80 bushel barley with zero inputs

[Sheepwheat]

So when one has animals, IMO, you often see things that make you go, hmmm.

A weather window has opened and so yesterday I worked at cutting my unintentional barley. For hay, because it would never mature in time, as it is almost all grass green.

Here is the rundown on what happened, and what I saw.

Last year. Extremely heavy barley crop that was hailed 60% just as it was starting to turn. Yielded about 50 in the end. This spring was lots of straw, extreme straw. Heavy volunteers, thick as a mat. I planned to seed this field down to hay. So I got my seed, and sprayed my burn down a few days before seeding. Tickled the grass/alfalfa into the soil, barely covering it. It emerged surprisingly well, considering how dry it was. The heavy straw kept things soaking wet below the surface.

Alfalfa was nice and clean and got a great start with no competition. But then it rained about three tenths, and about a bushel of barley an acre emerged in late June. I thought who cares, it won’t make anything, there is no npks on that field. It will suffer and almost die out. But then it greened up and grew like nothing I could have tried to grow that well. It ended up thick, belly button high, and beautiful. Alfalfa did well, and ended up knee high generally.

If the barley was able to mature, it could have grossed 600 bucks an acre, at the cost of seeding, 25 bucks for alfalfa seed, and a burn off.

Now, would this work again? Thing is, last year was nearly the exact same, but with volunteer oats. There sure seems to be a synergy with the hayseed.

Just find it interesting, and wanted to share. Could it be a way to grow good crops? Or is it just Murphy’s law, a one-off chance?

I should do a trial. Actually trying. Lol

Anyhow, farming related and interesting IMO.

[woodland]

So when one has animals, IMO, you often see things that make you go, hmmm.

A weather window has opened and so yesterday I worked at cutting my unintentional barley. For hay, because it would never mature in time, as it is almost all grass green.

Here is the rundown on what happened, and what I saw.

Last year. Extremely heavy barley crop that was hailed 60% just as it was starting to turn. Yielded about 50 in the end. This spring was lots of straw, extreme straw. Heavy volunteers, thick as a mat. I planned to seed this field down to hay. So I got my seed, and sprayed my burn down a few days before seeding. Tickled the grass/alfalfa into the soil, barely covering it. It emerged surprisingly well, considering how dry it was. The heavy straw kept things soaking wet below the surface.

Alfalfa was nice and clean and got a great start with no competition. But then it rained about three tenths, and about a bushel of barley an acre emerged in late June. I thought who cares, it won’t make anything, there is no npks on that field. It will suffer and almost die out. But then it greened up and grew like nothing I could have tried to grow that well. It ended up thick, belly button high, and beautiful. Alfalfa did well, and ended up knee high generally.

If the barley was able to mature, it could have grossed 600 bucks an acre, at the cost of seeding, 25 bucks for alfalfa seed, and a burn off.

Now, would this work again? Thing is, last year was nearly the exact same, but with volunteer oats. There sure seems to be a synergy with the hayseed.

Just find it interesting, and wanted to share. Could it be a way to grow good crops? Or is it just Murphy’s law, a one-off chance?

I should do a trial. Actually trying. Lol

Anyhow, farming related and interesting IMO.

It’s great when things work out better than expected. My theory is if I throw enough darts at the board eventually something will stick………….

Farm topics seem to be getting scarce on here these days🍀

[AlbertaFarmer5]

It’s great when things work out better than expected. My theory is if I throw enough darts at the board eventually something will stick………….

Farm topics seem to be getting scarce on here these days🍀

I was shocked, at one point this afternoon, there were 3 agricultural threads in a row on the home page.

Thanks for posting.

There are so many options when livestock and crops coexist.