kale , is is worth it ?

whelan1

well , how do ye find it ? especially with the very cold weather we had , my ground is heavyish

cjpm

We had it last year, Winter 2009, was going grand till after Christmas week when the frost burnt it, and from then on it was rotting.....

leg wax

you need the right site for it dry field shelter, if you have a field thats full of stones and want to reseed it without ploughing its great if you have sheds why bother, if you want to expand numbers without the costs of buildings fantastic, feeding its a good feed and does not take long to feed animals i think you need the right breed to put up in the bad conditions when its wet.

Pacoa

I did kale for weanlings 2 years ago but last winter i just put them in a field i wanted to reseed with a round feeder. They did hardly any damage to the land the 2nd year and i had the grazing of it for the autum, no worry about frost but i did have to feed ration but there was no wire to shift every day. So as far as im concerned kale isn't worth it but i haven't looked at the cost side of it.

keep going

if you have to reseed anyway does a great job. after 6 years of it i think it works great while you expanding and taking new (old)land because it delays capital expenditure until you have stock paid for.but after a while you will run out of (old)land most problems come from overstocking the crop

blue5000

Ya whelan I think its worthwhile. But as already said above if you have the buildings its not worth the bother. I had weanling heifers on it and penfold variety is better in the frost than maris kestrel. Had to give them a grab of maize silage on the days with no thaw. Hope to sow it again this summer. Whats the best thing to sow after it? I'm thinking of barley undersown with grass.

dar31

blue5000 wrote: »

Ya whelan I think its worthwhile. But as already said above if you have the buildings its not worth the bother. I had weanling heifers on it and penfold variety is better in the frost than maris kestrel. Had to give them a grab of maize silage on the days with no thaw. Hope to sow it again this summer. Whats the best thing to sow after it? I'm thinking of barley undersown with grass.

did you have the two varietys sown this year to compare angainst each other. only had maris in this year, it got a bit of a bad start this year, which might have saved it during the snow, 20/30% of the plants didnt take at sowing, which left the crop a bit sparse, and the stalks grew that bit stronger, and better able to deal with the snow.
bloody pigeons had a field day on it though during the snow.
still and all was a reasonable enough crop this year.

how did you sow it last year, i used a power-harrow and piggyback seeder,
not a 100% happy with it that way, needs slightly more of a till. ploughing is out of the question.

if you dont have sheds for the animals then it makes good sense, it will also fit in well to a reseeding program,animals are very healthy on it, fouls in wet weather is the only bother
i ll be going again with it this year, no choice really

blue5000

Hi Dar31
Disced it first, 2 runs, then sowed it with a pottinger one pass with air-seeder piggy back on it.

Hadn't intended two varieties, was sowing penfold when a crack opened in the bottom of the tank and half the paddock got a double seed rate. Went and bought the maris kestrel for the other half, sowed it at normal rate, and it did have a lot more weeds and thicker stems. We have light free draining land so was able to drive over the grazed area with loader ok. It was a very dry winter, no feet problems either.