Rape!

[jimbeekeeper]

Is maize for bio fuel/mass or as a cover crop for game birds?

A bit of both.

But with ever increasing demand for bio ethanol or pure biomass, when despite our green and pleasent lands ample supply of the black stuff, to shift us to the next phase.

 

[oliver90owner]

Hombre,

Narrow strips are often game crops. Large acreage, or rather hectarage, is for cattle feedstock or for bio-fuel when mature (the fruit/seed head), I would think.

In the UK, I remember maize getting as far north as, say Northants by about 1970. It never matured but was cut as green fodder or silage then. But, what with different strains being developed and probably GE crops, the plant will grow to maturity in much more temperate climates - and things have apparently warmed globally over the last couple of decades as well.

Regards, RAB

 

[victor meldrew]

Hombre,

Narrow strips are often game crops. Large acreage, or rather hectarage, is for cattle feedstock or for bio-fuel when mature (the fruit/seed head), I would think.

In the UK, I remember maize getting as far north as, say Northants by about 1970. It never matured but was cut as green fodder or silage then. But, what with different strains being developed and probably GE crops, the plant will grow to maturity in much more temperate climates - and things have apparently warmed globally over the last couple of decades as well.

Regards, RAB

Cheshire was growing substantial acreages to maturity late seventies ( all along the sandstone trail which I used to ramble along back then)

John Wilkinson

 

[oliver90owner]

VM,

Yep, they made very quick advances in that decade. Probably still only uing it for silage in those days and not for the actual grain separately.

Just spoken to my brother down in Oxforshire. He is foraging maize at present - the mature plant including cob. It is ensiled for animal winer feed. The seed has to be cracked through rollers about 1 1/2 mm apart to make the grain digestible by the cattle.

They will shortly be combining further crops for the maize grain where the combine header separates the cobs (for threshing the grain from the cob through the drum) and chops the rest of the plant which is left as organic fertiliser/humous on the land. Apparently it also allows the combine to operate on wetter land as the chopped stalks and leaf form a drier 'runway' for the combine tyres.

I understand most of the UK grain crop is still used for animal feed as the quality is not as good as most maize used for human consumption.

I would think a lot of the bio-fuels crop will be the grain for ethanol fermentation, leaving the rest as biomass fertiliser. The green crop would presumably only be used for anaerobic methane production where that is locally favourable.

Regards, RAB