barley

[trevor8262]

hi any body been in the same spot as me ,i run a small shoot and went to pick up some wheat from farm to feed up only to find farmer has got all wheat sold so now what do i do .my boss said cant aford to but wheat in bags but they have some barley i can have ,anybody changed feed duringbthe season and what happenhaed .

 

trev

[Stonepark]

barley isn't as palatable as wheat, but they will eat it.

[ColinF]

Try to get some wheat. As above, they will eat barley at a push, but if any local shoots are feeding wheat you might struggle to hold your birds

[Scully]

We feed nothing but barley on our rough shoot. We are happy with it.

[kennett]

When filling feed bins up for the keeper at my old job, the bottom fell out of the bulk bag between 2 ponds.

We left a good trail of barley along the track and it was covered in pheasants all winter. Admittedly it was a particularly cold and long winter but if it's that or empty feeders I'd go for barley!

[Konnie]

if it's free take it and 50/50 mix with wheat will half the cost and see you through, a awkward situation, as mentioned, IF it comes real cold feed it straight they won't go without.

[tiny tim]

find some one that will sell you some wheat ,if you feed barley and the next shoot feeds wheat ....your birds will stray

 

one of our lads made a mistake and filled a few feeder with the ducks barley ....they wouldnt eat it and just went to feeders with wheat ,if you mix it they will get it all on the floor and just eat the wheat

[sako751sg]

Ive only ever fed barley and always had good numbers of birds.For someone to say they will eat it at a push is pretty funny.

[scotslad]

i bet 95% of FT keepers feed only wheat, infact probbably closer to 100% of FT keepers and most nowadays mix it with maize or other expensive seed mixes as they don't think wheat is appetising enough.

Read any advice on feding pheasant almost all will say to feed wheat

 

Not saying some shoots wont do well on Barley but there must be a reason everyone feeds wheat, sure plenty of bosses have tried to save money in the past and realised its a false economy.

Most of the shoots i know that feed barley have no nieghbours feeding and generally upland so little natural food and hard to wander as won't easily wanderl over miles of open hill.

 

At the moment there is only about 10 quid difference between prices, with all the expensive of buying birds and all that goes with it it is a false economy to scrimp on food.

I used to change hoppers to barley after te season is over, but know with prices so similar not worth it and just feed wheat

 

If ur in any doubt fill a few hoppers with barley next to some with wheat and see wot happens?

[Scully]

This is hilarious...it comes round on a regular basis.

When we started we inherited a silo of old wheat, which we used until it ran out. We then had to travel to buy wheat but he was taking the ****, so it was decided we would buy barley off our landowner, which was cheaper plus on our doorstep, literally, and use that, which we have done for the past four or five seasons now. Many told us our birds wouldnt stay unless we fed them wheat. We have a very good little shoot.

If you can only source barley then feed barley, and ditto with wheat, I doubt very much your birds will either know the difference or care. Don't let anyone tell you your birds will head for greener pastures unless you feed them one thing or another. If they disappear it wont be because you're feeding them the wrong feed.

[scotslad]

Scully it is great ur shoot can do well on barley MOST won't.

 

Birds will **** off over the boundry, for all sort's of silly reasons but feed is the major reason they will ****** off. Even feeding wheat birds will prefer better quality wheat

 

I've never met a real keeper that feeds barley, that must say something.

The only keeper i know used to mix about 10% into his hand feeds just when hhe cut the feeds down from twice a day to once theory being they will leave the barley after eating the wheat but they're will still be something left to pick about later on on the rides so should stop them wandering.

 

Feed wotever u want, but i know i would never feed barley on my shoot and expect to shoot a return, just would not work.

But it will work on some shoots if ur lucky

[Harnser]

You only have to look on the barley stubble to answer the question . Game birds love it as much as the pigeons .

 

 

Harnser

[Scully]

We aren't 'real' keepers so that's maybe why it works for us. Last season we had returns of over 80%. Our driven syndicate with a 'real' keeper which only feeds wheat, had returns of around 48%.

