Sowing oilseed rape

[Zante]

I was wondering if sowing oilseed rape in a field that is mown for hay would improve the quality of hay. I hear in Italy oilseed rape is mostly used as fodder. I would then convince the owner of the field near where I'll place my hives next week to enrich the field with (among other things) oilseed rape.

 

[B+.]

I was wondering if sowing oilseed rape in a field that is mown for hay would improve the quality of hay. I hear in Italy oilseed rape is mostly used as fodder. I would then convince the owner of the field near where I'll place my hives next week to enrich the field with (among other things) oilseed rape.

Oilseed Rape is a member of the brassica (cabbage) family of plants. I doubt it would grow again once the stem of the plant was cut. You would be much better off incorporating something like clover, which is a legume (member of the pea family). This, at least, would help fix nitrogen from the atmosphere in the soil so it was available to other plants.
There are a number of "wildflower" mixes that farmers can sow (for which they can claim a subsidy for helping provide food for various insect species). If he wants to cut the meadow and use it as food for cattle/horses/etc, he would be better off with the clover as some of the wildflowers may be poisonous to animals

 

[Zante]

Ok, thanks

 

[MartinL]

I would then convince the owner of the field near where I'll place my hives next week to enrich the field with (among other things) oilseed rape.

I can see a seventies joke coming up here, but;

Just how are you going to persuade a member of the most renown tight-wallet mob to spend money for no commercial gain, or are there EU handouts for this?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I can see a seventies joke coming up here, but;

Just how are you going to persuade a member of the most renown tight-wallet mob to spend money for no commercial gain, or are there EU handouts for this?

Before Europe UK farmers used grass and clover mixes without EU handouts. The enrichment of the soil and improved fodder were commercial gain enough.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

How about a wild flower or meadow seed mix

 

[Angularity]

Alfalfa is a fodder crop which grows well in Italy. Apparently honey bees aren't too keen, but do make a desirable honey from the crop.

 

[foghornleghorn]

I was wondering if sowing oilseed rape in a field that is mown for hay would improve the quality of hay. I hear in Italy oilseed rape is mostly used as fodder. I would then convince the owner of the field near where I'll place my hives next week to enrich the field with (among other things) oilseed rape.

With kale when it flowers its poisonous to stock, presume rape would be similar but it won't improve the hay quality anyway if it starts to get mature. I'd assume the majority of rape grown for fodder is grazed while its leafy through the autumn/winter.
There's a huge selection of forage legumes grown in that part of the world depending on site/climate

 

[Millet]

The dairy farms which i frequent rotate there silage fields with a kind of turnip root crop, once it reaches a good size they let the sheep on it to flatten all the green leaves, they then plough the remains of the root/turnips in and reseed the land with new grass, the root crops help break the soil up and also add nutrients to the ground, the following silage crops are always substantial in the fields they do this in.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Before Europe UK farmers used grass and clover mixes without EU handouts. The enrichment of the soil and improved fodder were commercial gain enough.

The fields that surround our training apairy are under threat of being built on with high density housing....A wildlife trust did a full plant survey of the two large field in the hope of finding a plant habitat they could use against the development

What did the survey show Perenial ryegrass a few clump of meadow grass, creeping buttercup and not much else

 

[Zante]

Alfalfa is a fodder crop which grows well in Italy. Apparently honey bees aren't too keen, but do make a desirable honey from the crop.

Yes, there is plenty of alfalfa grown here, but it flowers later and as you mentioned bees aren't exactly thrilled with it (or so I read somewhere).

I suppose I'm overthinking it really, there is plenty of acacia, followed by chestnut and peaches in the area. I keep thinking in terms of the British season where I trained, and I probably should use this first build up season to see what's around and how much the bees are able to collect before I think about trying to improve the forage for the bees.