whole crop wheat

whelan1

i am doing this this year would it be ok to under sow it with grass? i would normally do maize but after last year will try this

F.D

hi whelan sorry i cant answer your question, but just wondering what is the costs of sowin this, is it much cheaper than maize?
would it have the same feed value as maize, we are going to till up 20 acres at the moment and still trying to decide what to sow in it before its to late

whelan1

triticale (sp) is also an option i just found the maize wasnt a good crop last year , i sowed under plastic , i was thinking even if the wheat wasnt good i would have the grass there anyway

F.D

i reckon there will be a lot less maize sowed around here this year, there was a lot of hardship getting it out and the crops wernt great either but then they wernt sown under plastic, i would have thought it would have preformed better with the plastic.
could you stitch in grass seed after harvesting the whole crop? might do as well as if it was under sown

whelan1

i stitched 2 fields last year one did really well and 1 didnt:rolleyes:

nilhg

whelan1 wrote: »

i am doing this this year would it be ok to under sow it with grass? i would normally do maize but after last year will try this

Really you'd want your wheat sown in the next week or so and I think it's too cold for grass seed yet, you could try stitching it in when the wheat crop is up but it will be hard to do without causing crop damage.

If you want to have clover in the mix you will severely limit your options for weed control in the wheat, which won't do much for the yield either, in my experience it's hard to grow two crops in the one field.....

whelan1

ploughing it on monday will see then

whelan1

what variety of wheat do i use , what fertiliser do i put on it , its years since i did corn:rolleyes: ploughed it yesterday

tabby aspreme

i think wheat would be too tall to let the grass grow, if you cut it in july there would be lots of time to reseed and no worries about tramline ruts etc, to be leveled out

whelan1

not undersowing now

whelan1

change of plan now , sowing triticale and lupins , wont be sown till early april

F.D

whelan1 wrote: »

change of plan now , sowing triticale and lupins , wont be sown till early april

Whats this like in comparsion to the maize , Yield etc

whelan1

its alot cheaper , obviously wont have the bulk i am still reading in to it but its only 12 acres if the worst comes to the worst i can buy maize in;) sow in april and cut in august , the lupins will increase the protein

nilhg

I'll be interested to see how this goes, lupins were the next big thing 10 or 15 years ago but the winter varieties then were really slow growing, needed 13 or 14 months in the ground to ripen. Unless the varieties have changed an awful lot it's hard to see them being competitive enough to survive with triticale.

As a matter of interest which company is promoting this mix and if you don't mind telling how much is the seed costing?

whelan1

i am getting it from goldcrop , will let you know the price

jeff greene

whelan1 wrote: »

change of plan now , sowing triticale and lupins , wont be sown till early april

Hi Whelan1, I’m interested to know your thoughts on this? I have land to reseed after maize and was looking at this and putting grass in after in early Sept. Can you give me details on the growing and harvesting and how it is feeding, thanks

whelan1

sowed it at the end of april and harvested at end of august.... i think its a great feed and will be doing more this year

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

sowed it at the end of april and harvested at end of august.... i think its a great feed and will be doing more this year

what is the cost per acre. how many tonne per acre. cost of tonne of energy, cost of tonne of dm ,cost of tonne of protein

whelan1

thats alot of questions , will look up the dockets and get back to you in a few days

jeff greene

Thanks whelan1, the important is you liked it and will grow it again, getting it off in august is perfect for reseeding.

rahin man

lupins will also fix nitrogen in the soil(from legume family). good break crop.

whelan1

the lupins flowered in july and they looked like beans when cut....was very bulky... i am hoping to only do a first cut this year and do twice as much of this in august

Bitten & Hisses

Did you make a clamp of this crop? If so, any issues with rodents?

whelan1

i was advised to put it in the silage pit and cover it with grass silage , which i did , no rodent trouble at all, the fact the grass silage was on top meant the birds didnt peck through to the grains iykwim, also i have 2 fantastic cats that take care of all rodents , i used no poison at all this year , yet

Bitten & Hisses

Would it be feasible to cut with a conditioner mower and bale it? I know a guy who had peas and barley in round bales, with grass silage bales on the ground under them. He showed me photos of bales in the centre of the stack which the rats got to. They looked as if a herd of cows had ripped them apart. Apparently a line of hydrated lime around the edge of the stack is the answer to rodents as damp hydrated lime will burn their paws.

