Combicrop rotation.

gr8 m8

Hello.

I have been looking into growing my own animal feeds on the farm as I'm in contemplation of going the organic route.

A combination crop of spring barley and field peas interests me at a 60/40 ratio in favor of the barley! And to incorporate this into a 4 year rotation.

Here are the figures, 40 acres split into 4 plots of 10 acres.field 3 & 4 are under grass! Field 2 has combicrop with field 1 following with straight spring oats that has been undersown with grass and clover. These 10 acres under the combicrop then are ploughed with pasture turnip and forage rape that is fit for grazing after 10-12 weeks by about 20 cattle aged 18 months or so from November until it is gone. Obviously the crop is moved on the next year with the oats following behind.

The cattle are brought in at night and fed with the peas and barly and ad-lib hay!

As you can probably tell, I know nothing about tillage and if this sounds very basic to everyone then I apologise but I would still like some feedback and I will do my best to answer any further questions.

Many thanks!

tractorporn

gr8 m8 wrote: »

Hello.

I have been looking into growing my own animal feeds on the farm as I'm in contemplation of going the organic route.

A combination crop of spring barley and field peas interests me at a 60/40 ratio in favor of the barley! And to incorporate this into a 4 year rotation.

Here are the figures, 40 acres split into 4 plots of 10 acres.field 3 & 4 are under grass! Field 2 has combicrop with field 1 following with straight spring oats that has been undersown with grass and clover. These 10 acres under the combicrop then are ploughed with pasture turnip and forage rape that is fit for grazing after 10-12 weeks by about 20 cattle aged 18 months or so from November until it is gone. Obviously the crop is moved on the next year with the oats following behind.

The cattle are brought in at night and fed with the peas and barly and ad-lib hay!

As you can probably tell, I know nothing about tillage and if this sounds very basic to everyone then I apologise but I would still like some feedback and I will do my best to answer any further questions.

Many thanks!

Organic here and we were never involved with tillage here either.

We have a rotation of 2 years red clover for silage and fertility building, 3 years spring oats with a cover crop for winter grazing by sheep and then the last year combi crop under sown with red clover ley. It seems to be working were only in our 4th year.

The oats leave a great margin and Flavhans paid 390/ton this year that's why we chance a 3rd year. Everything is ploughed for weed suppression except for the cover crop. We get the contractor to do most of the work but I'm hoping to start taking back some of that work over the coming years.

Markcheese

Does barly work well in organic systems? (I know it's all dwarf varieties and they do really poorly at weed suppression)
I think the market for organic beef is more towards smaller animals, (Angus and Hereford)
Which don't tend to need as much supplemental feeding, (good clover silage should cover most of it), which could leave more of your tillage land for a grain crop...
(just read you're not going into organics yet... So doesn't really matter so much)

gr8 m8

Hello.

I'm not in the organics yet so I'm just exploring options. I was thinking about raising some pigs and that is basically what the barley and peas would be for!

Could I set the crops on the same land for 2 consecutive years? Basically turning a 4 year rotation into an 8 year rotation?

Panch18

tractorporn wrote: »

Organic here and we were never involved with tillage here either.

We have a rotation of 2 years red clover for silage and fertility building, 3 years spring oats with a cover crop for winter grazing by sheep and then the last year combi crop under sown with red clover ley. It seems to be working were only in our 4th year.

The oats leave a great margin and Flavhans paid 390/ton this year that's why we chance a 3rd year. Everything is ploughed for weed suppression except for the cover crop. We get the contractor to do most of the work but I'm hoping to start taking back some of that work over the coming years.

what kind of a yield are you pulling from the oats? A neighbour is gone organic tillage this year and has 40 acres of oats sown

Also how is your weed control doing? Or what kind of weed pressure do you have?

tractorporn

Panch18 wrote: »

what kind of a yield are you pulling from the oats? A neighbour is gone organic tillage this year and has 40 acres of oats sown

Also how is your weed control doing? Or what kind of weed pressure do you have?

