You can plough and till the field or some farmers will spray off a silage crop before cutting and direct-drill the seed into the aftermath and then plough and reseed with grass next spring when kale is finished. Aim for a field that dries out quickly and this will ease management next winter.

Kale requires extra labour during the winter, moving fences and checking stock daily. You also need good fences and a strong electric fence to make sure it is grazed properly. It’s a good idea to place a line of bales of silage in the field at sowing time and then feeders can be moved with a fence at feeding time in winter. Animals also need access to 1ha of a lie-back area in order to meet cross-compliance requirements.

The sowing rate depends on the sowing method – if sowing via the broadcast method, sow 2kg/ac 3kg/ac and if direct-drilling sow at 1.5kg/ac to 2kg/ac. Kale requires high fertility levels and optimum pH is 6 to 6.7. You will need to spread four bags/acre of 10:10:20 at sowing time and top-dress with two bags CAN/acre later.

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