# My teff plan for 2015, and a thank you



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

I want to start out with a thank you to everyone who has ever posted about teff on this forum. I think in the last couple days I have read every single post on the subject, and I appreciate the information. If I can get seed I'm going to start a 5 acre test piece this year . I'll keep this post updated, with pictures, but wanted to first lay out my plan and get some feedback from whoever is willing to share.

I'm planning to get a 50lb bag of coated teff seed. I have a line on a supplier, so hopefully this isn't a problem, but there isn't much being grown up here in Ontario Canada. Shrug. We'll see. I have a 5 acre piece of land along a river that floods every year up until the middle/end of May. It is dry all of June/July/August/Sept. It floods again by Oct/Nov. This pretty much rules out any other crop I grow (Corn, Soybeans, Winter Wheat, Alfalfa/Timothy) so I'm looking to put it into an annual grass for hay. We have 70 head of sheep and goats, so no need to grow something I can sell. I'll feed whatever comes.

Here is the plan (not my own thoughts, but really everyone elses on this forum put into one spot):

1) I'm going to work the ground the same time as I work ground for soybeans (up here around Mid-May), and then just leave it sit to allow a weed flush, and to let it warm up a bit.

2) I'll patiently wait until the nightime highs are above 60F and the soil has warmed to same.

3) Once warm enough, I'll put down 30lbs to the acre of N, and then scuffle it with cultivator shallow, and pack it.

4) I'm going to be planting with my IH 5100 with grass seed box and press wheels. 10 lbs/acre of coated seed. I'm planning to pull the seed tubes from the grass box and let the seed just drop.

5) After planting I'm going to pack it twice.

6) Wait and hope it grows.

7) Irrigate if necessary.

8) 45-50 days in hopefully time for 1st cut. Cut it in the morning after the dew is off with mower/conditioner. Ted it the end of the same day.

9) Ted again end of next day.

10) Wait.

11) When it looks and feels and tests dry, wait another day.

12) Rake it up morning of baling when dew is off.

13) Turn the propionic acid applicator to Med/High and bale it end of day.

14) Hope it keeps.

15) Put down 25lbs/acre of N if rain is coming.

16) Take second cut 30 days later.

17) Wait 10-20 days after 2nd cut.

18) Put up the electric fence and pasture it out until end of September.

If anyone has any corrections / advice / thoughts please share. I'm hoping this works out well as I have a bigger piece of similar land I'd like to do this on next year.

Here is the sat shot of location:


----------



## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I was thinking of doing almost the same thing here in PA it will be interesting to see how your's pans out lots of luck I'll be watching.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

If your drill has planted alfalfa and worked well I wouldn't pull then tubes. My drill worked very well with teff. As of right now I'm planning on 71 acres of teff in 2016. None this year.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

farmerbrown: You're south of me, when do you think you'll seed?



Teslan said:


> If your drill has planted alfalfa and worked well I wouldn't pull then tubes. My drill worked very well with teff. As of right now I'm planning on 71 acres of teff in 2016. None this year.


Yeah, I was wondering about that. I've done both with Alfalfa - tubes for straight seeding, no tubes when planting a timothy/alfalfa mix. Maybe since this is a test I'll pull half the tubes and then lay on the ground counting plants per square foot a couple weeks after emergence.


----------



## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

I tried it one year and would like to try it again some day. I liked it but needed to spray for weeds and between the custom and rain didn't get to it till it headed out. Should have gotten at least three cuttings only got two.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Ok, seed is ordered. Was a little taken back by the price. $6.70 CDN (about $5.36 US) per pound coated seed. Variety is Moxie. Ordered a 50lb bag. Picking it up end of the week.

Is that about what people are paying? When I pencil this out I scratch my head and hope that lamb/goat prices stay high at the auction barn after they eat this stuff...


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Bishop said:


> Ok, seed is ordered. Was a little taken back by the price. $6.70 CDN (about $5.36 US) per pound coated seed. Variety is Moxie. Ordered a 50lb bag. Picking it up end of the week.
> 
> Is that about what people are paying? When I pencil this out I scratch my head and hope that lamb/goat prices stay high at the auction barn after they eat this stuff...


