Stubble Shooting - The End Of?

[wymberley]

Apologies all, not come across this before and don't know what it's called.

No sooner was the grain cut and we had a day or two at most on the stubble, it's now all gone and I'm sure that the few fields left to harvest will go the same way. It seems the idea is to - for want of the right term - scarify the ground to expose the dormant weed seeds so that they germinate and can then be more effectively sprayed. In short, blink and the stubble shooting season is over.

[old'un]

do you know what what’s been sown in the field/s? It could possibly be rape.

[Rob85]

Kind of sounds like overly intensive farming, like the silage guys taking 3 to 4 cuts a year now, starts to damage the ground eventually. One perm I had refused to let his fields be cut more than twice a year to give the soil a rest

[wymberley]

8 minutes ago, old'un said:

do you know what what’s been sown in the field/s? It could possibly be rape.

Wheat and barley with a couple of fields of oats sown to order. Rotated with grass and silage sometimes cut twice. Haven't spoken to the farmer as yet as we've both been busy but I'm wondering (hoping) if it's in any way connected to the passed 12 months' abysmal weather.

[old'un]

with the unpredictable late summer/autumn weather (wet) over the last few years, farmers have to move quickly to get their winter crops in before the weather turns, although saying that, I have a few barley fields that were cut two weeks ago and are still stubble, on another farm he cut his beans last week and when I looked yesterday the field had been sown with wheat.

[B725]

The combines are still at it around here, I was watching one yesterday stop starting as the barley was so flat.

[Jacko3275]

These farmers have no consideration for  us pigeon shooters any one would think they have to make a living🤣🤣🤣🤣

Edited September 9, 2020 by Jacko3275

[GingerCat]

My farmer doesn't mess about when it comes to stubbles. He has a black grass issue so almost within the week he has turned it over and will then spray off the grass before seeding it. All his rape is ploughed and the stubbles will go the same way probably the day after his last field comes in. Which will be about next week. 

Due to this years weather he and a few of his farmer friends are turning some over to cows. 

[marsh man]

Like everything else in modern farming the machines are getting bigger and more efficient , non of our straw was smashed up behind the combine this year as all straw was in demand , within an hour of the combine leaving the cut field there would be two contract bailing machines move on bailing up the large square bails , these two would take very little time before they moved on to another field , either the same day or the next morning it was the turn of the tractors and flat trailers with the load all lifting two at a time , as soon as they were done then the farm tractor was direct drilling fodder Radish for Winter feed for the Sheep , this was only a few weeks ago and now the fields are covered in leaf with no signs of the stubble .

Having said that we have got a few fields of Wheat stubble that are been left till the Winter for some reason, and thank the good lord there are still a few pigeons that are keeping me happy for the time being  

[motty]

I still have a hell of a lot of stubbles to shoot. One in particular I am expecting a big bag from, if it is left for a week or two more.

[Centrepin]

My perm ploughed and drilled rape within the week over barley stubble over 3 fields, green shoots starting to sprout.

1 other field just harvested still stubble and the rest waterlogged or weather flattened. 

It appears they're trying to regain from losses by moving fast.

Plenty of pigeon and corvids on the stubble but mainly in the inaccessible to me at the moment areas.

It seems everyone wants 2020 out of the way!

[Wilts#Dave]

12 hours ago, motty said:

I still have a hell of a lot of stubbles to shoot. One in particular I am expecting a big bag from, if it is left for a week or two more.

That’s the only trouble sometimes, I had my eye on shooting a spring barley stubble that had a nice lot on and building up.....popped by and being disced in already after only being cut a few days ago! 
Shot some stubble yesterday that always produces if left but shot it early instead as I know they’ll be cultivating soon, shot 60 in a few hours so not terrible. 
Have you got the good fields to yourself so to speak, waiting for them to build up? 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Wilts#Dave

[motty]

4 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

That’s the only trouble sometimes, I had my eye on shooting a spring barley stubble that had a nice lot on and building up.....popped by and being disced in already after only being cut a few days ago! 
Shot some stubble yesterday that always produces if left but shot it early instead as I know they’ll be cultivating soon, shot 60 in a few hours so not terrible. 
Have you got the good fields to yourself so to speak, waiting for them to build up? 

