Cover Crops 3.0

Yes.
I’ve had great success with Tarbais beans intercropped with forage maize.
They’re a vining (Black) bean that grows up the maize stalk, pumps N into the maize, and leaves you with an overall protein from the crop of 12-14%. (Forage maize is usually 8-9% protein).

Black vining beans? Christ you’re driving my R&D department (me) into overdrive. I might have to work more than one day next week.......
 
Yes.
I’ve had great success with Tarbais beans intercropped with forage maize.
They’re a vining (Black) bean that grows up the maize stalk, pumps N into the maize, and leaves you with an overall protein from the crop of 12-14%. (Forage maize is usually 8-9% protein).
yup protein balancing the maize in the pit. Proper order. Ive tried some half assed experiments with normal auld beans and maize.
 
Black vining beans? Christ you’re driving my R&D department (me) into overdrive. I might have to work more than one day next week.......
Genuine LOL!!

Seriously though it works a treat with me. I’ve no idea if it would work on the plains of East Cork though.
 
How does French national ag research work @Sheebadog? Seems very progressive from this distance. I watch a lot of vids from France about cover cropping and no till.

It works like it should. The Gov were the ones that inflicted the N regs on us, so the onus is on them to show that’s there’s an alternative way.
I can ask them to trial, for eg clovers, on my place and they’ll come and plant several plots of different species/mixes and then replicate them on different parts of the farm. Downside is you’ve to give permission for all and sundry to view as they please.
 
It works like it should. The Gov were the ones that inflicted the N regs on us, so the onus is on them to show that’s there’s an alternative way.
I can ask them to trial, for eg clovers, on my place and they’ll come and plant several plots of different species/mixes and then replicate them on different parts of the farm. Downside is you’ve to give permission for all and sundry to view as they please.
No gain without some pain. So is it fair to say it's farmer led? Sounds totally revolutionary:Whistle2:
 
Sounds like your government approved is light years away from teagasc currently. Was teagasc a completely different outfit in the 80s/90s
 
No gain without some pain. So is it fair to say it's farmer led? Sounds totally revolutionary:Whistle2:
Trials are done to death here. State facilities trial in each county. Independent bodies likewise and all Coops and private merchants. I deal with one small merchant that has one driver, a secretary and himself. He’s got trials going everywhere in his locality.
About 15yrs ago the Gov started to lean hard on fertilizer use, and they’ve kept leaning...coupled with the reality starting to dawn that France can never compete with the Black Sea exports. That drove a quest for trials and results.
Now there’s a huge swing to organic in the larger tillage farms, so that needs a specific type of trialing also, but the work dovetails into both conventional and organic because once you cop on to your limiting factors you can do something to reduce the non-limiting factors iykwim.
Eg. Could it be said that weather, soil type and disease would be the biggest yield constraints in producing wwheat in Ireland?
If so, why is there such a focus on artificial fert? And so on...
 
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What inclusion of clover do most people use?
AFAIK, Hardysplicer seems to be the only one that uses some balança?

I mauled in some cc in Dec, into ground conditions that wheat wouldn’t grow, and the clover is bombing along, even after being submerged for nearly a fortnight. It struck me that it’d suit Irish conditions, especially since the mustard and phacelia etc rotted due to water.

* I’ll post a few pics if this rain ever stops.
I’ve used 1 or 2 kg per hectare of either berseem or crimson clover in mixed cover crops and as a companion in wosr. Can be hit and miss generally I like it for not a huge cost/risk. In covers it seems to love horrible compacted headlands and especially in this years covers is bombing along in these areas where as out in the good parts of the field it can be absent. My thoughts are that slugs love it and it survives in tight areas with reduced slug activity. Further evidence is that when we put it in with the rape we normally are much more attentive to slug pressures and by keeping the slugs off the rape we also keep it off the clover
 
I’ve used 1 or 2 kg per hectare of either berseem or crimson clover in mixed cover crops and as a companion in wosr. Can be hit and miss generally I like it for not a huge cost/risk. In covers it seems to love horrible compacted headlands and especially in this years covers is bombing along in these areas where as out in the good parts of the field it can be absent. My thoughts are that slugs love it and it survives in tight areas with reduced slug activity. Further evidence is that when we put it in with the rape we normally are much more attentive to slug pressures and by keeping the slugs off the rape we also keep it off the clover
Slugs are a problem in all clovers.
I’ve not used crimson with a few years now. Then again I’ve a much better choice due to climate.
Vetch is a good crop also. I used to use peas with the vetch but I’ve backed off the peas also because they’re so hit and miss. Vetch is more consistent in a wet winter.
If the winter comes dry some Alexandria (Berseem) does a good job, it works well in dry shallow soil also. For the wet it’s hard to beat squarrosum though.
For conditioning the soil I like forage rye at about 2kg/ha. Downside it doesn’t like the wet. Triticale at the same rate will almost do the same work and is much better in a wet winter. For dding it’s hard to beat forage rye. It leaves a nice thatch and lovely friable soil in the top 6”. If you harvest the rye the remaining stubble is a dream to dd into. A cc of pure clover, whether removed or not, is also lovely to drill into.
 