I don't know how to say it politely but you got screwed.


----------



## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I hope to seed early June. Just going to stick thermometer in the ground every week. The thing I read is get the ground up to 60F.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

swmnhay said:


> I don't know how to say it politely but you got screwed.


What is Tiffany Teff going for now Cy? Or is the supply limited again this year? I'll be calling you next spring. I'm about 80% sure I'm going to do 71 acres of Teff.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

swmnhay said:


> I don't know how to say it politely but you got screwed.


Ha! Possibly. But it is the only supplier I could find around here. Hopefully if it becomes more popular the price will drop. Not too worried because I'm doing such a small piece. If it works out I'll look for a better price before 2016.


----------



## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

I'm looking forward to see how this works out for you. I might be trying some teff next year on a field that will be going from corn back into hay. Rather than leaving it set fallow all summer or try to do oats (which I don't have any of the equipment for), I plan on putting teff on in the spring, getting a couple of cuttings and then reseeding it into timothy/birdsfoot in the fall.



Bishop said:


> Yeah, I was wondering about that. I've done both with Alfalfa - tubes for straight seeding, no tubes when planting a timothy/alfalfa mix. Maybe since this is a test I'll pull half the tubes and then lay on the ground counting plants per square foot a couple weeks after emergence.


Another way to check the difference in seeding performance would be to leave the tubes on for part of it and then take them all off for the rest. However, at the price you paid for the seed, I would tend to want to go with whichever way you think is going to give a better stand.


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Bishop said:


> Ha! Possibly. But it is the only supplier I could find around here. Hopefully if it becomes more popular the price will drop. Not too worried because I'm doing such a small piece. If it works out I'll look for a better price before 2016.


Well I hope so you pd over $2 a lb to much.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

swmnhay said:


> Well I hope so you pd over $2 a lb to much.


Gonna do a bit of digging on this, find out if there is some tarif/duty on this type of seed coming into Canada (usually there isn't) or some other weird reason.


----------



## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Cost me $160 a bag in Texas when I ordered last week.


----------



## TRAV (Feb 26, 2015)

I am Planting about 15 acres of teff this year I plan to use pretty much the same process, have not made much progress working the land yet, been so much rain here in northeast Texas. I plan to just pull the seed tubes out of the boot and let them swing which will put the seed closer to the ground to avoid the wind blowing the seed, with the tubes swinging I am hoping to get a kind broadcast affect.

I purchase Moxie Teff coated seed for $150.00 per bag a couple of weeks ago


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

I am doing about 14ac this year-moxie. Think I am going at a slightly higher rate-15#/ac and maybe x drilled at 7-8#/ac. Getting 7 a bale here. Seed was delivered just before I left for a trip to Namibia so don't know what the price was but last year it was in the 3/# range. If you have good tilled and packed seedbed and can seed right in front of a shower I haven't experienced weed issues-the stand is too thick


----------



## Waterway64 (Dec 2, 2011)

Tug of War Seeds has Tiffany teff at $2.29/lb. call Ray at 2084655280. Mel


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayman..did you go on safari?

Regards, Mike


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Went to pick up my seed today. Wrong seed. I ordered 50lbs of Moxie coated seed. Got there and the bag was Common #1 Teff, uncoated. At least it is only April 10. Hopefully they can sort this out.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

*Teff Plan Update May 5, 2015:*

It is pretty dry up this way, dry enough that the floodplain where I'm planning to put teff will float the tractor (just). Worked up it looks mucky from my first pass today. GPS's out to just under 3 acres. The type of floodplain I have forms a 1" thick crust with no cracks. It is like smooth concrete, and underneath is muck that smells like a sewer, so even though it goes against conventional wisdom it usually is best to crack it open early so it can dry out. Probably let it sit now until June going through a few dry/wet cycles (and maybe even frost yet if we get one) If weeds come bad I'll hit it again earlier.

Previous crop was oat/pea/soybean/wheat annual pasture mix. Nice to get some of the residue under today.

Attached are three pics: discing, done, and view from the top.


