what to sow to harvest before september??

babybrian

We ploughed a field yesterday with the intention of reseeding it but the neighbour who has alot of experience with ploughing advised us to sow a crop and plough again in the autumn, he reckons it will be near impossible to get it level enough without leaving time for the matt of old ley to disintigrate.

So now we are wondering what to sow, thinking mix of barley and peas, or oats and peas, or triticale and open to any other suggestions..

Not looking for grain, want something to pit or wrap and as I say we want to get grass in before the winter so would want to be sowing in september.

aidanki

babybrian wrote: »

We ploughed a field yesterday with the intention of reseeding it but the neighbour who has alot of experience with ploughing advised us to sow a crop and plough again in the autumn, he reckons it will be near impossible to get it level enough without leaving time for the matt of old ley to disintigrate.

So now we are wondering what to sow, thinking mix of barley and peas, or oats and peas, or triticale and open to any other suggestions..

Not looking for grain, want something to pit or wrap and as I say we want to get grass in before the winter so would want to be sowing in september.

could you undersow grass with barley and harvest the barley for the pit next july august

whelan1

i sowed triticale with lupins in it on friday , will harvest it in august

babybrian

is triticale any good? can it be wrapped? how much does it cost to sow?

whelan1

i had 10 acres last year and have 25 this year ... it works out alot cheaper than maize... it os a good protein feed- the lupins add to the protein

babybrian

I need to get a move on with sowing something. When do you harvest? yields are high?

whelan1

yup great yields, cut it in august... i like it anyway!

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

yup great yields, cut it in august... i like it anyway!

where did you get the seed-was thinking of putting in 21acres before the end of the week-ive the ground sprayed off-when is too late to sow

whelan1

stanflt wrote: »

where did you get the seed-was thinking of putting in 21acres before the end of the week-ive the ground sprayed off-when is too late to sow

hi give goldcrop in dunleer a ring and ask for andy collier... if you say you where talking to me

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

hi give goldcrop in dunleer a ring and ask for andy collier... if you say you where talking to me

can you undersow this with grass-
did you cut it with mower or whole crop header

sorry for all the questions;)

whelan1

i wouldnt undersow it with grass as it will lessen your yield imo.. we cut it with the whole crop header on self propelled harvester . we put 10 acres of grass sikage on top of it in pit to stop crows from pecking through the plastic to get the grain

stanflt

whelan1 wrote: »

i wouldnt undersow it with grass as it will lessen your yield imo.. we cut it with the whole crop header on self propelled harvester . we put 10 acres of grass sikage on top of it in pit to stop crows from pecking through the plastic to get the grain

need to undersow
can only mow and pick up as we dont get contractors in-will this be a problem

whelan1

ring andy in goldcrop and he will tell ya

st1979

Whatever you do don't wrap bales that have a grain crop in it like wholecrop wheat barley or triticale as you will have every rat in the country and no amount of bait will work as the bales are too tasty. Been there and done it and a friend of mine done it last year. I warned him and after christmas all the bales left were being destroyed by the rats

Micheal H

st1979 wrote: »

Whatever you do don't wrap bales that have a grain crop in it like wholecrop wheat barley or triticale as you will have every rat in the country and no amount of bait will work as the bales are too tasty. Been there and done it and a friend of mine done it last year. I warned him and after christmas all the bales left were being destroyed by the rats

That isn't always the case. We've baled oats and some barley the last 2 years and had no problems with rats damaging them. We stack them on the ground but leave about foot gap between each bale so that they can be easily inspected for damage and to replenish bait if needed.

keep going

st1979 wrote: »

Whatever you do don't wrap bales that have a grain crop in it like wholecrop wheat barley or triticale as you will have every rat in the country and no amount of bait will work as the bales are too tasty. Been there and done it and a friend of mine done it last year. I warned him and after christmas all the bales left were being destroyed by the rats

golden rule is must be gone by xmas,rats will destroy you.we use 40 or 50 of them to strech autumn grass as i find it just runs through them. just fire one into a round feeder and you can stop and start according to weather

Pharaoh1

babybrian wrote: »

We ploughed a field yesterday with the intention of reseeding it but the neighbour who has alot of experience with ploughing advised us to sow a crop and plough again in the autumn, he reckons it will be near impossible to get it level enough without leaving time for the matt of old ley to disintigrate.

So now we are wondering what to sow, thinking mix of barley and peas, or oats and peas, or triticale and open to any other suggestions..

Not looking for grain, want something to pit or wrap and as I say we want to get grass in before the winter so would want to be sowing in september.

I've come across a few locals with the same idea that ley ground can't be reseeded without sowing barley or something in it first and I've never really understood it. I've then seen them struggle to get someone to harvest it due to contractors mad busy or bad weather or both and sometimes sowing the grass too late or not until the following Spring.

I've reseeded very old grassland for the past few years in the Spring with no problems and have had it back in the grazing rotation within 7-8 weeks.
A good application of Roundup or equivalent and plenty of the power harrow and land leveller after ploughing should leave it in good shape.
I don't doubt your neighbours experience but surely with the right equipment the job can be done.
Of course if you want/need to plant something else then that is fine but imo there may not be any need.

babybrian

right, grass seed in last thursday.:rolleyes: Disced the field over and over and over again and ran the leveler with crumbler on the back 3 times and I am happy to report that its all good and all I need now is rain

It took alot of work but come July I reckon it will be flying

49801

babybrian wrote: »

right, grass seed in last thursday.:rolleyes: Disced the field over and over and over again and ran the leveler with crumbler on the back 3 times and I am happy to report that its all good and all I need now is rain

It took alot of work but come July I reckon it will be flying

hope it grows well for you.

have been always told to its good practice to plough a field twice before resetting the grass.
used the disc last year for a block that it would of been suicidal to plough and still have a problem with docks. so hope you dont encounter the same thing

we set a 15acre field with spring wheat couple of weeks ago and broadcast the grass seed at the start of last week with the SW up. By delaying the grass hopefully it wont take from the SW as much. I do fear the rolling may have been a little harsh on the SW on the headlands . I do like how clean of a ley you get with a nurse crop but the sprays are expensive:mad:. but just as expensive as if you have to spray your grass 2/3 times. So it probably all balances out. At least with a crop of grain you should be able to cover the cost of the ploughing for the grass.

recent drop of rain should get the crop going nicely now:)

Min

st1979 wrote: »

Whatever you do don't wrap bales that have a grain crop in it like wholecrop wheat barley or triticale as you will have every rat in the country and no amount of bait will work as the bales are too tasty. Been there and done it and a friend of mine done it last year. I warned him and after christmas all the bales left were being destroyed by the rats

You need something to eat the rats, a good cat or two.