Bog Man 1

We sowed Combicrop a Barley and Pea Mix and cut and trashed it with a combine harvester and got just under 2.5 tonne to the acre of a 15% protein ration .There was also 6 bales of straw per acre. It cost 80 Euro for materials seed Fert Etc. . http://www.combicrop.com/

whelan1

when my contractor was cutting it , his machine kept getting blocked , there was a hell of a crop on it , he had to knock of the crimper thingy - excuse me for not being too machinery orientated:o- honestly there was a hell of a crop on it and the pit did not sink at all , i would be afraid of doing it in bales tbh, i only did 10 acres this year to see how it would go , if you have any questions ring goldcrop in dunleer and ask for andy . Will deffo do more of it this year

sh1tstirrer

Bog Man 1 wrote: »

We sowed Combicrop a Barley and Pea Mix and cut and trashed it with a combine harvester and got just under 2.5 tonne to the acre of a 15% protein ration .There was also 6 bales of straw per acre. It cost 80 Euro for materials seed Fert Etc. . http://www.combicrop.com/

Did you keep it as grain or did you crimp it? If you cut it as grain how did you dry the peas as they wouldn't ripen the same time as the barley?

rahin man

Was there massive losses through the combine while treshing it?

Would you have to have the concave open a lot wider to tresh the peas and loose the barley?

ihatetractors

Bog Man 1 wrote: »

We sowed Combicrop a Barley and Pea Mix and cut and trashed it with a combine harvester and got just under 2.5 tonne to the acre of a 15% protein ration .There was also 6 bales of straw per acre. It cost 80 Euro for materials seed Fert Etc. . http://www.combicrop.com/

Are you from Co. Carlow by any chance?. There were a few lads on the journal about that last september?, auld fella was goin about pricing it. How would the crop hold in a bad year?

sh1tstirrer

ihatetractors wrote: »

Are you from Co. Carlow by any chance?. There were a few lads on the journal about that last september?, auld fella was goin about pricing it. How would the crop hold in a bad year?

Just read a piece on the independent about the Carlow farmers growing the crop. Heres the link.

http://www.independent.ie/farming/increased-profit-the-focus-of-combicrop-2273227.html

Bog Man 1

There was no problem threshing it and the few combines that cut it reported no problems with losses. It did go down a bit but was easily picked up and was not lodged and ripened evenly much to my suprise.
The pessimists were proved wrong. There were over 200 acres grown and it was all harvested sucessfully .Some was cut moist and crimped into a pit.Some was cut at 22% and treated with propionic through a roller and has kept well. Some was cut and kept on air Pedastals and rolled in the winter.
The only problem was some small barley grains did not roll and passed in the dung. So it was put through the roller twice and that solved that problem.
One Bull beef man put it through a hammer mill but you need to be using a diet feeder.
People should try something new every year or else it gets boring.

Nutcase

Bog Man 1 wrote: »

We sowed Combicrop a Barley and Pea Mix and cut and trashed it with a combine harvester and got just under 2.5 tonne to the acre of a 15% protein ration .There was also 6 bales of straw per acre. It cost 80 Euro for materials seed Fert Etc. . http://www.combicrop.com/

When are the sowing dates for that combicrop is it just the same as for spring barley or wheat or when did you sow yours??

Bog Man 1

Nutcase wrote: »

When are the sowing dates for that combicrop is it just the same as for spring barley or wheat or when did you sow yours??

