When to make the call

[BSH]

As I look at the weather forecast changing from bad to worse, I am wondering if i will ever get to harvest my rather poor crop of soya. I am wondering at what point the cut off is to put in the cereal rye that is my winter cereal that I will DD with a JD drill and when I would give up on the soya? Am i being overly pessimistic and have plenty of time or should i seriously consider writing off the soya to make sure that the rye is in to best advantage?

 

[yellowbelly]

Years ago, when MF500 combines were the order of the day, on the bottom of the returns auger was a decal. It read, "Clean out daily when working in mud or snow."
There could be time yet

Sorry, that's not helping you at all.
Depends how much you want to harvest them, I suppose. A couple of good hard frosts in November and you might find they'll go a treat.

 

[BSH]

Thanks for your thoughts. If I wait for the frosts how much will i compromise the Rye do you think?

 

[yellowbelly]

how much will i compromise the Rye do you think?

It will affect it. Do you know the latest drilling date for your variety??

It's good the likes of you are trying to 'push the envelope' with soya. I hope the plant breeders are plugging away at varieties to suit the UK.

As an aside, when I was at Ag college (45 years ago), Lincoln was as far north as forage maize could be grown - just look where it is now.
Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do.

 

[Brisel]

My no till neighbour hasn't cut his soya yet, though I expect he'll do it this week.

 

[Bushmog]

Morning BSH, I grew soya 2 years ago.

I didn't get the combine in until November 1st and it didn't go well, It had been sprayed off and it was a gorgeous day after a few gorgeous days. I went in at midday and it was very damp so I had lunch tried after. The combine travelled well as I'm on the south side of the Cotswold, there's more stone than soil, but the soya really bunged up the combine(JD T560) and there was no yield.
Thankfully it was only 12 acres, but that gave me another problem, I didn't have enough soya to fill the dryer!

In hind sight I should have topped it.

The good news is that I direct drilled winter wheat with a sprinter and it went in a dream and had a good crop.

By the way I'm not growing soya at the moment.(never say never)

Good luck

 

[BSH]

Thanks for the replies. Events have over taken me and I have had to write off the crop. The soya is rotting in the field and there is no way I will be able to harvest it now. We are drilling through it as we speak!