Malt barley on wheat stubble

[flea beetle]

Been growing feed barley for quite some time, but elevator trying to steer me into their malt program.

Has anybody grown malt on wheat stubble? Thinking of seeding it later (end of May and into the beginning of June) to get a good pre-burn and hopefully kill most wheat volunteers. Is this feasible? Worried about volunteer wheat ruining malt selection.

I had a three year rotation of canola, wheat, barley. Going to try go to a 4 year rotation in the next year or two and include peas in the rotation. (Canola, barley, peas, wheat) or possibly 5 year and include oats in there somewhere. (Thinking canola, oats, barley, peas, wheat). Anybody see a problem with this?

For this year, I am forced to seed either the wheat on barley stubble, or barley on wheat stubble. At least if I have wheat in the barley, I can still hit the feed market if it gets downgraded to feed without a huge loss. Barley in wheat seems to be a bigger problem.

What do you guys think?

[blackpowder]

It's a big risk for sure. I wouldn't do it here.
Peas only a 1 in 7 here. 10 to 20% of acres max here and dropping, for a number of reasons

[flea beetle]

It's a big risk for sure. I wouldn't do it here.
Peas only a 1 in 7 here. 10 to 20% of acres max here and dropping, for a number of reasons

Faba's a better option? We are north of hwy 16 in Alberta. Worried we might not have a long enough season for them.

[blackpowder]

Ahh, thought you were south.
I have no experience with Fabas.
This year my cost for planting peas very close to canola. Purchasing seed peas the reason.

[flea beetle]

Yes peas are definitely up there. Might just grow a quarter this year of whatever crop I decide on to get seed for the year after.

[goalieguy847]

Malt on wheat stubble is a serious hard No. 0 chance to clean or sort out volunteers and no Chem to attack the wheat in crop... I'd take the over on wheat % messing up the sample. No cleaning plant can get the wheat out properly either so you will turn x % of wheat in seed to something much larger in a yr.

Fabas are def do able ( im north of 16 as well) but bear in mind the market is extremely limited and few locations deal in fabas ( plus the chance of getting human consumption grade for fabs is extremely slim due to lygus bug damage/ frost / fungal disease) they are much easier on equipment than peas however but MUST be in before may 5th or so and need to be terminated by Sept 10th at the latest and they will not handle a dry yr like peas will. Fabas need moisture and very much prefer " heavy" dirt.
They're a trickier crop to grow and market than yellows or greens but are infinitely GENTLER on equipment and the mental psyche.

fabas yes if you can handle less marketing options and crop timing on the front and back end ( will be ready to harvest end of sept unlike peas which are usually mid to late aug)... but malt grown on wheat stubble a no no no. Too many risks for the cost.

I'm not a negative Nancy...just speaking from experience with both of your ideas!

[Hamloc]

Interesting, I have grown malt barley on wheat stubble in the past. Now, I did plant it later, after May 20. This also creates issues in the fall, as later harvesting can increase issues with chitting. I quit growing malt for the simple reason that some years I got good germ and no chitting, some years I did not. I prefer feed barley, as I can pre-harvest if necessary and straight cut it. As well, new varieties like Esma and Sirish far out yield malt and do not lodge. As for problems with wheat in the sample, that was never a reason for not being selected. Keep in mind I live within 15 minutes of Rahr malting at Alix but getting on the list of accepted(had to be a buddy of Kevin’s imo) producers wasn’t possible.

I appreciate your desire to add peas to the rotation as well. Something I have ended as well. I always found peas profitable but in the years with good moisture digging them out of the dirt wasn’t fun and was hard on equipment. If you have flat rock free sandy land peas would be awesome. If you knew you were only going to get 4 inches of rain, peas would be awesome. I would say Macdon flex headers help a lot as well. We used to use honeybees with lifters, then switched to Macdons without lifters, much better job. I had hailed peas that yielded 15 bushels per acre and became infested with wild oats and I have had 70 bushel per acre peas in a year with just under 4 inches of rain. In 2023 we had no peas for the first time since 2014, harvest was much simpler.

[blackpowder]

In last couple decades, I always got malt when grew it, but never got paid for doing so.
Big wind and rain later in season and peas are down. Some years harvest delay after dessication date and down they go.
Going to try to shorten dry down period. 20 gals with Reglone/AMS. Late August weather, some guys were rolling by day 4 last year.
We were day 10 and watched them fall daily.
Every year something new. Installing a bar behind cross auger this year to stop wrapping.
Even after rolling ground, rocks are Russian Roulette.
My 2 best margin years in last 20, harvest speed was 1.5 mph.

[TASFarms]

Had some barley in durum from some slews that got hailed out the year before. The feed guys bitched about taking it. My rotation is durum,canola,oats,barley,lentils. Ask me in the fall how barley after oats is. I did put avedex down to control oats in Barley.

[flea beetle]

Maybe I will just have to bite the bullet and stick with feed barley. Worried that cattle numbers are decreasing, and feed won’t be so profitable anymore.

[flea beetle]

I could put the barley after the peas, and put the wheat after the oats. Maybe that would be better?

[TASFarms]

Protein bump from a pulse might be better in wheat than malt, but feed barley would be good too. Oats do help with disease in pulses

[goalieguy847]

What I would do... is seed malt barley anyways. If it gets contaminated with wheat seed then itll go for feed... which is fine. This far north its a crapshoot on malt grade anyways due to a late fall rain and chitting/ sprouting/ greens.
barley is cheaper to grow and i dont foresee any major value drop in barley as southern alberta is already having discussions to decrease irrigation rates and fear of drought it high. Hay/ feed/ silage could be at a serious premium next fall.
i hope not because i really feel for southern alberta. Theyve taken it on the chin the last few years. And, granted, not alot of feed barley gets grown under irrigation....

or hammer in some peas and swath them early before they go flat....
Fabas are a nice option too they just need heat.. and moisture! Up here only ever seem to get 1 or the other...

[flea beetle]

Back of napkin plan was to seed synergy for malt just like you said since that is the variety the elevator wants. Like you said, if it goes feed, that is fine. I have never grown synergy, but they claim it will yield right up there with the feed varieties. Gonna have to buy all my seed barley if I switch to synergy, but it is what it is.

Not comfortable enough growing 20-25% of acres in peas, as I have never grown them. Gonna try a quarter or two of greens to populate seed, and if it doesn’t go too bad, I will try 800-1000 acres the next year. Have to swath them, as I don’t own a straight cut header.

I think that is the unofficial plan anyway. The elevator seemed to think they could blend the barley with other samples if contaminated with wheat. Not ideal, but doable if need be.

[blackpowder]

Just remember, a pea swath is the worst if it blows.