Growing Grains Without Heavy Equipment

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

I always love these threads, those that say don`t bother, those that say it can`t be done. It can be done and with good results if you have the time and want to do it. I love oats for a small animal feed, young calves,horses and pigs. And is great for sheep and goats also, they are almost fool proof feed stuffs. You have been given a lot of good sources of information here, so use a lot of this. But a good lawn mower and a few home made pieces of equipment you could do a lot of work. If you could fence a small piece of land and put a few pigs on it, that would tear up the ground for you along with some fertlizer for the crop. You take a harrow and level it out, or a small disc. Then you go in with a seeder and put down your seed and harrow again. This is not rocket sceince, and hand work is good for the soul. Throw the T.V. out the window, and lock the coomputer in the closet for a few weeks, and you can get a lot done. Good luck and ask more questions ifin ya need to. > Thanks Marc

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All other things being equal.....corn is the easiest grain to grow by hand, start to finish, with the greatest return. The entire plant has feed value, as well.

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Heavy equipment has only been around for a fraction of the time humans have been growing grain... so, it has been done and can be done... but most humans have hectic busy lives and working like a field slave for pennies an hour is usually low on the list of things to do. IF civilization fell, and one had nothing else to do, it would be a good use of time (as there'd be no other distractions getting in the way of filling one's belly to stave off starvation).

Agree with Forerunner, corn is the crop to grow... no special equipment needed (I've pulled many a field all day long, by hand).

It all boils down to time vs. money... if you have unlimited time growing a couple acres of grain all by hand is a worthwhile thing to do... but, if you have a job, you can buy that same amount of grain, with just a fraction (couple hours, depending on wages) of the time. When you buy your grain, you've got it... when growing it, you have nothing, till it's put in the barn... meantime a myriad group of insects, disease, and two and four legged varmints can decimate it overnight... then you have weather killing it all, over a period of weeks, or in one mean hail storm.

I can grow a garden full of beans, that'd feed us all for a year... but the seed, fuel for the tractor, fertilizer all cost money, and the time prepping the garden, planting, hoeing, irrigating , and harvesting eat up a lot of time... BTDT. Haven't harvested beans in a few years (mainly because of drought) but also because I can buy a years worth of dried beans for an hour of 'work' on the computer.

Regardless, it is a good idea to grow some grain, just so one knows the difficulties one would face, if they 'had to' grow it to survive...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Id also say, so you have trialed varieties, and know what does well in your area, and you have lots of seed saved up for it.

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I have a high desert arid mountainous climate. Working towards self sufficiency. The potentials of plant breeding and building micro climates amaze me. We must learn to ride the wave.

Sammy I got 2 AC 60 combines. One needs just the apron guide on the outside replaced, and the others a parts machine with the part to replace it with. Im likely through combineing and id sell both for $500 total.

I have grown both corn and wheat in 30ft. by 60 ft. plots. I think I got a halfway decent harvest from both. I decided not to grow corn again simply because we have no livestock that we feed it too and we don't eat much of it ourselves and it is water intensive. Wheat grew well and we "scythed" with a weedeater turned as low as it would go. It was a fun experiment, but not something I would really want to do year after year. We got enough flour from our final product to bake a small loaf of bread. However, I think our primitive methods meant that we lost some wheat. We probably could have gotten a little more, but we were concentrating more on the process than the actual amount of harvest. After weedeating the patch we shocked and then threshed by placing the heads in a pillowcase and beating it against the concrete driveway. Definitely a workout. Then we cleaned out the chaff by using a fan and pouring the wheat into a tray sitting in front of the fan. We do have a grinder and so we ground and got flour and made a loaf of bread. My whole purpose was to find out if I could, if I ever needed too. But not really something I want to do on a yearly basis. Corn gives a much better yield for the space utilized. Blessings, Kat

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Come visit Homesteading and Homekeeping at Whisperwind Farm

We have done small patches of field corn and turned it into trash bag silage. Pretty labor intensive but good feed.
Have hand picked a couple acres of it for grinding for pig feed.
Wouldn't bother with corn if I didn't have animals to feed it to.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

Im curious how you planted the wheat whisperwindkat? I ask because your yields should have been a LOT more then that for the area. Did you plant it in rows? Or like grass seed Id guess?

