Turnips

Jimbo789

I usually would put a field in tillage for a couple of years before reseeding it. 

In the past, I have sown forage crops after harvesting for grazing with sheep from November - January. The most successful would have been redstart after winter barley as it has better opportunity to get it sowed earlier than after a spring crop. 

I have one 12 acre field in stubbles now, the field is generally very dry but no forage crop or winter corn was sowed last autumn due to the weather. The plan was to sow spring barley now and reseed in spring next year. 

Most of the tillage work is done by contractors so very little profit left for me. So I was thinking that I might sow a forage crop earlier in the year to get a higher yield rather than after the spring barley. 

I was considering maybe sowing 6 acres with spring barley and the other 6 acres with turnips and graze the turnips around December - February. 

Has anyone got experience sowing turnips for sheep? (Not swede or stubble turnip)

How long would it take 100 ewe lambs to graze an acre with access to hay too?

Does it cause any issues with teeth?

Is flea beetle usually a problem when direct drilling end of May or in June?

Green Globe and Massif seem to be the most common varieties of turnips. 

An alternative would be kale but I think it mightn’t be as suitable for grazing with sheep compared to cattle as it would be very strong by December and more difficult for moving electric fences. Also other than swedes I don’t think anything would be as hardy as turnips for grazing into January and February. 

tractorporn

Would one of the regrowing hybrid rapes like gorilla or tyfon suit you could get 2/3 grazing?

Cran

Used to grow Swedes here direct drilled June with a Moore. 18-6-12 when sowed and the boron spray at 6 leaf stage was great feeding and carry from it. If going earlier would sow Redstart of later maybe turnips

Jimbo789

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910639#Comment_121910639

I wouldn't be highly stocked so would have sufficient grass to fatten all the ram lambs by September. I generally keep around 80% of the ewe lambs to sell as breeding hoggets or keep as replacements. So it would from December onwards when the grass is gone that a forage crop would be most useful for me, that's why I was thinking of a slower growing crop that would have the winter hardiness to be grazed later in the year.

Jimbo789

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121910674#Comment_121910674

The price of swede seed seems to be 4 times as much as turnip seed. I know the swedes are slower growing and higher yielding but being slow to establish could it make them more prone to flea beetle and more likely to fail if not getting sufficient rain after sowing?

Cran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121911111#Comment_121911111

I had my own Moore and could pick when to sow. So in 2018 missed the window due to the drought didn’t sow and went in with a later fodder crop end of July, personally if was sowing swedes would like own drill as can decide to sow or not week on week

tabby aspreme

From what I remember its best to sow just before a break in the weather as the flea beetle is less active in wet weather, also aren't turnips much harder than Swede's and more difficult for the sheep to scoop out to eat

mayoireland

I had lambs on it in meath last year for 2 months and couldn't believe the fat they put on .they were on oats for 2 months aswell and never saw a blade of grass until they cam back to mayo ,not that I have much grass anyway.🤣🤣🤣

Mad about baa baas

Superserious farmer on u tube grazes lambs on turnips every winter and they seem to thrive well

Jimbo789

I think it’s stubble turnips he uses.

148multi

The hardier type of turnip and swede suitable for grazing later in the year will be harder on teeth, but as long as you aren't using broken mouthed sheep should be ok, my dad used to say 6 weeks on swedes will fatten most lambs. But your flea beetle could be a problem early on, you'd have to check every evening and have spray organised, sowing in June might bypass them.

You really need to talk to a seed supplier about the different varieties.

Jimbo789

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121928234#Comment_121928234

Yeah, I probably wait until June before sowing and before some rain was forecast.

It would most likely be dry ewe lambs that I’d be using on the turnips just to carry them through a few months of the winter and rest grass fields.

From what I’ve seen online Green Globe and Massif seem to be the most common varieties.

148multi

There's a man in very knowledgeable about varieties, if I can dig his name out of the phone, I'll pass it on

Neddyusa

What part of the country are you? Do you get much frost? If you're going to be relying on them for grazing from Feb into March, you're better off with swedes as they are much more frost-hardy than turnips. For sowing, like others have said, before a break in the weather in June/early July and you shouldn't have much bother with flea beetle.

Jimbo789

In the south midlands so would get more frost than most places. The last couple of winters there hasn’t been much though.

I know swedes would have a slightly higher yield and be more frost hardy than turnips but the price of turnip seed is only a quarter the price and I thought with the later sowing date for turnips there might be a better chance of avoiding flea beetle.

I heard from the person who owns the neighbouring field that he’s going to be planting cabbage in it this year, could that cause any issues for any brassica crop I sow?

memorystick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121928234#Comment_121928234

Would fodder beet be suitable for finishing hoggets with or is it too hard? Wouldn’t be chopping it.

tabby aspreme

Fodder beet would be great feeding, but you would need to chop it, particularly with hoggets getting the 2 first teeth