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Post by kevlar on Aug 7, 2020 22:10:36 GMT -6
We are kicking around the idea of changing things up a little for crops. Currently grow mostly barley, canola, and a few oats and the very odd time wheat. Generally go canola,barley, barley, or canola, oats barley. Considering maybe trying some fall rye or peas, biggest problem is trying to sow fall rye when we are combining, and from what I can see is peas don't like wet feet, which seems to be an issue here. So what would be the better crop to grow rye after? Or peas? Have never grown either so not going to jump in headfirst, just dabble a little maybe at first. Not sure I want to grow soys, just not convinced they are ready for my area yet. So of canola, barley, rye, oats and peas, what would some of you do for a rotation and why?
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Post by westcentralfarmer on Aug 7, 2020 23:00:47 GMT -6
Have you looked into markets on Faba Beans as a pulse rotation?They are doing very well in some high moisture areas. There are lots of guys getting real good yields with some management.
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Post by shmiffy on Aug 8, 2020 9:20:35 GMT -6
Faba beans can be seeded early. Mid April. They will spend the first 3 weeks just making roots, they will be ready to combine near the end of august. They combine like a dream. They have a root like canola
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Post by kevlar on Aug 8, 2020 10:59:40 GMT -6
Faba beans can be seeded early. Mid April. They will spend the first 3 weeks just making roots, they will be ready to combine near the end of august. They combine like a dream. They have a root like canola Not sure Faba beans will even grow in my area, nobody has ever grown them. The mid April part might be the reason, it would interfere with snowmobiling some years! |
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Post by SWMan on Aug 8, 2020 11:38:16 GMT -6
The winter crops are pretty hit-and-miss around here, rye being the possible exception. Rye is harvested early which is a plus and more winter-hardy. Price is up and down but sometimes you can make a windfall into the cover crop market in the US. Here winter wheat is rarely harvested much ahead of early seeded spring wheat, much less barley. WW seems to have much poorer survivability than it used to, not sure if that is variety or the winter weather/snow cover in recent years. Spreading seeding out comes at the expense of having to seed in harvest time, that's a bad trade-off IMO.
There is earlier maturing soybeans coming, not there yet for you. Some type of edible bean might work, they are earlier. I'll leave the Fababean advice for others on here that have experience. Need to start with a black field on these crops.
Peas have a good fit. Seed early and harvest early. If you have a good flex header then they aren't bad for harvesting....most years. They don't like wet feet but if you have rolling land and not too much salinity then they should be fine. Delaro fungicide can work wonders on the wetter years. 4 year average here on peas would be somewhere in the mid 70's and at over $7 picked up by these pea plants the numbers work out pretty decent.
Personally I like wheat because it responds very well to high management, hold back on the inputs and it will live up to it's nickname "poverty grass". It's a tough crop, stores easily with lots of buyers. But I also have grown oats with good success, can be a little earlier and grows well on fields with some salinity that might not be the best fit for wheat. I suppose it would be similar to barley in this respect. Oats respond well to management too: high fert/two pass fungicide/growth regulator.
Fun to try a new crop, start small. Sometimes a pain because you might end up with a few half full bins if you have lots of different crops. The 50/50 wheat canola is a recipe for disaster though, still guys with their head in the sand here tempting fate on clubroot. Gotta be 3 years on the canola minimum. I have one field that went 5 years between canola and I used to be a 50/50 guy, the world didn't end...ha ha
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Post by Oatking on Aug 14, 2020 20:18:32 GMT -6
Hey Kevlar have you tried soybeans? They don't mind there feet wet like peas and use conventional farm equipment you already have except maybe a flex header is a must. How is your rock situation but I imagine if your grow peas you must not be too bad. they also spread out harvest work load and are earlier than corn with out usually the hassle of drying. seed is expensive but less money to grow than canola and is not as finicky as canola. As for fall rye all I can speak for is neighbour who have big problems with ergot and difficulty hauling contracts in. |
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Post by kenmb on Aug 16, 2020 21:43:00 GMT -6
I like peas. First thing in the ground, first thing combined so work load is spread out. Do preharvest with glyphosate to clean up the field of grass and thistle that is hard to control otherwise as I don't grow Round Up ready crops. Easy to dry and no messing around with grading. Expensive for herbicide with Authority preseed and Viper or Odyssey in crop, and innoculant. But a good chance to put on a high rate of phosphate with sending the peas down the fertilizer runs and phosphate down the seed runs so that sets up next year's crop.
How far can a guy push the cereal rotation? Can a guy do barley > hrsw > hrsw? Thinking of a rotation where a portion is barley > flax > hrsw but I would end up with 3 quarters of flax to do in one year and that may be more than I have ambition for so thinking a cereal in place of flax on one of the quarters.
Overall rotation of y mustard > peas >barley > flax >hrsw > y mustard again
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Post by SWMan on Aug 16, 2020 23:13:29 GMT -6
Welcome Ken, problem with the heavy cereal rotations is in the wet years you get disease transfer from previous stubble. I've seen a HRS crop look like it was about to die because of wet conditions and disease in the early stages.
I do wonder if it would be a good idea to rotate some hay or alfalfa production into there. It would be on certain fields for multiple years in a row, but could clean up some problem weeds and be good for soil structure. Might require some different equipment than the average grain farmer would have these days though.
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Post by kenmb on Aug 17, 2020 6:43:00 GMT -6
I figured I would slip over here and see how the discussion is going. Think I will keep my political stuff on the other forum for a bit. Kind of my blog.
Disease would be my biggest concern. No recent experience with wheat here so just going to start growing it again next year to improve my crop rotation. Not growing enough cereals is definitely slowing down the recovery of the saline areas after the wet years of 2010 - 2016.
Some kind of alternative crop would be a possibility. I always liked the idea of doing some alfalfa or such but it is a long term commitment, usually 3 years or so I think. Dad did occasionally underseed clover with barely years ago so perhaps that is something a guy could do. Barley/clover > clover > hrsw
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Post by victory on Aug 17, 2020 8:42:52 GMT -6
Faba beans can be seeded early. Mid April. They will spend the first 3 weeks just making roots, they will be ready to combine near the end of august. They combine like a dream. They have a root like canola Not sure Faba beans will even grow in my area, nobody has ever grown them. The mid April part might be the reason, it would interfere with snowmobiling some years! Faba beans can take a lot of moisture, but they also need enough sunlight and heat to ripen off. Last year we didn't have much of a summer and the fabas were hardly ready before snowmobiling started toward the end of the year. They do stand very well, but I have seen them sag under the combination of rain and wind. They are generally nice to combine and also good for the soil. |
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Post by kevlar on Aug 17, 2020 11:42:52 GMT -6
This is where a mixed farm operation has it's advantages. Growing hay or alfalfa to sell I find a somewhat risky venture, some years it is great but then the next year you can hardly give it away. I have a niece that likes cattle and says she would like to maybe farm someday, she doesn't live on a farm, so I told her I will do what I can to help her out, she is 15 right now, so might not be for a few years yet. It would be a good fit for our farm if she wanted to do the cattle side of it, I have no knowledge or interest to get into cattle myself. I would like to grow crops like faba beans. but they just won't grow here.
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