foghorn Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Done a quick survey of the number of rape fields in my area, i reckon 40% are set up to rape !. This i believe is why many shooters are not having much luck, too much food to choose from. Its not all bad news though, grain prices have doubled this year, with wheat/barley now commanding £200 per tonne. This high price will hopefully lead to more fields being laid to grain rather than rape next year. Grain is sold, in the futures market and may well be sold five or six times without leaving the farm. So farmers will be selling projected tonnage at least one year ahead. Keep your fingers crossed and next year we could be enjoying fine bags on few rape fields than previous years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) Not to likely as rape will fetch a good price this year as it did do last and with big estates moving all on wheat the smaller farms that grow rape next year will be in for a good windfall . this is what a small farmer told me so he is putting more rape in next year and said many smaller farms will do the same We dont have as much rape as we used to alot around here are moving on to linseed tho this year ive more rape than the last 2 years Edited January 23, 2011 by proTOM1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampire Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 (edited) One of the farms i shoot will not be growing rape next year due to poor crops,another only has one field of rape and another has four fields out of his 1000 acres Edited January 23, 2011 by vampire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoman7 Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 One of the farms i shoot will not be growing rape next year due to poor crops,another only has one field of rape and another has four fields out of his 1000 acres Rape prices are also at record highs so it makes no difference. Also, crops are grown in rotation, so to get best wheat yields means growing an equal area of rape (or other break crops such as beans), as 1st wheats yield the highest. Part of the yield comes from better weed control which is afforded by the break/rape crops. Rape is outstandingly the best paying large scale break crop. Rape also spreads workloads which is very important. And it can also be traded on futures markets. The only thing that is about right is the high proportion of rape – about 40% - which is likely to remain or even slightly increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 (edited) Rape oil is the Bio fuel bearer of the future. Two more large Bio fuel processing factories are under construction in the UK and more are planned. Its here to stay and I think will dramatically increase in value and acreage in the Uk in the coming years. We only use about 35 % of our 15 million tonnes of wheat for human consumption 25% being exported and 40% in animal feeds. The market for wheat is therefore diverse and also a little more fragile. Once whole scale production of Bio fuels gets underway globally we will be growing rape in our allotments and gardens and on the village green.....Yellow Gold.... Edited January 24, 2011 by Fisherman Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampire Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 When i suffered from hayfever/allergies i could tell when driving that we were about to come to a rape field,would get a major headache,eyes all red etc etc,not had any probs since sinus/broken nose operation,but feel sorry for any hayfever sufferes....evil stuff for them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longboots Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 rape will be selling for about £400 per ton this year, we will see more rape than ever (I am a farm manager) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snozzer Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 Rape prices up, wheat prices up, so I doubt the overall split in wheat/osr will change to dramatically Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookiemonsterandmerlin. Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 No farmer or farm manager will gamble and thats what crop to grow is gambling . If you change your farm to a high percentage of one crop because of market value today/this year crack on you will not be well liked if it returns to £187 a tonne and wheat stays at £400 a tonne. And all you got to sell is OSR seed and very little wheat. Cheers OTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longboots Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Farmers don't gamble with crops most sell crops off to dealers in the futures markets making 2 or 3 sales through the year, we have already sold most of our rape from this year harvest and that's not due for 6-7 months, and the wheat price will keeps going up and up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookiemonsterandmerlin. Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Farmers don't gamble with crops most sell crops off to dealers in the futures markets making 2 or 3 sales through the year, we have already sold most of our rape from this year harvest and that's not due for 6-7 months, and the wheat price will keeps going up and up So how do you know 100% wheat prices and OSR seed will keep going up No one person can predict 100% market value of the future . What price have sold your rape at. Cheers OTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I have been lucky that I come from a farming background and been involved with shooting all my life, I’ve shot pigeons for longer than I care to remember (50 years) I have killed a few in that time and still do, mostly over laid corn. I can recall shooting over winter rape in the late 70s early 80s when only the odd field was sown and it was nothing to see flocks of five thousand plus birds on fields and bags of 200 was