Also there are drought tolerant corns, just not many mainstream ones.

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I have a high desert arid mountainous climate. Working towards self sufficiency. The potentials of plant breeding and building micro climates amaze me. We must learn to ride the wave.

That's what I was thinking. It shouldn't take that much land to grow a couple of bushels of wheat especially if you can tend it closely.

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In post #8 Geo in Mi I watched the British From seed to loaf 2 part vids.
He planted in rows and then weeded between the rows.
Is it better to grow in rows and weed or broadcast seed and not use rows and weed?
jim

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If your going to do corn. It HAS to be in rows, tho those rows can be only 16in or so apart. Milo can go either way, but if you want the grain it has to go into rows also. Same with beans. Wheat, oats, spelt, ect, needs to be broadcast OR drilled into proper rows broadcast isnt drilled, but as the name implies broadcast all over. Drilled means its in rows, but those rows are around 4 to 6in apart.

OP corn has to have a wider spaceing both between rows and in the row they tell me than hybred corn.

Jim,

Here's the "official" UT publication for Soft red winter wheat that is commonly grown in Tennessee. http://extensiontest.utk.edu/publica...ents/pb576.pdf Of course there are many references to chemicals, but that nothwithstanding, you should be able to mimic these methods in a home plot. Observe the planting dates for the Hessian fly, and be sure to have a clean seedbed that is firm underneath, as the article says. The British film concerns Spring wheat sown and grown in one season, so he does have to cultivate the weeds that germinated with the wheat seed--thus, the rows....

The fall-sown wheat(at least in Indiana and Michigan) doesn't seem to have as much weed germination problems--not as many annual weeds will germinate in the fall, and those that do seem to winterkill--or by springtime, the ground is crusted enough to prevent weed germination--or the wheat has tillered enough to shade out those that do.

As far as broadcasting, vs. row planting, I would say it would be your choice. Even with broadcasting you will need to cover the seeds--and some may not cover and get enough soil contact to germinate--so you should increase the amount of seed you use.,,When I experimented with wheat, I broadcasted it and had fairly good results.

geo

I mentioned a way to build a ground hog thresher earlier. I saw one last night, built by the amish out of wood 99% anyway, on U TUBES. I imagine its for sale. They acted like it was a prototype.

Now ill tell you how to make a reaper.
Find an old worn out, but workable horse mower. 6ft cut. Grain is way easier to cut than hay so the mower can be near shot and if working can be made to do this job. sharpen the sickle and replace it in the bar. Remake the pitman rod and the tongue. IF hitching to a tractor REMEMBER that if the tongue is around 4ft long or so, that there has to be a drop hitch under it that raises the tongue at least a foot. Go an inch lower for every foot longer the tongue is than 4 ft.
Get a piece of 16ga sheet of tin Bend one narrow end 2ft to make an L bring that 2 ft up against the R wheel. drill holes in the tin a couple inches back on the edge next to the cutter bar. wire the bar, through holes in it to the holes in the tin directly across from the mower holes. IF the bar hasnt holes, and the tin should be wired at 3 or 4 places, weld a piece of strap iron with a hole in it underneith the bar with the hole sticking out behind the bar and wire onto those holes.
Next, make a rake with a head 3ft wide. The teeth should be around 1ft long and there should be a tooth at least every 6 in. Maker the handle 9ft to start. Make it as light as possible.
Go out to the field. start with the bar at the edge of the field and start cutting. Have someone raking either from the back of the tin or on the outside which is the normal place for that person to stand. Make a round. Then make the rest with the bar at the edge of the cut grain and cut again. The problem I see is that this places the raker walking in the upright grain all the time trampling it down. It might be better for the raker to have a fork like a ensilage fork and rake from the back/ He would be raking the bundles into the standing grain which would be a nuisance when cutting that area, so, after raking the bundle off the end, and while the pan was filling up again, and the reaper had passed that bundle, he could rake it back 3ft or so. This would place it out of the way for the next cut. Consideration should be made not of so that the bundles are between the horses, or tractor if wide front end, OR between the front and rear wheels if a row crop tractor.
If one was really crafty, they could build a sled behind the axles of the mower and wired to them. It would have a table built onto it say 3ft sq. The table would have a space in the middle where there wasnt a board making a gap of 6in. If you could mount a bucket or box onto the side of that table and fill it with a hundred or more pieces of twine 1ft long with a loop at one end, and turn the seat around, the raker could use a ensilage fork for real, and fork from the outside to the L inside pick the sheif up and learn to flip it over and onto the table with the fork on top. Then the tyer, setting on the seat would have a piece of twine in hand, bring the middle of the bundle together, wrap the twine around it and tie it with a simple knot and let it fall off behind. They, would have to take note so as to drop the bundles off in a line with proceeding bundles making it easier to drive around the field retreving the bundles both on the driver of the hay rack, and the pitchers also. If one made room for one to stand, and make a way to hang a spool of twine, they could be cutting twine and making loops in it and trying to refill the bucket.