Some of the fields I shoot, i am sure i am the only one that goes, but not the case for all of them. I saw a barley stubble that I can shoot, that was absolutely covered in grain. If it is left, it is only a matter of time!

[mossy835]

all my farms are plowed in, waiting now for maize to be cut.100 acres.on one farm.,

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, motty said:

Some of the fields I shoot, i am sure i am the only one that goes, but not the case for all of them. I saw a barley stubble that I can shoot, that was absolutely covered in grain. If it is left, it is only a matter of time!

Even if you are the only one that shoot on certain fields it is still a job to know when it have got the maximum number of pigeons feeding on the field and that you are going to shoot it when you are ready , unless you are in constant talks with the farmer or the farm manager then it can all change in a matter of hours , I would say shoot it when you think it is worth setting up for .if it is shared then the people who you share it with might have a different outlook in what is a lot of pigeons , they might see a 100 scattered over the field and think it is a lot and decide to take a days holiday and give it go , where you have already seen the same amount the previous day and you would like to give it at least another week before hitting it , as we all know to get a big bag , it's a case of being in the right place at the right time , we often know where the place is , but we are not always sure of the right time .

[motty]

On 10/09/2020 at 19:54, marsh man said:

Even if you are the only one that shoot on certain fields it is still a job to know when it have got the maximum number of pigeons feeding on the field and that you are going to shoot it when you are ready , unless you are in constant talks with the farmer or the farm manager then it can all change in a matter of hours , I would say shoot it when you think it is worth setting up for .if it is shared then the people who you share it with might have a different outlook in what is a lot of pigeons , they might see a 100 scattered over the field and think it is a lot and decide to take a days holiday and give it go , where you have already seen the same amount the previous day and you would like to give it at least another week before hitting it , as we all know to get a big bag , it's a case of being in the right place at the right time , we often know where the place is , but we are not always sure of the right time .

Agreed. I had a good look around today. I saw a few fields of beans and barley with a decent amount of pigeons on. I will wait, though. They are unlikely to be shot by other people, but may get cultivated. As we all know, this doesn't necessarily mean that the pigeons will be finished with them. 

I have started to see the pigeons get more concentrated, as more and more stubbles are disappearing. 

 

[marsh man]

30 minutes ago, motty said:

Agreed. I had a good look around today. I saw a few fields of beans and barley with a decent amount of pigeons on. I will wait, though. They are unlikely to be shot by other people, but may get cultivated. As we all know, this doesn't necessarily mean that the pigeons will be finished with them. 

I have started to see the pigeons get more concentrated, as more and more stubbles are disappearing. 

 

There is already talk about Pigeons started to get interested in acorns , this might well be the case in some places but not around these parts, like you say there are 100s of acres being cultivated every day and next years rape is already in and forgot about , a lot of our grain stubbles have been direct drilled with fodder radish and from past experience these fields don't produce until later and even then not big bags as we grow a fair bit with the fields scattered over a big area . this year we didn't grow any beans but next year on my map it state we are growing three fields of Beans , in the past I have found them hit and miss , one year it will be brilliant and the next year next to nothing , Bean stubble come at a good time with most of the other crops done and dusted , the only thing I found with bean stubble was it had a fairly short window , when first cut I used to think the loose beans were to hard , then a week or so later they started to go mad , then when they broke out in leaf they were again left alone , about being to hard might be far from the truth as it can take a bit of time to find them and not only that , just before the combine get to work the pigeons were dropping from the telegraph wires and feeding amongst the stalks so they couldn't had been to hard then .

With the nights now rapidly drawing in and the first Partridge shoots are underway we will soon be checking out the wildfowl rather than the pigeons and this year will be remembered for many years to come , last year we had the G L fiasco , this year the virus nearly put paid to pigeon shooting and I wonder what problem await us next year , GOOD LUCK 

 

[Farmboy91]

The winter barley on mine was cut and ploughed within a couple days, all the wheat and bean stubble is still there waiting on the rape to go in. 

They have moved off the wheat stubble pretty much and onto the beans, had a walk along the edge of the field when out for a walk the other day and there are alot of beans still on the ground. 

Be a couple good days there for someone I reckon.