Cranfield Posted November 20, 2013 Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 The wet Autumn this year has changed the farmer's plans in my area. A lot of fields which were going to be Winter sown crops have been too wet to drill, so they will now lay fallow until the Spring. This is seriously going to affect my Winter shooting, despite all the acres of shooting I have, I will have access to very little rape. As soon as the birds start on the rape, I will have to get out door knocking for some new land.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted November 20, 2013 Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 Good luck with the door knocking. There will be plenty on this forum who have advice for you in that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted November 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 Thats one thing I need little advice for, I served that apprenticeship a long time ago. There must be lots of other shooters in the same boat, as the cropping patterns change due to the weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted November 20, 2013 Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 we have some rape to go at but not a lot same as you only 2 farms out of about 10 we shoot on have it but its knee high on one farm all over the field and assuming they eventually do go on it they will find it hard to get into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Essex Hunter Posted November 20, 2013 Report Share Posted November 20, 2013 Thats one thing I need little advice for, I served that apprenticeship a long time ago. There must be lots of other shooters in the same boat, as the cropping patterns change due to the weather. The wet Autumn this year has changed the farmer's plans in my area. A lot of fields which were going to be Winter sown crops have been too wet to drill, so they will now lay fallow until the Spring. This is seriously going to affect my Winter shooting, despite all the acres of shooting I have, I will have access to very little rape. As soon as the birds start on the rape, I will have to get out door knocking for some new land.. I hope this is not on the farmers play list.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYr7I4gOSXk However good luck as the rape is well on our way but the will get fed up with the acorns at some point... TEH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted November 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 Some of the positives about the cropping change due to the wet Winters, is it has reduced the amount of potatoes being grown in my area, by more than half. More "pigeon friendly" crops are taking their place, like beans, linseed, maize and peas, especially when having to be Spring sown. With all the current rain, the big problem is not being able to get on the land, farm tracks ,headlands and meadows are "no-go" areas at the moment. Another positive is that I always have the corvid shooting to fall back on. In common with other areas we seem to have had a corvid population explosion in the last few years and control of them is taking up a lot of my shooting (when the pigeons are scarce). Having added some dairy farms to my portfolio I am finding lots of birds, all I have to do now is convince the Dealer they are good to eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted November 21, 2013 Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 In my area all of the winter crops which were due to go in were succesfully sown, including rape and winter beans. However I have noticed a decidedly obvious move by some farmers to go deliberately for spring crops. By those I mean spring beans and barley, the latter for malting if the quality is right. Spring drillings are always better than autumn ones for shooting round here at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 21, 2013 Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 I am in a similar situation with only one field of rape between my three permissions One has not grown any for years , one lost all his last year as is not keen on repeating it and the other has one field but will perhaps put some more in during the spring . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted November 21, 2013 Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 In my area all of the winter crops which were due to go in were succesfully sown, including rape and winter beans. However I have noticed a decidedly obvious move by some farmers to go deliberately for spring crops. By those I mean spring beans and barley, the latter for malting if the quality is right. Spring drillings are always better than autumn ones for shooting round here at least. Yes, I've noticed a recent trend towards a bit more Spring drilling, which, as JDog says, can be good news for the shooter. As for Rape, there's probably as much been sown around here as there's ever been, but the birds are still pre-occupied with the acorns that they'll probably give it a miss this Winter. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted November 21, 2013 Report Share Posted November 21, 2013 Any cereal stubbbles left to over winter can come good with chic weed and fat hen .Have had some serious bags on over winter stubbles ,even when they have been sprayed off . Harnser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted November 23, 2013 Report Share Posted November 23, 2013 In the midlands it would appear that all fields have been processed , but it has large areas of rape which for the decoyers is a problem as they just move to the next field or farm. We will have to see how the cold weather develops. We also have some good fields of clover with sheep on them which will be good news for the spring when the rape is too tall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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