JDog Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 (edited) Talking to a neighbour/farmer the other day we were discussing pigeons on winter rape. I noticed that whilst his neighbouring farmer's rape had been attacked by pigeons his had not been touched. He was unable to explain why as the rape was the same variety. Getting on to other matters rape, he said that the banning of nicotinoids as a seed treatment has had a negative effect on quality and quantity of the rape harvest and an increase in the amount of chemicals needed to keep insect damage down. This cannot be a good thing for the environment. The next stumbling block down the line for rape growers appears to be the application of Glyphosate or it's derivatives for killing off rape prior to harvest. Apparently minute amounts of glyphosate residue has been found in rape seed oils and as there is a zero tolerance attitude to this sort of thing there is talk that the spraying off of rape in that way may be banned in the future. If it is then the only alternatives are to leave the crop to ripen in the usual way (there may be lots of seed shedding if this method is used) or to swath rape and leave it to dry/ripen ahead of harvesting. Edited July 22, 2016 by JDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 interesting.............i wonder what effect all this will be regards the EU exit......although nothing will be happening in the near future..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TR1 Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Had a similar discussion today with farmer regarding rape . He said that if we want to sell into EU market we will still have to follow EU regs with regard to chemicals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Interesting post JDog. One of the farmers I shoot for says he is having his rape swathed this year. He said the contractor coming to swath it had 3 machines and over 15000 acres to do each year 20 years ago, the same contractor now has only one machine and a mere 700 acres to swath each year. Perhaps things will turn around again for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Most interesting JDog, it's good to talk to the farmers, I remember a while back my farmer saying it's a strange thing over a bounder to him is organic and to control some pest or blight in potatoes they are allowed to use a spray containing copper at some level, and this stops in the soil for ages, strange what is allowed if it ticks a box on another agenda. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilksy II Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 (edited) Is it me or is there more weeds in amongst the rape,and the barley come to that, this year? I'll ask my farmer about the spraying/swathing as he normally sprays. Edited July 22, 2016 by Wilksy II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Is it me or is there more weeds in amongst the rape,and the barley come to that, this year? I'll ask my farmer about the spraying/swathing as he normally sprays. I would imagine if he sprays it off it would have already been done. The tramlines will appear to be sunken compared to the rest of the crop if it has been sprayed. Most farmers round here do spray off and direct combine and combines will be rolling this coming week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilksy II Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 Weather permitting he said 10 days till harvest so he probably has then, I'll see him tomorrow I'm going to try my luck on some laid barley! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redleg in kale Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 the farms that I shoot used to swath the rape upto 20 years ago ,I had many red letter days on the swathed rape, pigeons landing on the swath and bursting the pods and releasing the seeds, heavy rain hitting the swath releasing the seed I would like to think these days are coming back but 20 years on and better farming methods ie spraying the crop with a glue like spray to stop the pods from releasing the seed upto combining ,in the old swath days after combining looking at the stubble a week or two later you could see were every swathed row lay on the field showing how much of the crop was lost by using this method ,the crop its self is expensive to grow and more restrictions may put the farmer off growing it. hope not . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 Swathed rape was my favourite as it was a magnet to pigeon and even after the crop had been collected I often used to do away with a hide and just lift and shape the shavings into a mound and sit behind them. Excellent news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 Interesting information, with brexit we may see some changes in our farming techniques also the keen farmers will find a way to increase production and profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyska Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 We swathed until recently too, but you have to pick your days! With direct drilling now it's far quicker to dessicate and combine. The quality testing of rape seed is very intense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yod dropper Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 I'd heard about the potential Glyphosphate ban from my brother and then on Farming Today on R4. On the day of the referendum the EU were to have held another vote on whether to ban it or not but this was delayed and I don't know what the result has since been. In anticipation of a ban I ordered 5L of a glyphosphate weedkiller - the delivery driver said he was delivering about 30 of them that day. This may all make for better shooting - last year I remember driving back from a session with very limited results to drive past a small field grey with pigeons I had seen harvested with some old and small scale machinery which highlighted the attraction of spilt seed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webber Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 Talking to a neighbour/farmer the other day we were discussing pigeons on winter rape. I noticed that whilst his neighbouring farmer's rape had been attacked by pigeons his had not been touched. He was unable to explain why as the rape was the same variety. Getting on to other matters rape, he said that the banning of nicotinoids as a seed treatment has had a negative effect on quality and quantity of the rape harvest and an increase in the amount of chemicals needed to keep insect damage down. This cannot be a good thing for the environment. The next stumbling block down the line for rape growers appears to be the application of Glyphosate or it's derivatives for killing off rape prior to harvest. Apparently minute amounts of glyphosate residue has been found in rape seed oils and as there is a zero tolerance attitude to this sort of thing there is talk that the spraying off of rape in that way may be banned in the future. If it is then the only alternatives are to leave the crop to ripen in the usual way (there may be lots of seed shedding if this method is used) or to swath rape and leave it to dry/ripen ahead of harvesting. The best woodie shooting I ever had was over swathed rape. webber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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