Sowed it the beginning of April but I would chance it in late March if conditions were right.

mossy1

whelan1 wrote: »

sowed it at the end of april and harvested at end of august.... i think its a great feed and will be doing more this year

was wondering how many tonnes per acre you got whelan1 if you could give a rough quess??

whelan1

will do the figures properly this year when we cut it...and will let you know

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

will do the figures properly this year when we cut it...and will let you know

a very good crop should yield 14-15tonne-

whelan1

stanflt wrote: »

a very good crop should yield 14-15tonne-

i know it yielded well last year... was through it the other day it is coming along nicely

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

i know it yielded well last year... was through it the other day it is coming along nicely

im afraid that my barley is going to lodge-has taken off the last 2weeks-grass istillering well underneath

mossy1

whelan1 wrote: »

i know it yielded well last year... was through it the other day it is coming along nicely

Do you feed anything along side this besides silage??

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

a very good crop should yield 14-15tonne-

You must be cutting it at a very low DM, As I always would say that proper wholecrop would yeild around 8 or 9 ton acre cut around 70% DM. Maybe your cutting the crop very low to the ground something I dont do either. I have done many crops down at 7 tons but they would be 75%DM. I always find around 70%+ best for DM of wholecrop for my situation. Highly diluted wholecrop isnt much better than good silage

whelan1

mossy1 wrote: »

Do you feed anything along side this besides silage??

last year i fed a 20% ration and straw as well as the silage and 21% nut in the patlour as soon as the tritcale/lupins ran out the protein in the milk flopped:rolleyes:

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

last year i fed a 20% ration and straw as well as the silage and 21% nut in the patlour as soon as the tritcale/lupins ran out the protein in the milk flopped:rolleyes:

how much did it flop by- whats your protein like at the minute on grass

ihatetractors

stanflt wrote: »

im afraid that my barley is going to lodge-has taken off the last 2weeks-grass istillering well underneath

Is it for wholecrop or the combine?, would be okay if it's for silage otherwise it might be considered as it should be right in first week or 2 of july, crops are early this year

stanflt

bob charles wrote: »

You must be cutting it at a very low DM, As I always would say that proper wholecrop would yeild around 8 or 9 ton acre cut around 70% DM. Maybe your cutting the crop very low to the ground something I dont do either. I have done many crops down at 7 tons but they would be 75%DM. I always find around 70%+ best for DM of wholecrop for my situation. Highly diluted wholecrop isnt much better than good silage

this is tritacale and lupins-cut at 30-45%dm
What is a good bi-crop analysis of triticale & lupin crops?
a. A very good crop would return. DM 30%, Starch 20%, ME 11, Crude Protein 16%
m

stanflt

ihatetractors wrote: »

Is it for wholecrop or the combine?, would be okay if it's for silage otherwise it might be considered as it should be right in first week or 2 of july, crops are early this year

going to mow it and pick it up with the jf900- wasnt sown till may 14 so it will be early august

bob charles

stanflt wrote: »

this is tritacale and lupins-cut at 30-45%dm
What is a good bi-crop analysis of triticale & lupin crops?
a. A very good crop would return. DM 30%, Starch 20%, ME 11, Crude Protein 16%
m

Sorry I taught you were talking about yield as per thread title. no idea about lupins

mossy1

whelan1 wrote: »

will do the figures properly this year when we cut it...and will let you know

Who'd you fair out this year as far as yields and quality goes whelan1??

49801

mossy1 wrote: »

Who'd you fair out this year as far as yields and quality goes whelan1??

interested also.
have to wait 3weeks to sample ours and another 10days for them to turn the sample around. if someone reminds me in a few weeks i'll put our results up.

whelan1

hope to get it tested next week , it did yield very heavy .. wil let ye know when i get it tested

mossy1

49801 wrote: »

interested also.
have to wait 3weeks to sample ours and another 10days for them to turn the sample around. if someone reminds me in a few weeks i'll put our results up.

Hi 49801 any results yet??.... very intested to see how ye got on thinking of doing some myself next year :rolleyes: