Oilseed Rape
We have seen large areas of OSR being grazed this year to reduce the Flea Beetle Larvae populations to try to take the pest out of the stem and away from the growing point.
Grazing Oilseed Rape for Flea Beetle Control
Previous years from sheep grazing we have seen a 60% reduction (double that of topping) which certainly helped with retaining yield potential compared to where we didn’t graze.
Post-Grazing Fertiliser Management
What is going to be important following grazing, since we took all the stored energy and the plants own solar panels away from the crop, we need to feed it with a low amount of ‘balanced’ fertiliser. We do not want to throw large quantities of Nitrogen at a small plant it will overwhelm the plant, create imbalances with other nutrients and we will loose a large amount (potentially 60-80%) of the applied fertiliser.