paul

Well-known Member
So, got an interesting proposition today, have heard it before and even thought about it just for myself.

Anybody grow barley? What does it need or act different from other small grains?

Used to grow wheat and grow a fair share of oats still. I swath and combine with a dummy head here. What is the straw like?

Now, this isn't for big profit, this is 5 acres for something fun and different. My wetter clayish soils favor corn, they won't favor barley, I know.

Paul
 
HI Paul

I am in Australia and grow a little barley. Compared to wheat it finishes earlier and the straw is much softer. We grow two row (head has two rows of grain) varieties aimed at stock feed the heads look little but it yields well. Much better vigour than wheat so really competes with weeds in the vegetative phase. Let me know what American barley varieties are like.

Thanks Matt
 
I've grown a little barley in SEWI. Plant early as possible... a bit like oats. Most barley will be shorter than wheat, so it won't crowd out the weeds as well as winter wheat (plus it isn't growing at first green up with a head start.)

It can be a little tough to combine. Usually the stems are grass green yet while the grain can be down to 10%. You mentioned you could swath? That might help a lot.

I used it as a nurse crop when seeding some land down for pasture, and in a wet field that I just purchased... I got a crop, and then got the tiler in there in August after it was off.

Both times made 80-90 bu per acre. One other experience (drought of 2012) made 50-55. Winter wheat did over a 100 in the same season.

Pick a good variety. Rasmussen used to be a good one, and was for malting. I think the last time I had something else more for feed by newer and higher yielding.

30-40 units of N is plenty.

Good luck.
 
Seems barley can be more suceptible to rusts, etc, than wheat so be ready for that, too. I did not put fungicide on any of mine, but I'm sure it would have helped.
 
Hi Paul
I grew some few years back. Threshes much easier then spring wheat. Mine was inter-seeded with peas and sold to turkey growers up north. Good demand for it up there. I also seeded plow down clover with it so after harvest in August we got a rain at the perfect time and the clover blend grew about a foot tall. Just by luck I turned out very good on that 35 acres.
 
Oats used to be predominate here, and especially the next county north...Stearns- heavy in dairy. I raised it for about 30 years. Seeded about 1 1/2 bpa, compared to 3 for oats. That"s a thinner stand, so underseeded alfalfa gets more sunlight and grows better. The straw is stiffer than oats, so cows would kick long straw out of the stalls, more than they would oats straw. But we chopped our bedding in the field, blew it into the haymow, and the shorter pieces stayed in place better. Being stiffer, it is less absorbent than oat straw. Always heard that combining barley was itchier than oats, but didn"t notice that. More dense kernel with the 60 pound standard test weight, vs 36 for oats, so easier to keep it in the combine. See mostly barley in Stearns County now.

Barley grain has 92% of the feed value of corn, and often used it for steer feed when corn was short. With the Doboy pellet program, I could gradually switch to 100% barley, and they did well. Also good in hog rations.
 
we have ran out of shell corn years ago so used barley instead but the hogs didn't seem to like it all that well, which was strange since hogs eat anything except citrus fruit.
 
> used barley instead but the hogs didn't seem to like it all that well, which was strange

Hum, interesting.

A little distant neighbor is raising some heritage hogs on a very small farm site, very small herd of hogs. He gets a little oats from me, and was curious about trying some barley, had heard that worked good. He wasn't sure hoe the hogs liked the oats....

Clearly this whole deal is 'fun hobby' he could buy a few sacks of barley from the Canadians cheaper than messing around here. But farming needs to be fun too, so I'm looking at it. My cattle would deal with any mistakes or extras or 'don't wanna after all' situations so only costs a few corn acre 'profits' to do, and with $3.20 corn what the hay.

Paul
 
The itching from what i heard is the malting or beer making varietys something about the heads my dad got a little upset with my idea of barley but mine didn't bother and i agree with you i had the same experience with it and the fact that it stood good and didn't fall over and smother the new seeding was a plus.
 
I did not know till last year that there is barley you sow in the fall and barley you sow in the spring. Guys across the road have a hog operation and this is the second year they have sown barley. They sow it in the fall and combine it in the middle of June They say hogs do good on it. Since it is gone the middle of June you can double crop soybeans on it. The one field they sowed clover seen in the barley and the straw was baled and hay was made from the clover.
 
I just noticed mention of summer and winter. I think up here in MN the winter stuff might not make it? I recall dad trying winter wheat, and with the ice we often deal with the wheat did not do well, spring wheat works much better. Rye is about the only thing that can overwinter here?

Paul
 
Winter barley is more common in SE PA, MD, etc where they have a mild winter and enough growing season to double crop. Think 100 bu barley, followed by 200 bu corn. Pretty amazing stuff at times. You and I have more winter!

Winter barley would have a tough time in MN.
 
I have looked at growing barley casually...likely be no more than you are planning. The racing pigeon guys use it in training. Problem is they are worse than the horse folk when it comes to being picky.
 
There used to be a lot of barley grown in my area. It was planted as a spring crop after the first of April. It would grow very fast often receiving no rainfall at all. Ground would be worked early dryland method and seed planted in moisture. Often it would produce good crops on good ground.
 
Like other feedstuffs, you don"t want to change the ration abruptly. With steers on the corn-pellet ration, when switching to barley I"d do about 1/4 barley, the next mixer load 1/2, then 3/4, then all barley. Steer gut bacteria take a few weeks to fully change over to accommodate the new feed. I"d imagine that hogs and others would be similar. I did feed it to my sows on a continous basis, and market hogs only when getting low on corn. I"d inventory bushels of each and plan accordingly in the Fall.
 
I am from MD originaly and yes you will get 100bu barley and 100 bales of great straw per acre but you will never get 200 bu corn afterward. Usually beans are planted after barley with a yeild of about 40 bu. Any corn is usually silage as even the eastern growing season has limits. The biggest limit is usually water as MD and PA tend to get hot and dry so often the second crop takes a long time to get enough moisture to get going.I do miss the fall barley as it has a feed value about the same as ear corn and is very cheap to grow. We would plant 2 1/2-3 bu of seed and lightly topdress with manure. It also made great silage when cut in the dough stage. About perfect for dry cows and heifers as it has less energy than corn silage. We used an eight ft. mower bar or direct cut head on the forage harvester. I tried it three times here in WI. First was great but the next two times it froze out. Tom
 
There was once winter barley grown here, but not much. Remember Dad had some back in the mid 50's. We cut it with a combine like wheat. It was starting to shatter when we got it cut. Also remember using it to feed out some hogs and it seemed to work as well as the most common hog feed in our area, which was milo (grain sorghum). Don't see hardly any barley anymore.
 
My father used to raise a fair amount of barley, when it was good enough quality it went for malting barley, and paid a premium price. It grew especially well on new ground and dad was always clearing new ground. This was on the CA border of MN and all crops were planted in the spring, one neighbor tried winter wheat and never was successful. Now some raise rye, and plant it in August and combine early the next season.
 

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