Cold comfort on game crop

Bad weather is a major headache at this time of year, but all is not lost, advises Liam Bell

- Liam Bell

We always used to plant the bulk of our game crops in May. The triticale used to go in mid to late March, the maize was usually planted by mid-May, and the millets in early June when the ground was warm enough. This year, the weather has turned it on its head.

In March, it was too wet to get the triticale in and by mid-April, the ground was so dry that even the spring corn planted elsewhere on the estate stood still for weeks and did very little. April was also one of the coldest and frostiest on record and the first part of May was both cold and extremely wet.

As I write, our seed is still languishing in bags in the shed, waiting for things to improve.

We have decided against planting any spring corn this year, as we missed the earlier planting window and anything that goes in now will be all stalk and leaves, with little to no feed value. In its place, we are putting in more millet mixes to provide the feed and lighter cover that we’d have got from the cereals.

Modern varieties of silage maize will tolerate some frost, but that is not the case with the older varieties that we use as game cover because of their tougher stems and better standing ability.

Had we planted any, I am certain the hard frosts we have had would have taken the tops off any of the plants that were showing. In turn, that would have checked their growth and may even have killed them.

Far better to wait until conditions are right and the soil is warm enough for the seed to germinate and the plant to get away quickly.