archbarch Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 when i was a nearly every dairy farm grew it round us except where my dad worked he reckoned it tainted the flavour of the milk gave it a cabbagey taste maybe thats why its not so popular now. as for the cutrake never seen one before i wouldnt have thought too many farmers would bother cutting it just let cattle strip graze it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogreengelb Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 this is going to sound stupid but whats kale then??? never heard of that before unless its another name for? Hi Marky,curly kale known in North Germany as Grunk?hl its grown around here an lot very nice to eat once its had a good frost or two on it If you like Sprouting Broccolli you would like Curly kale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich.new holland Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 there's many things like that sean . was reading an article in trucking mag once & this haulier was running the M5 bristol >exeter everyday, can't say i'd ever seen his trucks ,but from then on i saw 2-3 of them everyday afterwards \ same thing happened to me watching a hawkfork video and it said some names who had bought a piece of equipment and they said re plant hire and the next couple of days when i was moving the machines in the lorry we saw about 2 of his lorrys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james f Posted January 23, 2007 Share Posted January 23, 2007 I'd say the cutrake was handy in the old days when there was no electric fences and the kale would have to be cut by hand or with a mowing bar and then gathered up and brought to the cattle. An old relative had it years ago and said it was a right pain having to cut it with a scythe. The fence is much easier, but as Marcus says, its a real pain having to move the fence, especially when the ground gets wet. We had calves on 12 acres of similar forage rape up to last week and we had to move the fence twice a day. It's good stuff though, you'd have to stand over the calves to get them to eat the meal we were bringing them, otherwise they'd just go back to the rape again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGEL FORD Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 We used to grow Kale for the dairy cows back in the 60s-70s, the varieties improved over the years making the stalks more palatable. Dad used to mow the strip for the eletric fence to be moved up to with a MAYFIELD (similar/superior to Allen Sythe) when I was a kid (first time round ) later, more-palatable types were grazed better my the old moos so no need to pre-mow. When we bought a MOORE Uni-Drill in '81 I contract direct drilled a lot for both sheep & cattle farmers which made a lot less muddy conditions for winter grazing. Rape, Rape & turnips too ("You said Rape twice"....) "yeah I like Rape"......(ref:Blazing Saddles.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britainswomble Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 when i was a nearly every dairy farm grew it round us except where my dad worked he reckoned it tainted the flavour of the milk gave it a cabbagey taste maybe thats why its not so popular now. as for the cutrake never seen one before i wouldnt have thought too many farmers would bother cutting it just let cattle strip graze it. L.O. boring old me's going to chip in again! I expect you found the same as we did as children and teenagers; in the days when we were allowed to drink untreated milk on farms. When my sense of smell was really sharp, you could taste and smell the different diets the cows were on. Silage in particular, but the worst of all, and I expect Nigel Ford has experienced this too, is in spring and early summer when the cows have a liking for the leaves of the wild garlic plant which grows on the side of our streams in this part of the country. Made their breath smell too,-----Burp!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMurF Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 L.O. boring old me's going to chip in again! I expect you found the same as we did as children and teenagers; in the days when we were allowed to drink untreated milk on farms. When my sense of smell was really sharp, you could taste and smell the different diets the cows were on. Silage in particular, but the worst of all, and I expect Nigel Ford has experienced this too, is in spring and early summer when the cows have a liking for the leaves of the wild garlic plant which grows on the side of our streams in this part of the country. Made their breath smell too,-----Burp!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIGEL FORD Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Oh yeah!...forgot about the swedes, we,had them too. Forgot to mention too that when I went to move the electric fence in later years I used to take the 12 bore and very occasionally our collie would put a pheasant up from the standing kale and usually would bag it, trouble was 1 on its own was hardly worth the bother of getting it ready for the table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdc Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Oh the fun of moving an electric fence with a couple of hundred ravenous hoggs trying to get on to pastures new! I was tempted to take the 12 bore - but not for pheasant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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