[sako751sg]

This is hilarious...it comes round on a regular basis.

When we started we inherited a silo of old wheat, which we used until it ran out. We then had to travel to buy wheat but he was taking the ****, so it was decided we would buy barley off our landowner, which was cheaper plus on our doorstep, literally, and use that, which we have done for the past four or five seasons now. Many told us our birds wouldnt stay unless we fed them wheat. We have a very good little shoot.

If you can only source barley then feed barley, and ditto with wheat, I doubt very much your birds will either know the difference or care. Don't let anyone tell you your birds will head for greener pastures unless you feed them one thing or another. If they disappear it wont be because you're feeding them the wrong feed.

 

It sure is.

Now,im not saying that they maybe dont prefer wheat,but to say things like at a push they will eat it is nonsense.

As Harnser says,look at the amount of pheasants going about on barley stubble and as good timing as it is,i was out about 14.30 till dark this afternoon for a doe,could see 3 of my feeders within 200m of each other and there ranged from 5 to 8 cocks i could see in the area of each.Yet the neighboring estate feeds wheat and they are less than 100m for one of the feeders.

Pheasants are funny birds and surely the way they travel away even away from regular feed shows they please themselves.

[scotslad]

We aren't 'real' keepers so that's maybe why it works for us. Last season we had returns of over 80%. Our driven syndicate with a 'real' keeper which only feeds wheat, had returns of around 48%.

 

Dunno wot ur day job is but ur wasted, u obviously know more about it than any keeper i've ever met. U'd have ur pick of jobs if u can return 80+% on every shoot u've been involved with.

As i've said some shoots can get away with it and still do well, but they are the exception

 

My old head keeper always said never scrimp on the quality of poults or the quality of feed. But he never shot returns of 80% nether so probably not worth listening too.

 

For the OP i'd ask someone or a few folk u know and trust, a few keeper mates wot they would do?

 

Personally i'd tell the boss he needs to buy some wheat, depending how 'small' ur shoot is 1 or 2 tonnes might get u throu to mid/end Dec and by then u should off hopefully shot most of ur %, so won't matter so much and u can experiment.

Any wheat u buy means he can feed the extra barley u never used to his stock which i why i persume he's got it, so only really costing 10-20 quid extra per T

 

Try feeding some barley in drives, start with outside drives, or feed in some hoppers barley next to wheat. If the wheat goes 1st swap tha hopper positions so it is the feed and not the position

Experiment for ur self and make ur own mind up.

But almost every piece of written advice by experts says a similar thing, but possibly there all wrong? U never know

 

But as the keeper it will probably be u that gets blamed 'if' the birds all disappear, they might not but it will be ur repuation/job on the line

[Scully]

 

Dunno wot ur day job is but ur wasted, u obviously know more about it than any keeper i've ever met. U'd have ur pick of jobs if u can return 80+% on every shoot u've been involved with.

As i've said some shoots can get away with it and still do well, but they are the exception

 

My old head keeper always said never scrimp on the quality of poults or the quality of feed. But he never shot returns of 80% nether so probably not worth listening too.

 

For the OP i'd ask someone or a few folk u know and trust, a few keeper mates wot they would do?

 

Personally i'd tell the boss he needs to buy some wheat, depending how 'small' ur shoot is 1 or 2 tonnes might get u throu to mid/end Dec and by then u should off hopefully shot most of ur %, so won't matter so much and u can experiment.

Any wheat u buy means he can feed the extra barley u never used to his stock which i why i persume he's got it, so only really costing 10-20 quid extra per T

 

Try feeding some barley in drives, start with outside drives, or feed in some hoppers barley next to wheat. If the wheat goes 1st swap tha hopper positions so it is the feed and not the position

Experiment for ur self and make ur own mind up.

