Growing malt

[Klause]

Tips? Tricks?

Metcalf malt.


Maybe a crop to grow next year on a production contract?

[sk_wheatking]

Only thing I can say is if you think peas don't like excess moisture wait till you grow barley.

[blackpowder]

From what I gather here your a fairly good agronomist Klause. Every crop/variety seems to like a region or soil type.
Here, Copeland seems to take the N without taking Px. Balance the K & P & S. Seed early, after peas. 35 p/ft2. Fungicide. Some years need aeration available, take early, have swather if necessary. Have contract, will travel.

[farmaholic]

You would have less flaming hoops to jump through if you were a lion in the Ringling Brothers Circus.

[freewheat]

I would pick a different variety. Copeland was good to me as well. No tricks or tips, you just need luck, honestly. Here in the wet zone, protein has never been an issue. But there are a whole other host of grade factors that come up, and you can't do a dang thing about them.

I gave up on the malt lottery, which to me, is exactly what it is.

Like milling wheat. Growing a high yield feed, allows one to eliminate quality concerns to a great extent, and use heavier, high yield nutrient rates that may burn you on the malt side in some areas.

[freewheat]

farmaholic, lol!

[Braveheart]

The only way malt works in our area is after it's put in a bottle and enjoyed with friends or after a good day of work.

Something fell apart in developing good barley varieties for here. Yield and quality both lacking.

[Klause]

We are in a good malt growing area.

I've grown some pretty nice Metcalf in the past... just can't seem to get the protein low enough for malt....

We used to use 65-25-10-19 on it for a fert blend, plus a shot of fungicide at flag...


Who does production contracts for Copeland?

[Braveheart]

Klause, I remember your comfort re trucking to the US. Have you considered a contract with Busch and their varieties? The barley could be delivered to a malt house in ND. A fertilizer back haul might help the logistics.

[Tandem007]

Klause where's your home area?

[hobbyfrmr]

I agree with Braveheart. i have seen a couple of crops where I was selected, then I had to store the barley until spring. Resubmit sample in December to ensure germ. Pass up all the feed barley opportunities in the cold of winter. Deliver on road bans, then be rejected because the germination dropped, or protein too high, or something something.
I'm just too unreceptive/uncooperative/lazy/cranky/cash poor/old to play that game.

[Klause]

SE and SW of Humboldt, Tandem.

Hauling to the US would be a possibility... However I'm looking at barley to help with harvest type cash flow.


I.E. a malting production contract for Sept delivery like one company offered last fall (and may again this year).

[Braveheart]

Klause, we tried what you're suggesting a couple of years ago working with Richardsons and the variety CDC Meredith.

It was planned to meet some fall cash flow needs. It missed the timing because of so many resubmitted samples. The main issue was px. The sample (same sample) tested way higher in head office than the elevator.

After some phone calls to the malt trader and a little negotiation, it all moved.

The upside was it was the highest margin cereal crop for our farm that year even though yields were not great at around 70 bpa.

In retrospect, I felt we had to put too much sweat into turning the barley into the the cash it was intended to be.

[ado089]

Klause, when I do fertility recs for malt I plan for no more than 6" of rain, usually 5". Once you get the factory built for barley the N response drops off fast so you will leave some yield on the table but not as much as most would like to believe. That said if you grow more 14% pro wheat then 13% you're playing with fire if no matter what. Your high OM will be a challenge for keeping protein low. Build as much yield with P and K as you can and don't forget the S for malt. Unless you have base sats and micros on your soil test don't trust the K ppm as available. Years ago I was running an IP program with Canada Malt for a 6 row that was a little more forgiving. I don't recall the variety but it may be worth checking out...that is if you don't mind having barley as a weed for the next 5 years.

[Braveheart]

Ado, at what level does organic matter start becoming an issue for px for barley?