Es Alienor – growing away from pigeons
Oilseed rape growers know only too well about pigeons and the damage that they can cause, but farmer Ian Kendall has even more of a challenge as he is restricted by the traditional ways of pigeon scaring that he can use as he farms close to a residential area. He has found that the vigour of the conventional rape variety Alienor has solved the problem by its ability to grow away from pigeons in both the autumn and the spring.
Farming on the edge of a West Midlands town close to Walsall and running a successful retail farm business, Ian Kendall was at the end of his tether trying to keep pigeons off his rape without using bangers or shooting. “I was about to give up growing oilseed rape as pigeons were such a problem. My challenge is that most of our fields are small and are surrounded by hedges. We also farm close to residential houses. So inevitably we have pigeons, but we are limited in what we can do to get rid of them. We also have a very wide variation of soils on the farm, from light to heavy, and I need a reliable variety that grows well on all these variable soil types and that grows away from pigeons.”
He was advised by Countrywide Farmers’ Geoff Tidy to try the new conventional oilseed rape variety Alienor, as he had heard it was particularly vigorous and had also produced good yields. “It certainly proved to be the case and 100% of my 200 acres of winter oilseed rape is now down to this variety.”
“I usually grow oilseed rape on a four year rotation – rape followed by two wheats and a barley - and I have grown Alienor for three years now. On my farm it has outperformed any other variety that I have tried, particularly with regard to vigour. I haven’t tried hybrids, but Alienor came in at a time when hybrids were just about starting to become popular and I am happy with the vigour that Alienor shows. It grows away vigorously in the autumn, covering the ground quickly, and, even if it has been grazed, it grows away just as vigorously in the spring.” says Ian Kendall.
Ian reports that Alienor has never let him down. “Even last year when we had a really dry spring, it perked up and yielded well at harvest. This spring the Alienor looked good and I intend to grow it again next year.”
Neil Groom, Technical Director of Grainseed says that crop vigour is more closely associated with the variety, rather than the type of rape. “Alienor proves that you can have a very vigorous conventional variety, and on the flip side, there are some hybrids which aren’t that vigorous.”
He also points out that Alienor matures early - at least 5 to 7 days earlier than many other varieties and 2 weeks before the late ones - and so farmers have more time to prepare seedbeds and more time to make sure that their wheat gets in at the right time. “Alienor’s earlier harvest also helps spread workload at a busy time for farmers. Most importantly its earliness doesn’t limit yield.”
