Final Update - January 2025
Background
Over wintering Sheep and Cattle on Brassicas offers an opportunity to reduce wintering costs on farms. However, there is potential risk of soil erosion and nutrient loss by runoff. Establishing an effective ground cover crop underneath the Brassicas may reduce this risk and may provide a useful feed in the spring.
Purpose of the work
- Reduction in environmental impact of brassica crops, monitoring soil crop cover. Measuring ground cover scores for various seed mixtures
- Evaluate the most suitable seed mix for under sowing
- Feed evaluation, measuring quantity and quality and monitoring condition score before and after feeding period
What we did:
- Five fields were desiccated using Roundup Flex on 5 August 2024. Weather conditions had not been suitable for spraying in the preceding 14 days which was the target date.
- A good burn off was achieved and the 5 mixtures were drilled (Figure 1) in the 5 fields using an Aitchson drill on 12 August 2024. Good seed to soil contact was achieved as we harrowed the field after drilling to close slots.
- Fertilizer was applied on the same day on 30 August 2024 at a rate of 150kg/acre of product 23.0.12 s.
Figure 1. Five seed mixtures trialled
Outcomes:
- Initially, the seeds germinated well and drill lines were easily visible within a fortnight. Although later on, the crops were slow growing and therefore foliar N was applied at a rate of 10 litres a hectare 20 September 2024 to aid growth, and brassicas were soon at two leaf stage.
- Growth as the season progressed has been slow as temperatures have decreased. Grass growth has also been good. In mid-February 2025 there is green cover on all 5 fields and small brassica plants are still visible (Figure 3). Unfortunately, the brassicas have not grown to their potential and reduce wintering costs. There may be a few factors which have prevented this from happening
- Drilling date too late for altitude, area and conditions
- Possible competition from new sown and old grass infields
- Grazing by pigeons and Brown Hares at times.
- In hindsight, the fields should have been sprayed off two weeks earlier, however weather conditions were not ideal and difficult to risk sprayoff and tractor poaching.
- Bryn and Sarah’s intention is to apply more fertilizer to the area to encourage growth for lambing ewes. The trial has been very successful in terms of preventing run off and there is good ground cover with improved grass quality.
Bryn and Sarah - ‘The try out fund is an excellent initiative, and we would be delighted to participate again in the future. Our Try Out project has provided us with a great insight into the conditions and potential on our farm.’
Figure 2. Example of growth 15weeks after sowing (27 November).
Figure 3. Grass and brassica’s present on 16 February 2025.