hits proteins relatively easily. I need to check again, but I think Skyfall can struggle to achieve protein levels. Some people were putting on 280 kg/ha and still failing to hit full spec even last year. Also, for Siskin especially, the disease profile is pretty good and so you could cut the spend quite a bit if you weren't quite so worried about fusarium and mycotoxins.
 
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fudge

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire.
Just back your own judgement. We're growing crusoe again. I'll give it full whack whereas Siskin will be fertilised as feed. Why worry about fusarium? That's just down to the weather really.......
 
To those growing high yielding group 1 & 2 wheats, is anyone planning on growing them as feed wheats?

My concern at the moment is with the increasing acreage of group 1 and 2 varieties with the likes of Skyfall and Siskin that the cost of growing them as milling wheats is not going to be covered by what are likely to be falling premiums.

What defaultable forward premiums are on offer at the moment? What chances are there of achieving milling spec if the crop is treated as a feed wheat?

There isn't any difference in growing them! Milling wheats don't need any more chemicals than feeds. Nor do they need any more Nitrogen. If your growing feed you want yield so wack the n on. If your wanting protein you do it late as a protein spray.

Seed rates are the same. Establishment is the same. Harvest might be a bit earlier but that's about it.
 
There isn't any difference in growing them! Milling wheats don't need any more chemicals than feeds. Nor do they need any more Nitrogen. If your growing feed you want yield so wack the n on. If your wanting protein you do it late as a protein spray.

Seed rates are the same. Establishment is the same. Harvest might be a bit earlier but that's about it.

What total N rate do you use? NIAB say 200-220 for feed then add 30-50 kg/ha for milling wheats.
 

franklin

New Member
Some people were putting on 280 kg/ha and still failing to hit full spec even last year.

30kg N per ton of 13% protein is a good guide but its timing rather than total. Perhaps they didnt hit 13% but still got 12t/ha of feed? Its always going to be that balance, but for me milling is where you go when you cant get the base yield to go higher - so long as that extra N cost can be recouped as yield or protein you are still going to make money with all but the scruffiest of wheats now.

Skyfall wont build protein anything like Crusoe or Cordiale. Of the three, Crusoe is the best if you have the patience / capacity to wait until it is properly dead to get it to thresh. £5 or so premiums for gp4 hards / low spec gp 1s and 2s have effectively killed soft gp3 wheats from around here. Cordiale is now niche as it is such a poor, spindly little plant.
 
What total N rate do you use? NIAB say 200-220 for feed then add 30-50 kg/ha for milling wheats.

It depends on variety. We have struggled with Edgar being honest and 220kg + 40kg protein spray this year has achieved about 12.8% protein average but we did harvest 3.98t/acre.

Solstice was similar and I think might be related to Edgar.

Crusoe easier to get protein and we have done with 180kg N and 40kg protein but 3.5t/acre yield in the past. But again harvest 4t of crusoe and your talking about 12.5% protein.

Skyfall for us last two years did 12% protein at 3.5t/acre but harvest 16 did 13.8% pro and 3.8t/acre yield. Dropped it though.

Choose the variety carefully and look locally. What's your local milling wheat growers using?
 
It depends on variety. We have struggled with Edgar being honest and 220kg + 40kg protein spray this year has achieved about 12.8% protein average but we did harvest 3.98t/acre.

Solstice was similar and I think might be related to Edgar.

Crusoe easier to get protein and we have done with 180kg N and 40kg protein but 3.5t/acre yield in the past. But again harvest 4t of crusoe and your talking about 12.5% protein.

Skyfall for us last two years did 12% protein at 3.5t/acre but harvest 16 did 13.8% pro and 3.8t/acre yield. Dropped it though.

Choose the variety carefully and look locally. What's your local milling wheat growers using?

Quite a lot of crusoe being grown locally. My father loves Cordiale, although from the trials it now looks a relatively low yielding and quite dirty variety. That said, there is quite a good local market around here, and it did give us our best yielding field last year.
 
30kg N per ton of 13% protein is a good guide but its timing rather than total. Perhaps they didnt hit 13% but still got 12t/ha of feed? Its always going to be that balance, but for me milling is where you go when you cant get the base yield to go higher - so long as that extra N cost can be recouped as yield or protein you are still going to make money with all but the scruffiest of wheats now.

