Turnips

[devonbrion1998]

I know this topic has been up a few times, but just want to make sure I am getting it right, as I have never
grown turnip before, I have a 6ac field sloping with very poor grass and weeds,well-drained chalk &clay,
The plan: spray off, give a good harrowing, some fert and seed (vollenda) as advised by Wynnstay seed,
then roll in,Im only going to section 2/3ac for this project as a trial.
What I am looking for is Sep/oct utilisation when the grass goes short,also would it suit my mid April born
lambs?...Thanks in advance chaps

 

[som farmer]

make sure you use a high rate of round-up, and leave it at least 8 days, get a good tilth, and roll well, you will wish you had sown the whole field ! and your lambs have fertilised it for the next crop !

 

[neilo]

Brassicas are a great winter feed and will give you the opportunity to clean the ground up a treat before reseeding. However the change of diet does mean that lambs get a check for a few weeks when you put them on it, while their rumens transition. Not ideal if you are looking to push them on and get them fattened, rather than hold them over winter.

I find a better Autumn ration is a mix of brassicas and fast growing grasses (IRG/Westerwolds), which give just as much feed from a mixed pasture that means there is no transition period. The other advantage is that those grasses will grow away at low temperatures, so you'll have a valuable early bite, long before any other grass species are showing more than a green tint. Either graze it, take a silage cut, or spray it out and reseed.
Most companies do such a mix these days, although seed will be dearer than straight turnips, at around £30/ac. To put that in perspective, a 6 ac field would cost you an extra £150 in seed, which doesn't buy much in the way of bagged feed.

 

[davidroberts30]

I know this topic has been up a few times, but just want to make sure I am getting it right, as I have never
grown turnip before, I have a 6ac field sloping with very poor grass and weeds,well-drained chalk &clay,
The plan: spray off, give a good harrowing, some fert and seed (vollenda) as advised by Wynnstay seed,
then roll in,Im only going to section 2/3ac for this project as a trial.
What I am looking for is Sep/oct utilisation when the grass goes short,also would it suit my mid April born
lambs?...Thanks in advance chaps

soil test!!!!

if you are spraying off then need some lime to counter the acidity of the decaying grass

 

[devonbrion1998]

umm!, I knew It would not be that straight forward, soil test, yes now you have said it I will
get that done, makes good sense
the intention was to get these lambs done well this year and away, there's really no growth
on the field, I topped it 3 weeks ago and being so dry its burned off, so would be minimal
green matter deposited on the strip, its like weed grass just little stringy stems with no leaf
Rubbish,
Brassicas sound good as well, lots to think about, be nice to get some production from it,
it's not our land and the previous tenant says he seeded it 3 times but never really worked,
it borders our fields so can't see any reason why it should look so bleak.

 

[davidroberts30]

umm!, I knew It would not be that straight forward, soil test, yes now you have said it I will
get that done, makes good sense
the intention was to get these lambs done well this year and away, there's really no growth
on the field, I topped it 3 weeks ago and being so dry its burned off, so would be minimal
green matter deposited on the strip, its like weed grass just little stringy stems with no leaf
Rubbish,
Brassicas sound good as well, lots to think about, be nice to get some production from it,
it's not our land and the previous tenant says he seeded it 3 times but never really worked,
it borders our fields so can't see any reason why it should look so bleak.

20 quid for a p and k test could save you a fortune

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

soil test!!!!

if you are spraying off then need some lime to counter the acidity of the decaying grass

If the weather looks good why not spray off after drilling, hopefully turnips will be away before grass starts decaying?

(I have never grown turnips before, but often spray off grass with the wheat pre em after direct drilling)

 

[Bury the Trash]

I thought you were going to plough for it ....?

 

[devonbrion1998]

I thought you were going to plough for it ....?

Ha Ha, yes you right but getting a little old plough around here has proven very hard work
had a look at a couple but the boards we transparent, Still, I will keep going and will find one
will it give me a much better job ploughed?I thought turnips grew on concrete

 

[Bury the Trash]

Facebook 'farming free ads' or autotraderfarm for machinery these days.
Good ploughing will get a nice clean tilth and after a bit of workingeasy then to sow a mix of ferts and seed in a vicon varispreader . Light harrow over and job done. Might get a bit of weed but it will cope.
And No, they will, be disapointing on compacted ground im afraid.

 

[devonbrion1998]

Facebook 'farming free ads' or autotraderfarm for machinery these days.
Good ploughing will get a nice clean tilth and after a bit of workingeasy then to sow a mix of ferts and seed in a vicon varispreader . Light harrow over and job done. Might get a bit of weed but it will cope.
And No, they will, be disapointing on compacted ground im afraid.

Ta.. I will try and look a bit further,I have the vicon sorted I think, seen one on eBay,no rolling then?

 

[Bury the Trash]

yeah you could do, roll if its dry , with a light tractor and Cambridge roller,

but.... especially if showery and poor forecast after sowing it wont hurt unrolled

I use a varispreader for spreading seed sometimes its got manual control not hydraulic, which I prefer as you can fine tune/set it better ir. for modern tractors just slide a piece of lightweight pipe on the lever to extend it and reach into the cab

 

[devonbrion1998]

yeah you could do, roll if its dry , with a light tractor and Cambridge roller,

but.... especially if showery and poor forecast after sowing it wont hurt unrolled

perfect Thanks