----------



## RockyAcres (Jul 8, 2013)

Have you planted yet Bishop ? I'm also trying a 20 acre stand of teff this year and having been holding off and thankfully so since we got a frost last night ! (Gotta love Ohio, 80 degrees one week, frost the next). We've got rain forecasted for the weekend so I'm putting down today and running a packer over it. Really hope the rain doesn't wash it out !

Here's the bed it's going in:


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Not yet. Just finished off putting in 20 acres of soybeans Tuesday and the cold hit, kind of worried about the beans in the ground with the temp dipping so low the first night.

For the Teff ground, we had a nice rain, so I'm gonna let the first weed flush come and then prep the field in two weeks and watch the thermometer.

Probably going to plant on June 1st once we're out of all danger of nighttime dips and flooding.

Keep the pics coming.


----------



## RockyAcres (Jul 8, 2013)

I planted the field on Thursday, 5/14 and checked it the following Sunday to see little plants poking through the topsoil. Went down again yesterday to find a bare field so I'm pretty sure I lost all my seed in last week's cold snap. I'll wait and see if any of it comes back in the next couple days of 80 degree weather, but I think I'll likely be re-planting in early June.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

RockyAcres said:


> I planted the field on Thursday, 5/14 and checked it the following Sunday to see little plants poking through the topsoil. Went down again yesterday to find a bare field so I'm pretty sure I lost all my seed in last week's cold snap.


Sucks to replant. Weird weather eh? We've had two heat waves and two cold snaps since May 1. Right now sitting in a heat wave and I'm tempted to put the Teff in, but I'm gonna wait it out. Maybe look at the temp forecast saturday and make the call.


----------



## RockyAcres (Jul 8, 2013)

Well, all is not lost. Stopped by last night to find grass growing, so thankfully it just seems to have gone dormant during the cold weather as opposed to dying off completely. It was very interesting to see the vast difference of germination between the tire tracks and the rest of the field. I guess the packer I was using wasn't heavy enough, or maybe I should have disced once more before seeding it to get the dirt a little more broken up.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

RockyAcres said:


> . I guess the packer I was using wasn't heavy enough, or maybe I should have disced once more before seeding it to get the dirt a little more broken up.


Or packed twice.

Regards, Mike


----------



## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

RockyAcres said:


> Well, all is not lost. Stopped by last night to find grass growing, so thankfully it just seems to have gone dormant during the cold weather as opposed to dying off completely. It was very interesting to see the vast difference of germination between the tire tracks and the rest of the field. I guess the packer I was using wasn't heavy enough, or maybe I should have disced once more before seeding it to get the dirt a little more broken up.


Sure it's not just more visible in the tire tracks than elsewhere?? I've seen that happen, but a few weeks later when you get good coverage, you can't tell the difference...

I read something years ago that the Russians did a study on the benefits of packing ground after planting wheat, and what was the ideal packing pressure and where and if it was "too much".

Basically, the found out that for the conditions they were running in, there was no such thing as packing it "too tight"... the more weight they used packing it, the better the emergence and stand was...

Interesting stuff to be sure, and a study that should be replicated here for various crops and soil types... (doubt it was on clay anything like ours!!!)

Later! OL JR


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Update: 2" of rain on Saturday May 30 and Sunday May 31.

Waiting for things to dry up and then I'll work it / plant it.


----------



## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Got my teft planted Saturday then got nice shower but then we got 3.5 inchs of rain in 2 hours Sunday night so we will see if it comes up.

I ran disc with packer then ran cultimulcher teeth up .

Planted with drill disc's up used alfalfa setting for 8lbs ended up putting about 12lbs per acre .

Rolled again with single packer and then all the rain started so we will see.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Update: Still on hold, haven't planted yet. Over 2" of rain last Sunday, and now another 1" last night. Glancing at the calendar.....


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Update: Plan is still on hold. 14 days with rain since June 1. Also the plot is flooded right now, river jumped it's bank overnight after 3.5" of rain. Never seen it flood this late in the season.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Bishop-If you bring your greenchop equipment to Virginia, I will sell you 14 ac of prime teff ready to go today, I mean today, no waiting, no risk-well and no risk of making it dry either.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Ok. Teff is in on - almost 3 acres. July 13. About 5 weeks later than I had planned due to amount of rain in June. Fertilizer went on last Thursday - 40 lbs of N, 20 lbs of P, and 60 lbs of K (This is my basic after first cut fert that was going on my other field anyways). Cracked the filed open on Saturday with the disc to let it dry out. Went in with harrow / packer / seeder yesterday. Pics below. Way too late for two cuts, but hoping to get one cut end of August and then pasture it out until frost.

