Outwintering Steers - Forage Rape/Stubble turnips as winter fe

[carole]

Thanks for the enquiry Clive, I appreciate the point about the crop being winter hardy, but normally ( not this year ) we do not get a great deal of snow and not so much frost, so I am still minded to go ahead.

Now I have Doms figures I also have an idea about how much to sow, its a poor field at the moment, the worst one I have and really need to get it back into proper use. This will be the way forward.

Thanks again.

[clacko]

one off my first jobs on the farm was to move kale fence every morning before the holstiens were let out of collecting yard, use to move the fence one row of marrow stem kale each morning through winter, fence would be 600 yrds long and would feed 180 in milk once they had all calved, cows would have hay racks in field and silage in the end of cubicle sheds over night. we have plenty of deer but no problems then, pigeons on germination followed by root problem were the kales biggest downfall in this neck of the woods. paul

[Broomcroft]

Reading about kale, sites say you need to sow by June, preferably May to get a good crop. Forage rape can be done much later I think.

[Saffy]

When I was a little girl and my Dad ploughed a 15 acre field for kale, just after the kale came up it became absolutely plastered in mushrooms. So much so that my parents were able to pick them and sell them to the local shops in big trays.

That winter we had very heavy snow and Dad would have to shake it off the kale before the cows could eat it, or or possibly so the fence didn't short out, 1963 I think.

Stephanie

[Broomcroft]

Nice little side-line for your dad Stephanie :D. I would think that moving the electric fence on hard frozen ground would be interesting?

[ann lea]

Have a look at the outwintering/forage topic started in November 2009. As Clive says we feed Maris Kesteral to our Dexters every year, together with silage. They love it and do well on it. Establishment can be a problem, especially weeds so you might need to use a pre emergence Herbicide. Pigeons can cause problems when growth is slow in a dry time so a bird scarer is helpful. We choose well drained fields, because if the winter is wet you will have one very churned up field. This year we are going to plant Swift, a hybrid kale, after Spring Barley in addition to the field of Maris Kesteral. Swift is faster growing and can be planted later.

Ann Lea
Wheeley Moor Dexters