But almost every piece of written advice by experts says a similar thing, but possibly there all wrong? U never know

 

But as the keeper it will probably be u that gets blamed 'if' the birds all disappear, they might not but it will be ur repuation/job on the line

I'm a SIPS builder and painter. It amazes me that it offends you just because we do things differently. The OP asked if barley was ok to feed to his birds and I gave my opinion based on nothing more than about five years of experience of feeding barley. Despite being a NGO member I can't say I know much more than that about gamekeeping really; perhaps a bit about cover and creating good habitat, and that may be it.

I find it astonishing, and a little amusing admittedly, that some can't abide it when some people do things differently.

I really don't care if the OP feeds wheat or barley, I was just giving him the benefit of my experience.

I wasn't exaggerating the 80% + returns.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Scully

[scotslad]

I'm not offended and like u couldnae care less BUT as far as i'm corncerned ur's is bad advice for most shoots.

And when u've lost ur birds they won't come back

 

It may work for u and fair play.

 

I've worked my dogs on shoots all over Neng up to North Scotland for all different types of keeper and feeding quality food is pretty much the only thing they agree on

 

My mate has trained gundogs for best part of 30 year and still thinks firing a 12G directly above a 9 month old pup is 'how u do it' and never had any problems doesnae make it good advice thou.

 

Carry on feeding barley but almost every piece of advice given says pheasants would prefer wheat,

I have no problems with doing things differently as ur always learning, but hate to see folk offered possibly misleading advice

 

In my last post i told the boy to experiment and make his own mind up

[Scully]

Bad advice? The OP can't get hold of wheat; so how can advice that barley will do as an alternative be bad advice? And bearing in mind we feed nothing else BUT barley and get very good results, again, how can that be bad advice?

It doesn't make any difference where you've been working your dogs, the fact remains barley is quality feed. We get plenty of guests on our shoot who want to come back; the fact we feed barley instead of wheat doesn't seem to put them off.

It may not be wheat but it's a very good alternative, which is what the OP is asking.

I really can't comment on the merits of wheat as opposed to barley, and while we're getting the results we're getting at a cheaper price partly because of no incurred fuel costs, we see no reason to change.

It appears to me that the OP is in the ideal situation to do as you suggest and trial wheat, which he can no longer get, and barley, which he can.

If he can't get wheat what else do you suggest he does?

[scotslad]

He said he can't get wheat of his usual farmer.

 

Wheat is not hard to find, almost every agri supplier/feed merchant will sell it either bagged or bulk.

Even in my part of scotland where wheat is hard to grow plenty of farmers sell it at farm gate, would imagine even easier to source further down south.

 

If u got a GWCT or BASC advisor out i'd bet the 1st thing they'd ask is wot u feed and reccommend wheat.

Ur in a very lucky situation where ur gtting good returns on barley, but 95+% of shoots feed wheat for a reason.

Know i have accidently filled hoppers with barley and usually have to empty them a few weeks later as birds won't eat it when wheat nearby in other hoppers.

If u change all ur hoppers to barley suddenly there is a chance birds will wander looking for wheat elsewhere if that is over ur boundry they will stay there. Not a chance i'd take at this stage in the season, esp with the mild weather. Even if u can scrape enough wheat till mid/end Dec then try barley fair enough, birds will be thiner on ground and weather colder, and hopefully u will have shot most of ur bag with only a few days left.

 

Scully, Even on ur own shoot i bet if u hand feed small areas of straw rides with wheat maize mix/ few hopper of wheat some of ur main/better drives with wheat it might improve them attract even more birds into that area and u might shoot more than 80 odd %. But it sounds like ur doing fine without it

 

 

If u reread the question it was has anyone changed mid season?

I have filled hoppers close together with barley accidently and birds went to the wheat filled hoppers, would not like to experiment with it on a whole shoot scale

If ur birds start on barley its all they'll know and be used to.

 

If u only eat Mcdonalds u'd never miss a steak, but if ur brought up on steak doubt u'd setle as readily for a diet of mcdonalds and u'd look elsewhere

[Scully]

By heck, this is getting tiresome. The OP said his boss 'can't afford to buy wheat in bags, so now what do I do'? He then went on to say he can get hold of barley and asked if anyone had changed feed during a season and if so what happened, or words to that effect.