I ended up putting down about 6-7 lbs to the acre of coated seed. A little light, but man was it hard to get the grass seeder set to the right rate. Even coated that seed is small.

Bonus: Two hours after I was done we got 1/3" of rain. Today calls for some light rain on and off all day. No need to irrigate for germination.










Field view from top of hill (this field was under water two week ago). It is the worked ground dead centre along the river.










Harrowgator and packer run to level.










First of two packer runs to firm up ground.










Drill hooked up and oiled / greased.










Seed loaded.










First round.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

What kind of Teff seed is that? I planted Tiffany Teff before and it was blue coated.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Teslan said:


> What kind of Teff seed is that? I planted Tiffany Teff before and it was blue coated.


Moxie from Barenburg: http://www.barusa.com/forage/products/teff-grass


----------



## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I agree had my IH drill set at one and still got 12lb to the acre my teff looks good but it is time to cut and can"t get near the field much less cut it so we will see.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

FB-me too, mine was gorgeous but I have stopped going to look at it, just too depressing. 14 ac of prime teff, but we have had no teff making weather and there is none in sight for the rest of July. Tried to get a dairyman to chop or wet roll it and even he can't fit it in. Oh well the fertilizer I put on is still there, I will just burn it with roundup and plant OG this Sept. Think I am about to give up teff like Hayden did for the same reasons-too expensive to do right and too many factors that have to line up just right to harvest.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Update July 17: Full 4 days in the ground.

Really cold night time lows since planting on the 13th, but some plants poking up. If I've done my math right there should be about 70 seeds per foot of row, and hopefully I'll see over 50% of those come up. We had a nice rain again today and it's supposed to get real hot for the next week. Fingers are crossed I'll see more up than the pic below. I'm pretty sure it is Teff, although who knows, it could be foxtail deciding to grow in the press wheel grooves.


----------



## RockyAcres (Jul 8, 2013)

67 days after planting, I got my field mowed. Most of the documentation I've read on Teff says it's ready to harvest 45-55 days after planting and I would say that's about right. It was probably ready a couple weeks ago, but I couldn't get in the field because of the rain. Being so late doesn't seem to have caused too much damage, there were just a few spots where the seed started to pop out, but the vast majority of it looks really good.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I don't know how you folks in humid climates can put up decent teff without a huge struggle. It was tough for me 2 years ago but not tough enough for me to want to gamble on 70 acres next year.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Teslan said:


> I don't know how you folks in humid climates can put up decent teff without a huge struggle. It was tough for me 2 years ago but not tough enough for me to want to gamble on 70 acres next year.


Yeah. For me it is a wait and see. If I can't cut and bale it dry I'll send out the four hoofers to eat it.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Question for anyone that has grown teff:

Does it just pop out of the ground, and then do nothing for a while? Mine has been in 12 days. Germination was ok, and the field greened up a bit when looking at if from a distance, and stand is good to very good on closer inspection. There is still moisture in the ground about 1/2" down. We have had hot days (over 85F), but unseasonably cool nights (around 60F).

The little tiny teff plants are just sitting there. Normal?

I'm going to irrigate with 1" of water Monday if we don't get rain this weekend. We have a 7 day of extremely hot weather (90F) coming in.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Bishop said:


> Question for anyone that has grown teff:
> 
> Does it just pop out of the ground, and then do nothing for a while? Mine has been in 12 days. Germination was ok, and the field greened up a bit when looking at if from a distance, and stand is good to very good on closer inspection. There is still moisture in the ground about 1/2" down. We have had hot days (over 85F), but unseasonably cool nights (around 60F).
> 
> ...


Yes. Supposedly this is normal. It comes up, but the roots are spreading out under the soil. Then it will take off.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

that has been my experience. Germination in about 5-7 days, green fuzz from a distance but lots of little shoots on close inspection, then in about a week or so, boom and off it goes. cool nights are not your friend but 60 shouldn't be too bad.

