Wholecrop choices.

[shumungus]

Wanting to reduce meal use next winter. Suckler to beef and sheep enterprise. No grain storage facilities. Wanting to grow grain and put in silo along with grass. What are the pro's and cons of wheat versus osts versus rye. Never grew grain before, educate me.

 

[ollie989898]

Oats and rye- limited chemical choices which may cause issues with weed control. May not be an issue for all though.

Spring wheat wants to be drilled by the end of this month and that is for Somerset, not sure if that would be too late for NI.

Spring barley can be a two spray wonder, might brackle a bit but a forager will get under it no sweat. Weed control can be easy as well if you use a bit of pre-em.

Just be careful how much N you use if you have a lot of fertility about. They might look small and weedy when they first emerge but spring crops can get very angry and very tall when they get growing.

Soil test first, put right whatever is needed. Drill and roll.

 

[Lazy Sod]

Spring barley and undersow it?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Are you wanting to mix the grain with the grass ,you post is not that clear , I I was do is doing it I would be using propcorn or crimping it , Oats is better for sheep , barley and wheat for cattle ,can you not grow maize ?

 

[clemmo]

Are you wanting to mix the grain with the grass ,you post is not that clear , I I was do is doing it I would be using propcorn or crimping it , Oats is better for sheep , barley and wheat for cattle ,can you not grow maize ?

I presume he means wholecrop ?

 

[Kevtherev]

Wanting to reduce meal use next winter. Suckler to beef and sheep enterprise. No grain storage facilities. Wanting to grow grain and put in silo along with grass. What are the pro's and cons of wheat versus osts versus rye. Never grew grain before, educate me.

Whole crop barley pea and oats work well.
Chopped and put in a clamp very useful feed for cattle.
Barley with grass undersown is also an option.
Rye seed can be expensive

 

[shumungus]

I presume he means wholecrop ?

Yes wholecrop through a SP harvester.

 

[shumungus]

Are you wanting to mix the grain with the grass ,you post is not that clear , I I was do is doing it I would be using propcorn or crimping it , Oats is better for sheep , barley and wheat for cattle ,can you not grow maize ?

Maize has been tried round here, didn't work.

 

[shumungus]

Oats and rye- limited chemical choices which may cause issues with weed control. May not be an issue for all though.

Spring wheat wants to be drilled by the end of this month and that is for Somerset, not sure if that would be too late for NI.

Spring barley can be a two spray wonder, might brackle a bit but a forager will get under it no sweat. Weed control can be easy as well if you use a bit of pre-em.

Just be careful how much N you use if you have a lot of fertility about. They might look small and weedy when they first emerge but spring crops can get very angry and very tall when they get growing.

Soil test first, put right whatever is needed. Drill and roll.

Soil samples are being done this week. Have plenty of good beef slurry and a mountain of broiler litter at our disposal.

 

[Scholsey]

Wanting to reduce meal use next winter. Suckler to beef and sheep enterprise. No grain storage facilities. Wanting to grow grain and put in silo along with grass. What are the pro's and cons of wheat versus osts versus rye. Never grew grain before, educate me.

Can you grow maize? Maize will P all over any wholecrop in terms of energy and feed value.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Maize has been tried round here, didn't work.

Ok , would go with wheat then , problem is if you undersow it you will have to sow it thinner and your energy yield which your after won't be a massive lot more than your getting on grass ,

 

[shumungus]

Ok , would go with wheat then , problem is if you undersow it you will have to sow it thinner and your energy yield which your after won't be a massive lot more than your getting on grass ,

Don't want to undersow for that reason would like to get it in and out early and reseed in Autumn.

 

[ollie989898]

Soil samples are being done this week. Have plenty of good beef slurry and a mountain of broiler litter at our disposal.

If you have broiler dung then you will be able to grow barley or spring wheat with 50 units of N, tops. I'd be tempted not to put any N on if you have all that available.

Both leave a lovely clean stubble that you can put in a new ley of grass or whatever behind.

Maize is ok but harvests so late. Barley or wheat will be off and away in July/August.

 

[bigw]

How much longer growing time does spring wheat require over spring barley?

 

[jed]

Soil samples are being done this week. Have plenty of good beef slurry and a mountain of broiler litter at our disposal.

Be careful with that boiler manure make sure you get a good even spread and I wouldn’t go anymore that 3 ton /ac
otherwise the bloke on the harvester will be calling you everything under the sun as he try’s to scrape it off the floor.

 

[daveydiesel1]

Put it through the combine. Far better feed value. Surely u could get a corner of a shed to stick it in

 

[Agrifreak]

Put it through the combine. Far better feed value. Surely u could get a corner of a shed to stick it in

More options feeding wise with combined grain. But if you can't get propcorn or if it goes flat, stick it in the silo.
Have you looked about seed yet, I'd say there's a few people thinking the same as yourself. And seed probably isn't that easy to get across the water anymore, cuz o' Brexit. There's plenty saved over here, but probably not enough to go around.

 

[shumungus]

Soil samples away today, Wheat seed ordered, agronomist going to keep an eye on it for me and ploughman booked.

 

[ollie989898]

Put it through the combine. Far better feed value. Surely u could get a corner of a shed to stick it in

Combining it is all well and good if you have somewhere to tip and store grain. Through a chopper and into the pit with a layer of grass on top and it is all done for you. Storing grain when you aren't setup to handle it is a PITA. The average dairy farmer, say grows 20 or 40 acres of spring barley, harvests 40-80 tonnes, more of a pain in the chuff than anything to pish about with that amount of grain.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Combining it is all well and good if you have somewhere to tip and store grain. Through a chopper and into the pit with a layer of grass on top and it is all done for you. Storing grain when you aren't setup to handle it is a PITA. The average dairy farmer, say grows 20 or 40 acres of spring barley, harvests 40-80 tonnes, more of a pain in the chuff than anything to pish about with that amount of grain.

I used to store 300 acre of crimp wheat in a silage pit and fattened bulls like no tommorow, best thing I ever did