Great thank folks.
The UT pub is real good because I'm in Tn (about 30min east of UT)
Weeds are a big problem in my field. My garden got overrun with weeds. I wold have had to quit my day job to keep up with them. At least I have 9' tall Lambsquarter to harvest and dry
jim

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If an elected official is in charge of a budget and that budget is not balanced, the elected official is not eligible for re-election until the budget is balanced.
Be a leader not a follower

Eat the leaves in/with your food. They help with arthritis

Small grains (oats, wheat, barley, etc.) re planted very early, and grow quickly in cool conditions, so those get broadcast and they tend to outgrow weeds, shade the ground, and do fine.

Corn you need to plant at less than 35,000 seeds per acre, as low as 18,000 seeds per acre for non-hybred, low soil fertility uses. At such low populations, weeds are a problem and so rows are much much better to weed. As well, mechanical harvesting of corn works far better in rows.

Soybeans you plant thick, and they work well boradcast; BUT because they are planted later in spring, weeds will be a problem so if you don't spray herbicides, then rows and weeding are better.

Corn is the fussy crop on plant spacing, they have a very low seed rate per acre, and like to be spaced away from each other.Corn also grows a few inches high, then stops growing above ground while their root system develops - this is a time weeds can easily overtake corn & really mess it up.

Small grains or soybeans don't much care, within reason, on spacing or populations.

--->Paul

I grew Indian corn(Wade's Giant) in a space of 30x40 one year...It did very well, and at about 60-70 we ate some as "sweet corn"(pretty good, actually) and later when it dried in the fall, I cut it down stalk and all, for extra feed for the pigs...They loved it.
The Missouri Wonder pole beans that grew up the stalks, also provided extra feed.
But, IF I had to do this to feed my York/Hamps until next fall, I'd have to plant a whole lot more.

We grew a quarter acre of wheat different years. Ofcourse the land was plowed, disked and harrowed with a horse pulling the implements. But the broadcasting of seed was done by hand. The wheat was cut by hand with a cycle. The shafts of wheat we tied in bunches with twine and hung them in the barn until we were sure they were good and dry.

Next they were laid on a plastic tarp. A flail was made from tying two short iron pipes to two ends of a rope and my husband wailed the daylights out of the shafts to knock the kernals loose.

Next he made a wooden frame with mesh wire and sifted the wheat through to get rid of remaining shaft.
We stored the wheat in tightly covered plastic buckets until we wanted to grind it. Note too; he did not attempt to cut and process the whole quarter acre at one time! He did as much as he could handle at one time.

It is possible to grow anything and do the work by hand but it sure is not easy and it takes a lot of time! For us it was worth it though.