Finally got my first cutting of teff finished yesterday. 1100 bales from 14 ac and heavy bales with dry hay. If you get it dry, watch your bale tension. if hydraulic, cut it back to 1.25 atm. Teff really packs. Good luck.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Hayman1 said:


> that has been my experience. Germination in about 5-7 days, green fuzz from a distance but lots of little shoots on close inspection, then in about a week or so, boom and off it goes. cool nights are not your friend but 60 shouldn't be too bad.
> 
> Finally got my first cutting of teff finished yesterday. 1100 bales from 14 ac and heavy bales with dry hay. If you get it dry, watch your bale tension. if hydraulic, cut it back to 1.25 atm. Teff really packs. Good luck.


That's some good production there from just 14 acres


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Well, if I had cut the tension back at the beginning I would have had a lot more bales. Some of those buggers weigh about 65# or more and are reading at 14.5-15% so it's not water, teff just really packs. probably cut it back at about 10 ac or so, got tired of explosions between the thrower and the wagon.

I have been baling mixed grass, straight timothy, and straight orchard grass all season at 2 atm without issue. The teff was too far along due to lack of harvest weather. I knew the good green hay packed but I was really surprised that the dryer hay did as well. Still has that good smell but the stubble field looks just like I just cut wheat.


----------



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Hayman1 said:


> Well, if I had cut the tension back at the beginning I would have had a lot more bales. Some of those buggers weigh about 65# or more and are reading at 14.5-15% so it's not water, teff just really packs. probably cut it back at about 10 ac or so, got tired of explosions between the thrower and the wagon.
> 
> I have been baling mixed grass, straight timothy, and straight orchard grass all season at 2 atm without issue. The teff was too far along due to lack of harvest weather. I knew the good green hay packed but I was really surprised that the dryer hay did as well. Still has that good smell but the stubble field looks just like I just cut wheat.


 I will be interested to see how your teff regrows. Year before last I had the same thing happen to me......rained almost every day when it was ready to cut and it was fully headed out and mature when I finally got it cut.....like you said the stubble looked a bit like a wheat field. My teff never regrew enough to amount to anything.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Yeah, I remember you reporting that and wondered if mine would come back. I thought about that in your other post about NT teff in timothy. Since teff may not come back that well I wondered about NT teff in teff?

However, right now I am tired and banged up from running 24-7 to catch up for the season. Lots of things to fix and not much incentive to make for more work. Teff ground is going into a mix of tekapo and some other upright late season OG, so other than erosion control, I don't really care if it comes back or not.


----------



## RockyAcres (Jul 8, 2013)

Bishop - That's exactly how my stand played out this year. I actually thought my seed may have died due to some cold weather because of the lack of growing after it germinated, but then after about 10-12 days it took off.

I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but my stubble did not have a straw look when cut at 3.5 inches. Hopefully that means I'll get another good cutting out of it. The first cut got 1012 bales off roughly 12.5 acres. (Some spots were heavily seeded though because I originally thought the field was 15)

Question for you guys, do you apply some N after each cut or just let it go and put down a heavy application when you re-plant each spring ?


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

RockyAcres said:


> Question for you guys, do you apply some N after each cut or just let it go and put down a heavy application when you re-plant each spring ?


My plan (which won't happen this year because it is too late) was to put down another 30lbs/acre of nitrogen in the irrigation water after first cut. This year because it is late I will just let it grow out and die when frost hits.


----------



## Bishop (Apr 6, 2015)

Turning diesel fuel into rain today:


----------



## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

Got my teff cut very dissapointed maybe it will look better in the bale.


----------



## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Last year I topdressed with 50# N and did not see much improvement in results. Made ok second and third cuttings but nothing like first. The first year I made bumper second cutting and a good third. The trick is to cut it at about 20 inches in height, before it heads (at least less than 5%), cut high stubble. Then it bounces right back and you are cutting again in 30 days. if you let it go to head or it lodges and you cut it low stubble, you cook it. And you don't need that much original n at plant, I only do 60 # or you are going to lodge it for sure.


----------



## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Hey, Bishop. How did the teff turn out?


----------

