Seeded Wheat straw

stevieb49829 · Apr 11, 2022

Do they sometimes, for whatever reason, just cut and bale wheat without combining it? We bought one of those little, very compact bales to mulch our garlic through the winter, and we have a veritable wheat field growing in the garden now. Way too much seed for just missed during threshing. I'm going back to pine needle straw this next winter. steve

paul · Apr 12, 2022

Im more familiar with oats than wheat, but a person wants to meet quality goals on the grain. For small grains you want test weight, protein, and such goals.

It might pay better to not get the small, light, poor kernels and only get the big plump grain kernels in harvest, set the combine to not get the junk. It doesnt take many of those light kernels to look like a thick patch, when actually it is a very small amount, far less than a bu an acre thrown out the back.

Paul

Bruce from Can. · Apr 12, 2022

Every kernel of grain has the potential to grow, even the light kernels. And just as Paul has said , the grain farmers dont want those light kernels in their grain because it will lower the bushel weight. So the lighter grain gets blew out the back of the combine with the straw. When you go past a harvested wheat field 3 weeks after the crop is off, and see green rows where the combine dropped the straw. It doesnt mean the combine wasnt working well, thats just the light grain that blew out that has sprouted and is growing in the stubble.
I dont know how you could ever overcome this situation when using straw as a organic cover, there will always be some grain caught in the straw.

redforlife · Apr 12, 2022

NOBODY in my area bales wheat straw without combining it first. There is NO money to be made in raising wheat only for the straw.

It's possible I guess, that somebody didn't have thier combine set right.
Either way, there is always going to be some missed grain. If you mulched heavily, that would worsen the problem.

I suppose, there is the slim possibility that someone inter seeded it into a fall grass seeding, or into a poor stand of hay ground, or wildlife food plot, for/with some other reasoning than the grain harvest. But, you wouldn't of thought they would of waited till it was bearded out and ripe to bale it, or baled it at all, unless for hay. Most people plant oats, rather than than wheat, if it's going for hay.

coonie minnie · Apr 12, 2022

I agree with those below.

But there are other possibilities as well. There could have been a small patch that perhaps plugged the combine, didn't get threshed, and then got baled. It'd make for an off bale with a lot of grain in it.

And once about 20 years ago, I read a story in a magazine called New Holland News about a farmer in NJ who grew rye for the straw for race horses. That didn't get combined, they just cut it headed out so it would be almost white in color once dried. It got baled, grain and all.

cjunrau · Apr 12, 2022

Depends on the farmer. Around here everybody wants the Hutterite straw as they often leave the concave open to far so they can drive faster. Causes more unthrashed grain in the straw and cows love it.

tomstractorsandtoys · Apr 12, 2022

Very common in PA,MD and NJ to plant rye and spray it with paraquat then bale for straw. They have a long enough season to grow full season soybeans and then notill more rye. With all the development there is a huge demand for straw. Tom

SDE · Apr 12, 2022

I noticed the same situation in the neighbor's fields and I wondered why. TY for the explanation. Although I believe the grain was harvested for feed and not re sale.

flying belgian · Apr 12, 2022

That sounds like just what I want in my garden. Some straw mulch with green growing for weed suppressant. Till it all in for nutrient enhancement. Perfect.

stevieb49829 · Apr 12, 2022

That makes sense. I did notice the green stripes down the combine rows and wondered if they had a bad combine. It makes sense if the combine was set to thresh only the best grain and reject the small, poor quality kernels out the back with the straw. I would agree that there isn't much of a market here for straw with seed heads included (not many prissy horse ranches). Thanks for the good info. steve

wore out · Apr 12, 2022

(quoted from post at 11:33:43 04/12/22) That makes sense. I did notice the green stripes down the combine rows and wondered if they had a bad combine. It makes sense if the combine was set to thresh only the best grain and reject the small, poor quality kernels out the back with the straw. I would agree that there isn't much of a market here for straw with seed heads included (not many prissy horse ranches). Thanks for the good info. steve

The trouble with that theory is that "blowing" the light externals out the back of the combine will result in most of them on the ground and not staying with the straw on it's journey through the baler.

fixerupper · Apr 12, 2022

It still amazes me how a combine can do such a good job separating those tiny kernals out of that big mass of straw that comes out of the back of a combine. In heavy 130+ bushel wheat we were allowed up to 10 kernals per square foot loss out the back of the combine.

In 40 bushel wheat there won't be near that much loss out the back of a properly adjusted and operated combine. When I was on the harvest we were light heartedly criticized by a farmer for not leaving enough wheat on the ground. He grazed his cattle on the regrowth and we didn't leave enough behind for good cattle feed.

stevieb49829 · Apr 12, 2022

What's still bothering me is this wheat is in the bale. If the combine was throwing the reject out the back, would much of that seed get picked up by the baler? Or stay on the ground to produce the green-row effect?

flying belgian · Apr 12, 2022

Operator must not have had combine set to remove wheat from heads. Needed to close concave and speed up cylinder.

fixerupper · Apr 12, 2022

Belgian has a good idea. If there are unthreshed heads or incomplete threshed heads you will still find grain in the straw. A few individual grains could still be trapped in the straw but I wouldn't think it would be enough to give the problem you are having.

This post was edited by fixerupper on 04/12/2022 at 03:36 pm.

Leroy · Apr 12, 2022

It has been several years since I was farming but you NEVER wanted ANY kerner to go out the back of the machine at any time. Those light kernels never made up enough weight to afect the test weight and they made more weight to go over the scale. And straw at that time you could not give it away even if baled and stored in the barn. Only income was from the grain. If you saw green stripes it ment a poor combine operator. And I still believe that.

Timmycornpicker · Apr 12, 2022

Not anymore. It's illegal to use Paraquat as a harvest aid. Mow and sun bleach.

caterpillar guy · Apr 12, 2022

I would not worry about it Just till it in and be ready to plant. Once germinated and growing tillage will kill it. If more grows you could spray it with a grass spray or Roundup and still plant a garden afterwards.

Seeded Wheat straw

stevieb49829

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paul

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Bruce from Can.

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redforlife

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coonie minnie

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cjunrau

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tomstractorsandtoys

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SDE

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flying belgian

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stevieb49829

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wore out

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fixerupper

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stevieb49829

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flying belgian

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fixerupper

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Leroy

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Timmycornpicker

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