- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
I’m quite a fan of growing Winter Barley for several reason:
It is cheaper than growing wheat.
It requires less fertiliser. 180kgs N is ample.
It requires maybe 2/3rds the fungicides of wheat.
It is very good at suppressing Blackgrass if the Barley is tall.
Early harvest.
Good entry to winter Break crops such as Rape and Linseed.
Valuable straw.
You can drill it early and therefore into good conditions.
I preffer using Hybrid varieties as they certainty outyield conventionals.
Don’t be too put off by high seed prices, the seed rate is much lower.
Don’t listen to Syngenta’s how to grow it.
You do not need the PGR’s they suggest. Or the amount of Nitrogen.
The secret to growing good Winter Barley yields is preventing it from going yellow in the Spring.
Ice-road trucking some N on, on a frost in Feb prevents this.
I’ll agree with @ollie989898 that you should not go the extra mile to get unachievable yields. It’ll do what it will do quite cheaply.
Some say that it is possible to grow Hybrids as HS seed, because it is a restored Hybrid. Not sure of the legalities of that though.
It’s biggest problem depends on how much Spring Barley is grown that doesn’t make malting grade, therefore is dumped on the Feed Market. Much of which needs exporting.
However, if you can feed it to your own livestock, you are on to a winner.
Feed mills are beginning to wake up to the fact that the difference between Feed wheat and Barley prices is too wide, making Barley a cheaper product to use. But, there is a limit an how much Barley you can feed to chickens.
It is cheaper than growing wheat.
It requires less fertiliser. 180kgs N is ample.
It requires maybe 2/3rds the fungicides of wheat.
It is very good at suppressing Blackgrass if the Barley is tall.
Early harvest.
Good entry to winter Break crops such as Rape and Linseed.
Valuable straw.
You can drill it early and therefore into good conditions.
I preffer using Hybrid varieties as they certainty outyield conventionals.
Don’t be too put off by high seed prices, the seed rate is much lower.
Don’t listen to Syngenta’s how to grow it.
You do not need the PGR’s they suggest. Or the amount of Nitrogen.
The secret to growing good Winter Barley yields is preventing it from going yellow in the Spring.
Ice-road trucking some N on, on a frost in Feb prevents this.
I’ll agree with @ollie989898 that you should not go the extra mile to get unachievable yields. It’ll do what it will do quite cheaply.
Some say that it is possible to grow Hybrids as HS seed, because it is a restored Hybrid. Not sure of the legalities of that though.
It’s biggest problem depends on how much Spring Barley is grown that doesn’t make malting grade, therefore is dumped on the Feed Market. Much of which needs exporting.
However, if you can feed it to your own livestock, you are on to a winner.
Feed mills are beginning to wake up to the fact that the difference between Feed wheat and Barley prices is too wide, making Barley a cheaper product to use. But, there is a limit an how much Barley you can feed to chickens.