The Classic Machinery Network

Hi Richard .. sorry about this but could you explain to those of us who are unheaducated in farming terms .. what are stubble turnips ?

Martyn

falkara wrote:Hi Richard .. sorry about this but could you explain to those of us who are unheaducated in farming terms .. what are stubble turnips ?

Martyn

Its a fodder turnip crop suitable for sheep, it provides a nice 'break crop' in a continual cereal rotation just to give the soil a change, what we do it strip-graze them over the winter period when there isn't so much grass around, this involves putting an electric fence across the field to regulate their feeding....making sure the sheep clear everything as they go......in doing this they provide a natural resource to the soil......some good old organic fertiliser.

http://www.cropwise.co.uk/root-crops-stubble-turnips-c-63_69.html

http://www.advantaseeds.co.uk/show?id=28323&langid=96

Although this is not stubble turnips its normal swede turnips which we also strip graze off. Its all about planning the food for the winter, this photo was taken in March/April, if you notice the sheep have got lambs running with them, usually at this time of year the grass isn't far enough ahead......and it also provides a nice change in the diet for the sheep
The stubble turnips would be ready for grazing in December time.

Thank you Richard, , i have often seen sheep grazing in a electric fenced off area, and to me i have allways thought that they were put in the field to munch on unpicked vegetables of some kind.. thats great thank you

Martyn

Yes, you have to have a bit of rule & regulation and keep the patch fresh, otherwise they wander over the entire field picking the best off leaving a lot of waste and then - being the discontented devils that they are - look for something new.
I'm out of the full-time farming game now, but spent about 5 yrs after leaving school at home on the farm and remember the winter work including every couple days having to go out to move the electric fence regardless of the weather, either dressed in oil-skins or heavy donkey jacket....ahh those were the days highlight of the morning would be the dog getting a belt off the electric fence after getting too close

You know i have never thought of sheep getting discontented amazing .. and as for those poor mutts getting a belt from the fences poor things ..


Martyn

falkara wrote:You know i have never thought of sheep getting discontented amazing
Martyn

yes, not much.....usually there's a ring leader in the pack and that's the one that will find a gap in the hedge or try jumping the electric fence and before you know it leading the rest to something they think is better.

Hey Richard,i found these old photos from 1970,a fixed wing spraying for
aphids in w.wheat
wonder what the green lot would say to that
but it saved on tramlines

yes, not half, Roly. They'd have a fit if one of those 'buzzed the tower' Top Gun style on a sunday afternoon and the townies were out in their gardens.....its bad enough now when you go anywhere with one on a tractor, allowing for risk assessment, recording wind direction speed etc. and to be honest they have taken so much of the 'effective' sprays of the market now it almost seems a waste of money. I remember just after leaving school in '83 and doing knap-sack spraying with Tri-oxone (245T) on hedges we planned to rip out, it did a damn good job of killing anything with a woody root (brimbles, gorse etc)......I'm still here (knock on wood), but some folks think I'm a bit mental

Guess all your corn is in now, brother still got 8 acres of winter barley to get in then we're done for another year.
It's ironic but some silly s0d wrote a bit in the local paper saying farmers should get green tax relief for planting more trees to offset the green-house effect......unbelievable really, when you consider the world shortage of food.

go well

cheers

RjW

hears one way of dealing with bean straw in 1970,after i,ve combined the beans,row
up the straw with a MF185 and turner,then to set light to the rows chase round
with a yanky Ford pick-up truck with a gas bottle in the back and flame thrower
on the front its works very well

1540 & 13ft header?