Slugs are a problem in all clovers.
I’ve not used crimson with a few years now. Then again I’ve a much better choice due to climate.
Vetch is a good crop also. I used to use peas with the vetch but I’ve backed off the peas also because they’re so hit and miss. Vetch is more consistent in a wet winter.
If the winter comes dry some Alexandria (Berseem) does a good job, it works well in dry shallow soil also. For the wet it’s hard to beat squarrosum though.
For conditioning the soil I like forage rye at about 2kg/ha. Downside it doesn’t like the wet. Triticale at the same rate will almost do the same work and is much better in a wet winter. For dding it’s hard to beat forage rye. It leaves a nice thatch and lovely friable soil in the top 6”. If you harvest the rye the remaining stubble is a dream to dd into. A cc of pure clover, whether removed or not, is also lovely to drill into.
i've some crimson growing, I should slow to 30mph and have a good look at it
 
Could either yourself or bogman elaborate on this ?
So growing peas with barley for example...disease pressure is markedly less than in a monocrop of either. N requirement is reduced because of the n fixed by peas from atmosphere. But there is something more than that which really helps with drought pressure. Could be the n form...Could be some symbiotic root interaction ....who knows. Boffins might have more by way of technical explanation.
 
Is it easy to sow? easy to harvest? can it be stored easy for ones own use ? I `m in the beam scheme and have to reduce stock nos. and was going to reseed a couple of fields trough out the season ,but maybe this crop will help reduce meal costs and still be reseeded after harvest .
 
So growing peas with barley for example...disease pressure is markedly less than in a monocrop of either. N requirement is reduced because of the n fixed by peas from atmosphere. But there is something more than that which really helps with drought pressure. Could be the n form...Could be some symbiotic root interaction ....who knows. Boffins might have more by way of technical explanation.

Is it easy to sow? easy to harvest? can it be stored easy for ones own use ? I `m in the beam scheme and have to reduce stock nos. and was going to reseed a couple of fields trough out the season ,but maybe this crop will help reduce meal costs and still be reseeded after harvest .

I remember asking @Bog Man about this crop .
Combicrop ?
 
Is it easy to sow? easy to harvest? can it be stored easy for ones own use ? I `m in the beam scheme and have to reduce stock nos. and was going to reseed a couple of fields trough out the season ,but maybe this crop will help reduce meal costs and still be reseeded after harvest .
Its easy to sow and easy to harvest with a combine even though it does go over . The grain pea mix can be stored by blowing a bit of air through it . It can also be crimped and treated with proprionic acid . Once I saw it treated in a pit with Home n Dry through the corn cracker on a Class Jag forage harvester . He had a bin on the intake that was filled with a loader . I would try not to sow it in moory ground because you would need MCPB to control weeds other than that we have just used Stomp Agua pre emerge . Your relation near us usually has a few fields of it and may be mixing his own seed . There is definitely residual N left over in the ground so reseeds do well .
Have a chat with John Falconbridge in Western seeds .

http://www.westernseeds.com/combicrop.html
 
Its easy to sow and easy to harvest with a combine even though it does go over . The grain pea mix can be stored by blowing a bit of air through it . It can also be crimped and treated with proprionic acid . Once I saw it treated in a pit with Home n Dry through the corn cracker on a Class Jag forage harvester . He had a bin on the intake that was filled with a loader . I would try not to sow it in moory ground because you would need MCPB to control weeds other than that we have just used Stomp Agua pre emerge . Your relation near us usually has a few fields of it and may be mixing his own seed . There is definitely residual N left over in the ground so reseeds do well .
Have a chat with John Falconbridge in Western seeds .

http://www.westernseeds.com/combicrop.html


I presume it would want to be down fairly early , so as to be harvested early ? Never mind having the harvest early , so as to leave a window for sowing grass seed in time , harvesting peas in October is not for the faint hearted.
I will never forget as long as I live , seeing a lad trying to get peas through a Clayson 135 , in the early days of November 1985 , in rented ground , that he had paid dearly for ..

A local wit , departed this world this 3 years said st the land letting auction , " I wonder what sort of exotic crop he is going to sow in that ground ? " The same wit was there looking at it trying to be harvested . "Its like putting dung out of a calf house into a combine ".
 
Hi all. Am looking for a fast and relatively cheap method of establishing cover crops and was thinking of mounting a small air seeder on top of a grass harrow. Would that type of harrow create enough tilt on stubbles for the seeds to germinate? Thanks
 
Hi all. Am looking for a fast and relatively cheap method of establishing cover crops and was thinking of mounting a small air seeder on top of a grass harrow. Would that type of harrow create enough tilt on stubbles for the seeds to germinate? Thanks
Then roll twice. Not once.
Might be patchy but should do job. Don't sue me. Some things grow better in those situations.
 
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