Averaging around the 1.8t/acre. Had three years around the 2t mark but yield was well back last summer. I reckon our break even is 0.8t/acre with the contractor so anything over that is profit.

I really not bothered about weeds. I kinda plant the crop, close the gate and dont open it again until harvest. I invest in some earplugs around harvest as the combine driver gives out a bit about weeds alright but he turns up the fans and it produces a clean sample. I think good ploughing plus the cover crop and grazing each winter helps.

I'd like to try a crop of winter oats but my system is working well and I dont want to banjax it now.

Panch18

tractorporn wrote: »

Averaging around the 1.8t/acre. Had three years around the 2t mark but yield was well back last summer. I reckon our break even is 0.8t/acre with the contractor so anything over that is profit.

I really not bothered about weeds. I kinda plant the crop, close the gate and dont open it again until harvest. I invest in some earplugs around harvest as the combine driver gives out a bit about weeds alright but he turns up the fans and it produces a clean sample. I think good ploughing plus the cover crop and grazing each winter helps.

I'd like to try a crop of winter oats but my system is working well and I dont want to banjax it now.

Super stuff

And how does the red clover go for you?

Sorry for all the questions, really interested in the organic side of things

tractorporn

Panch18 wrote: »

Super stuff

And how does the red clover go for you?

Sorry for all the questions, really interested in the organic side of things

No bothers.

The red clover is a good crop but there's a lot of minding on it. It yields really well I got 27 bales/acre last year over 3 cuts and it feeds a lot better than it tested. The analysis said it was only 72dmd but 15% protein. I finished the store lambs and Angus bullocks on the red clover silage and the combi crop. If I was brave I would try and finish them on the clover alone.

SimmentalT

Hi, has anybody experience of baling and wraping whole crop combicrops?

Is the rodent damage too much?

Can the rodent damge be avoided?

Thanks

T

bogman_bass

Bit of a waste baling as the Baler can’t crack the grains so your grain will just pass through the gut

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555350#Comment_121555350

You have to bale at the curd stage ( about 8 weeks) on a small scale it's needs to be combi crop unless you are in a tillage area.

Yes rodent damage can be avoided. Poison can put out 7-10 days before harvest. But you need to keep on top of it especially when rats start to enter yards when weather changes in October/November

Who2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555350#Comment_121555350

I’ve done it here the last few years for feeding weanlings and to get s bit of reseeding done. It’s a great feed but this year was tricky to get it in. I got mine in the couple of dry days we did get before things went completely pear shaped and to be honest I would have liked it drier. I had no problem with rats this year but I’d poison down early and I try to cover the bales with nets to keep those away.

it needs to be mowed flat with no conditioner then Baled out of the row with no tedding. I was told Theres less waste baling with a fusion as it doesn’t drop grain heads as much as the conventional way but to be honest I couldn’t tell either way.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121556254#Comment_121556254

You can rake it however which I used to get done. This helps drying if you can get a couple of dry days

Water John

When the grain is at the cheese stage, animals digest it. Have checked at the other end😉. Also you need to wrap wholecrop 6 times rather than the usual 4.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121556424#Comment_121556424

Everything here gets 6 layers as standard. I'd say it's well over a decade since we did regular grass with 4 layers.

For your wholecrop, rats will likely still riddle the bales, regardless of how much poison you keep down. The might still be alright though

Who2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121556532#Comment_121556532

I had two bales attacked last year, one got eaten from the inside out, the other one they had just started to burrow into it,this year none so far. It was my main fear with them, I use the poisoned grain fed in hoppers, I’ve no faith in the storm blocks.

White Clover

What about baling a field of grass silage the same day as baling the Combicrop/Wholecrop. Could one stack the Combicrop/Wholecrop on top of the grass silage to avoid the rats and use a net on top to keep the birds away?

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121556568#Comment_121556568

If you put out blocks you must put wire through the centers and tie them into a pipe. The plastic centers off round bales is idea. Not a fan of Storm either. It's a multi feed rat poison. As well because tge blocks are so soft I say rats can take off chunks and store them.