Skyfall wont build protein anything like Crusoe or Cordiale. Of the three, Crusoe is the best if you have the patience / capacity to wait until it is properly dead to get it to thresh. £5 or so premiums for gp4 hards / low spec gp 1s and 2s have effectively killed soft gp3 wheats from around here. Cordiale is now niche as it is such a poor, spindly little plant.

They didn't get 12 t/ha. Timing might have been off though.

So would you say it's better to grow Skyfall as a feed wheat? That's what we did last year, because they were very late drilled and a little bit ropey.
 

franklin

New Member
The trials all say that Skyfall will do the business in terms of yield vs most other varieties. It threshes nicely; is early; seems reasonably robust; covers the ground and tillers; seems fairly fine going in the ground later. So if it were entered as a feed wheat, it would still be right up there. It's very flexible, but I wouldnt be betting the wife's jewellery on making 13%. That being said, ours did 13.7% last year albeit slightly down on yield than where I wanted it, mainly due to a 3-way N split with no foliar. If I get 9.5t/ha of full spec wheat, or 11t/ha of feed, then I'm going to be reasonably pleased with each. With the current poor premiums for free-buy gp1s, and being close to a *very* active feed wheat buyer makes the milling harder to justify when we often are going to be several pounds per ton up on you for feed wheat.

I dont think we do ourselves any harm by switching into "quality" wheat varieties wholesale, and then managing them based on personal knowledge of our land and markets. If I was dead set on a gp1 and needed that premium I would be growing crusoe and having a good drier. We have close to 500ac out of 1200ac of winter wheat to cut this summer in Skyfall so inevitably some is going to end up spolit by the weather. Although Skyfall cut end of 1st week of September last year retained its hagberg and was a doddle to get cut vs that cut on about the 16th August.
 

RBM

Member
Arable Farmer
The glut of Skyfall doesn't help, but it was always going to be the case when a good gp1 with decent yield gained popularity. I won't grow milling wheats unless they are on a minimum premium contract and that has been gradually tailing away the past couple of years. £20 is a minimum and if it starts creeping down towards £15 it's just not worth it, especially if you get a rejection for ergot at that level it's even less appealing.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
All my forward sales for new crop are on the basis of "feed plus premiums as applicable."

I have Siskin in the ground without a specific contract. It will fill the shed & hopefully attract a premium - whether or not I use Nufol in June to boost protein will depend on how the crop looks & what the market is like. It will be stored separately anyway. Last year's Lili got an £8 premium (min 8 max 20 contract), was the highest yielding wheat here - the Nufol & some extra earwash broke even. In a better year I'd hope that the premiums were higher to justify it.
 

fudge

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire.
The glut of Skyfall doesn't help, but it was always going to be the case when a good gp1 with decent yield gained popularity. I won't grow milling wheats unless they are on a minimum premium contract and that has been gradually tailing away the past couple of years. £20 is a minimum and if it starts creeping down towards £15 it's just not worth it, especially if you get a rejection for ergot at that level it's even less appealing.
We can (probably) all agree on that. But over the last couple of months feed wheat has been a stronger market than some people including myself anticipated. There is no certainty this will continue. At least some milling acreage helps marketability.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
The glut of Skyfall doesn't help, but it was always going to be the case when a good gp1 with decent yield gained popularity. I won't grow milling wheats unless they are on a minimum premium contract and that has been gradually tailing away the past couple of years. £20 is a minimum and if it starts creeping down towards £15 it's just not worth it, especially if you get a rejection for ergot at that level it's even less appealing.

You can thank the seed breeders for that. Now the big millers like Alled, Premier Foods, RHM & ADM can take their pick of whatever is on the market & pay the minimum needed to keep us growing these premium varieties. All that keeps these mills keen are the exporters & bioethanol plants that mean they are competing for wheat in the North East. That's supply & demand for you.

I always thought that the best ethanol yield came from higher starch, not high protein? The two normally have an inverse relationship but I suppose it's all down to cost per unit of ethanol.
 

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