We did exactly this when we were being charged over the odds for wheat, and it has had no detrimental effect on our returns.

If wheat is so plentiful as you suggest, then why hasn't the OP simply gone elsewhere rather than ask if he can use barley?

I'm not suggesting barley is better than wheat, or the other way round, I'm merely giving the benefit of what we found when we swapped feed during a season; whether the OP decides to go down this route or not is entirely up to him, and I don't care what the GWCT or BASC advise; we've found barley to be better than ok and until it proves otherwise we'll stick with it. Incidentally, the NGO have never questioned our feeding of barley.

We already broadcast feed on our rides and in our woods and in the margins, and aren't really bothered about whether we shoot 80%+ or not; we're part time and more than happy with the results we get from the minimal amount of work we have to do to get them. We all work full time which is why we chose ex-layers, and if we'd listened to all the nay sayers regarding ex-layers we wouldn't have a shoot either.

And again, despite what you claim, we started on wheat and changed to barley, and like I said, we're happy, even if you're aren't.

The McDonalds and steak analogy is ridiculous; wild animals will eat what's available and would never turn down readily available food.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Scully

[dazb1967]

Just spoke to the head keeper on the shoot i beat on in Northumberland and he said he will feed his birds on barley if he can't get wheat but def prefers wheat, he did say he will only feed them good barley when thats all thats available though and he finds his ducks get fatter quicker on barley but the pheasants def prefer wheat but will feed on barley when thats all thats there.

[paulnix]

Wheat is higher protein than Barley which is an important diference plus it is less likely to go stale in bags than barley will.

 

We feed Barley to duck pools and outlying feeders to top up a couple of rough area's of cover with a bird or two but the feeders in game cover and woods get Wheat, we have used Barley towards the middle of jan as we ran out of wheat but the Pheasants didn't like it and ******** off to neighbouring feeders ( btw I grow Barley and rather pay for Wheat for feed than use "free" Barley ).

 

Have a ring around and you will find a farmer close by more than willing to sell a ton or two of wheat ( offer to bag and weigh it yourself and some pound notes go a long way ) from the farm gate rather than settle for the barley as it is on the doorstep, feed wheat should be about £12-£15 more than Barley.

[motty]

Wheat is higher protein than Barley which is an important diference plus it is less likely to go stale in bags than barley will.

 

We feed Barley to duck pools and outlying feeders to top up a couple of rough area's of cover with a bird or two but the feeders in game cover and woods get Wheat, we have used Barley towards the middle of jan as we ran out of wheat but the Pheasants didn't like it and ******** off to neighbouring feeders ( btw I grow Barley and rather pay for Wheat for feed than use "free" Barley ).

 

Have a ring around and you will find a farmer close by more than willing to sell a ton or two of wheat ( offer to bag and weigh it yourself and some pound notes go a long way ) from the farm gate rather than settle for the barley as it is on the doorstep, feed wheat should be about £12-£15 more than Barley.

Why would protein content be a concern to pheasants?

 

How do you know that pheasants leave the barley hoppers in favour of wheat?

[paulnix]

When we were running low on Wheat we put Barley in some and kept Wheat going in the others and then swapped right over when we ran out of Wheat, you don't want a sudden change of diet but a gradual change over, also in normal years we feed Barley once Wheat is gone up until April to feed whatever birds are left about and then is the wheat which goes first which sort of cocks up our gradual swap over but the thought is there at least !!

 

As for the protein, it isn't a concern to the Pheasants as to what percent they eat but to you, it will keep them in better condition esp useful when showing good birds, typically wheat would be 2-3% higher in protein over barley which could be the diference in a bird thriving and being in good condition esp in hard conditions as they can only eat a certain amount, no diference to someone upping the content for a dog during the busy shooting season to help keep condition.