Whole crop pit filler

[upnortheast]

Got a 20 acre field of WW destined for the whole crop pit that is a write off.
We can not grow a reliable crop of maize. (Tried for 3 years. got 1 good crop & 2 average ones )
Not sure ground is going to dry soon enough to get spring barley in. Still an option
Any other options to consider. ??
Ideally of a starchy nature to complement good grass silage

 

[frederick]

Got a 20 acre field of WW destined for the whole crop pit that is a write off.
We can not grow a reliable crop of maize. (Tried for 3 years. got 1 good crop & 2 average ones )
Not sure ground is going to dry soon enough to get spring barley in. Still an option
Any other options to consider. ??
Ideally of a starchy nature to complement good grass silage

Maize might be your only recovery option or wild bird seed for the next three years might be the most profitable.

2 average maize and one good. So it's never failed you like the crop of wheat has.

 

[Conrod96]

We always grow spring oats, cut them pretty green usually sowed 1/2 week of April and harvested mid August

 

[upnortheast]

The maize was on the dryest land we have. This ground is on the other end of the farm !
Up to this winter WW has been consistently reliable.

For long term planning. Is this year going to be "normal" or a one off. Remember last winter was one of the driest in the last 50 years

 

[deleted user 837354]

Is there a crop there or not?

If it's rubbish, spray it off and bury it in muck/slurry.

Then go and drill 40kg/acre of spring barley seed. Then drill on top with a harrow box thing your preferred grass mixture.

As soon as the barley is up in row, go out and put on 50-60 units of nitrogen.

Get a contractor to gently spray the weeds out of it using hormone herbicides (that won't hurt the grass underneath) just before the rows fill in.

Mow it off second week of July. Keep watching it at this time as it will go from too green, too green to cripes should be combining this very quickly and can catch you out. Mow it all off, put it up a forager. Apply slurry/fertiliser and cut again when the grass comes into life.

I'll post photos when I can find them.

You'll always get an odd year where you can't grow wheat because of a bad autumn. Don't fret it.

EDIT: if you get some reasonable rain once drilled it will motor up really thick and be around your waist and be a good ump of pit fill.

 

[steveR]

We always grow spring oats, cut them pretty green usually sowed 1/2 week of April and harvested mid August

Spring sown, worth putting a hefty dose of Vetch seed in as well? Very traditional forage crop or will it be too green?

 

[Top Tip.]

We always grow spring oats, cut them pretty green usually sowed 1/2 week of April and harvested mid August

We grow a mix of spring barley and spring oats, get a lot of bulk of it.

 

[Conrod96]

Spring sown, worth putting a hefty dose of Vetch seed in as well? Very traditional forage crop or will it be too green?

You probably could do that we undersowed ours with grass so don’t want to much in the mix to be honest

 

[Farmer Keith]

Spring barley if you can get the seed, ours follows outwinterers here and is rarely in the ground before the 20th April. We combine it and it normally does just shy of 3 tons to the acre on fairly mediocre ground. Would imagine it would wholecrop just fine but I want the straw.