Rye

bogman_bass

Ok an odd question for you tillage farmers. Does anybody grow rye in this country? or is it a viable crop option for this country? I dont know why but I just got wondering for some reason

DMAXMAN

i remember jim mc carthy growing it a number of years ago. it was only fit to be grown on very light hungry ground as it could grow very tall.he was growing it for mushroom company to carry spawn for compost as far as i remember.this is all from memory so apologies if its wrong

gazahayes

Was looking at an organic trial crop grown for making bread there at the weekend looked fairly good very tall crop tho.

Farmer Pudsey

Rye was a popular winter forage crop years ago it was often undersown to grass or as an early bite on poor land or even after grain crops in land that was to be reseeded the following year. It is different to other grain crops in that it start to form grain when the daylight hours exceed about 14 or 15 hours I think. It could also be planted as early as August and could be grazed before closing and again in march or a silage cut taken before May. It begins to form grain in May no matter how high the plant is.

I have not seen it sown for 35 years as the seed became very expensive and italian rye grass would do much the same at a lower cost. Also because the seed became expensive oats has replaced it in undersown situtation's.

In organic farming it was often used as a nitrogen lifter after legume crops and was then either grazed or cut and ploughed in the spring to improve soil again because the seed is expensive it is no longer used as much. It was prevented the growth of weeds in fallow ground

It also grows at low temperature which was it main advantage so in a mild winter in Ireland it would grow all year long.

bogman_bass

I never heard of it being used as forage.

I wondered was the a small market for it for bread making etc in this country or for use on poorer land

Farmer Pudsey

bogman_bass wrote: »

I never heard of it being used as forage.

I wondered was the a small market for it for bread making etc in this country or for use on poorer land

It was often grown and cut and fed direct to cattle indoors during the winter. Alot a small farmers used it to keep a cow milking for the house over the winter. I never saw it being grown for it grain. I believe it was during WWII as there was a minimum tillage area for all farmers and often on poorer type land it was all that could be grown Whole grain ryebread was a black bread that was produce during WWII whengrowing wheat in certain area's was risky.

jimmy G M

Jez Interesting, thanks Pudsey, a farming lesson and a history lesson all in one!:)

bogman_bass

I was just going to say the same. Thanks for the replies lads!

bob charles

great catch crop and could be a saviour in a year like this if the weather keeps up, plant now and have a crop 6ft tall to cut in march. looked for seed last year but didn't get it to plant as green manure for playing with my direct drill

Joeblue

Anyone got experience feeding rye to milking cow or is it just good enough for dry cows and weanlings

Gawddawggonnit

Joeblue wrote: »

Anyone got experience feeding rye to milking cow or is it just good enough for dry cows and weanlings

I’ve a pit full of the stuff, but I won’t know what it’s like until an analysis is done.

I made a big mistake by pitting it as I found a buyer after for rye for bread making.

Very good to condition the soil though.

Dakota Dan

Joeblue wrote: »

Anyone got experience feeding rye to milking cow or is it just good enough for dry cows and weanlings

They use to strip graze cows on it in early spring in the UK, supposed to be as good as grass.

Joeblue

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Joeblue wrote: »

Anyone got experience feeding rye to milking cow or is it just good enough for dry cows and weanlings

I’ve a pit full of the stuff, but I won’t know what it’s like until an analysis is done.

I made a big mistake by pitting it as I found a buyer after for rye for bread making.

Very good to condition the soil though.

Y

Joeblue

You might put up the results of analysis would b interesting.

Waffletraktor

You mean it's possible to get it to grain without being a crop of ergot with occasional Rye?!

bogman_bass

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

I’ve a pit full of the stuff, but I won’t know what it’s like until an analysis is done.

I made a big mistake by pitting it as I found a buyer after for rye for bread making.

Very good to condition the soil though.

Where in the rotation would you use it. After first wheat?

Gawddawggonnit

Waffletraktor wrote: »

You mean it's possible to get it to grain without being a crop of ergot with occasional Rye?!

Ergot is a problem in Rye and triticale.
I planted it in a cc slot after maize with the intention of planting sunflowers in the spring. Went too late to plant the sunflowers so let it go to harvest. No problem. However I wouldn’t plant it after any cereal crop especially triticale.
I presume that there’s big pressure on your land because blackgrass would be a vector...

Gawddawggonnit

bogman_bass wrote: »

Where in the rotation would you use it. After first wheat?

I wouldn’t plant it after any cereal crop except maybe oats...and I can’t grow oats here because it’s too dry.

Waffletraktor

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Waffletraktor wrote: »

You mean it's possible to get it to grain without being a crop of ergot with occasional Rye?!

Ergot is a problem in Rye and triticale.
I planted it in a cc slot after maize with the intention of planting sunflowers in the spring. Went too late to plant the sunflowers so let it go to harvest. No problem. However I wouldn’t plant it after any cereal crop especially triticale.
I presume that there’s big pressure on your land because blackgrass would be a vector...

Bg is doing very well in N France into the Paris basin and across Low Countries into Nw Germany been hearing? For the love of which ever god you subscribe to if any of your neighbours get it flail the crop immediately burn it off and put into a medium term ley.
Around here a colour sorter is an essential bit of bit, normally twice through it for Rye.

Gawddawggonnit

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Bg is doing very well in N France into the Paris basin and across Low Countries into Nw Germany been hearing? For the love of which ever god you subscribe to if any of your neighbours get it flail the crop immediately burn it off and put into a medium term ley.
Around here a colour sorter is an essential bit of bit, normally twice through it for Rye.

Yes all along N France and into the Low Countries are facing rising Blackgrass infestation.
No Bg here yet but ongoing problems with ryegrass.

What’s colour sorter?

Waffletraktor

Gawddawggonnit wrote: »

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Bg is doing very well in N France into the Paris basin and across Low Countries into Nw Germany been hearing? For the love of which ever god you subscribe to if any of your neighbours get it flail the crop immediately burn it off and put into a medium term ley.
Around here a colour sorter is an essential bit of bit, normally twice through it for Rye.

Yes all along N France and into the Low Countries are facing rising Blackgrass infestation.
No Bg here yet but ongoing problems with ryegrass.

What’s colour sorter?

http://www.satake-europe.com/colour_sorting/alphascan.html

Uses a camera to take pics of a stream of single grains/thrash etc and uses jets of air to separate reject off colour/miss shaped items. Expensive to buy or get cleaned across and maybe 20t/h max output.

Bass Reeves

I planted Rye a few years ago. The seed is very expensive and hard to get. I think you cannot plant it before Sept as it will go to seed. It is unusal in that it gioes to seed de to number of hours in the day that there is daylight. It would go to see in May regardless of crop height. Lads would continually graze/cut it every 2-3 weeks to keep it going as long as possible.

It strips N out of the ground during the winter and if planted in September. I think you could graze it before winter and it will grow again. However seed costs are prohibitive, Westerwolds are a more economic choice

longgonesilver

Is the seed rear in France or just in Ireland?

Gawddawggonnit

longgonesilver wrote: »

Is the seed rear in France or just in Ireland?

€350/t for seed in France.

early_riser

Anyone ever sow wickroggen? A rye and vetch mix seems to be big in germany.
Seen an ad on donedeal for seed just wondering anyone ever sow it here before?