the norm. But over the last ten years it’s got harder to find and shoot birds because there is too much rape, you go bang and they just move down the road and drop on another field for that reason and the cost of diesel I stopped chasing them during the winter months. Most of the farmers I shoot for are friends and I asked them to phone me if they get any problems a gas gun won’t sort out, I have had three calls in the last two years, on the first outing I shot 56 the second 9 and the third 49. Talking to the farmers I know there will be more rape grown so the situation will only get worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longboots Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Wheat prices will keep going up as long as there are natural disasters around the globe, most harvests down 15% last year Russia not selling any on the open markets. as we see population grow we are going to have to produce 25% more food in next 20 years just to stand still. basic supply and demand so prices go up, oh and buy the way the futures market was one of those that drop everyone except bankers in the **** ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think there are more rape fields around this year. One of the farms i shoot on is growing rape for the first time this year. I haven't really bothered trying to decoy over the rape much this year, due to the fact that pigeons have too much choice. I will wait a few more weeks until the pigeons are more 'set' on certain fields and the flocks have broken up a bit. I have my eye on a couple of beet fields that look promising, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairofthedog Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yes the birds are spoilt for choice but thats what they do they choose, they don't eat from every field for some reason, maybe location, maybe a different variety of rape, maybe some disturbance other than shooting or bird scarers. Its not possible to have all fields, or at least a reasonable number, manned every or every other day say within a five mile radius of anywhere because some land owners are just not interested or willing to co-operate with shooters and thats the problem. Even if someone could muster a large team of guns to span several farms it will only yield X number of pigeons on that day, hardly affecting the overall pigeon population and that growing pigeon population needs to feed every day. All that any individuals can hope for is to walk into a good day and fire 50 - 60 shots, its called sport with pigeons BUT its not pigeon control by any sense of the imagination. I wonder - has anybody ever tried to assess how much the overall UK oilseed rape yield is affected by woodpigeon overgrazing in the winter months and feeding on the seed prior to harvest NOT FORGETTING the huge loss of seed during combining /////// !!??!! \\\\\\\ :-} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Yes the birds are spoilt for choice but thats what they do they choose, they don't eat from every field for some reason, maybe location, maybe a different variety of rape, maybe some disturbance other than shooting or bird scarers. Its not possible to have all fields, or at least a reasonable number, manned every or every other day say within a five mile radius of anywhere because some land owners are just not interested or willing to co-operate with shooters and thats the problem. Even if someone could muster a large team of guns to span several farms it will only yield X number of pigeons on that day, hardly affecting the overall pigeon population and that growing pigeon population needs to feed every day. All that any individuals can hope for is to walk into a good day and fire 50 - 60 shots, its called sport with pigeons BUT its not pigeon control by any sense of the imagination. I wonder - has anybody ever tried to assess how much the overall UK oilseed rape yield is affected by woodpigeon overgrazing in the winter months and feeding on the seed prior to harvest NOT FORGETTING the huge loss of seed during combining /////// !!??!! \\\\\\\ :-} Very little I would confidently say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 If we are honest pigeons do very little damage to winter rape, the exception to this is in February and March when it starts to heart-up. I have seen a field of rape that was so heavily grazed by pigeons that it looked like someone had run a lawnmower over the field, best thing is the farmer told me it was one of the best yields he’d had from the field in years. Now if you really want to-do some crop protection load your cartridges with slug pellets cus I have seen some real damage to winter rape from those little black things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairofthedog Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Very little I would confidently say. I tend to agree with you, some fields do get a pasting from pigeons but come May time you'd never know!! Several years ago there was some talk of 'mowing' oilseed rape crops in the winter months to generate more seed heads and thus help obtain a higher yield but the one experimental machine + attachment could not cope with the typical winter conditions,mainly too soft and too much ground water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinodad Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Hardly any rape fields over our side (wakefield). This has created good shooting over the last few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Very little I would confidently say. Maybe so but a small loss is not good when the price of rape seed is at £409 a ton so 1 of my farmers tells me plus he sold some wheat last week at £218 a ton but he needs to make some money back after loosing £75,000 on sugar beet to the frosts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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