In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:
On Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:51:04 +0000, Terry Pinnell
wrote:
"Bob Hobden" wrote:

Could someone who is not so horticulturally ignorant as me identify
this crop please?

This is a non-binary Newsgroup so you can't post photos here. You will need
to use a photo sharing site like Flickr and then post a link to the photo
here.

Sorry, that's exactly what I meant to do, but I forgot to add the
link!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0-Enhanced.JPG

Maize. Grown extensively as a winter fodder crop for cattle. A lot
grown down here, one crop per year, unlike grass where you may get two
or three cuts per year. They only just finished harvesting it in my
immediate neighbourhood before the weather broke. The whole plant is
used, cut and shredded in a continuous action, and the shredded bits
shot into a large high-sided trailer, then taken back to the farmyard
and made into a silage clamp. My neighbour farmer reckons his cows
produce more milk on it than on grass silage, although when I asked
him whether he gets more maize in a single cut than grass in two or
three cuts, he didn't seem very sure.

See for example http://www.ukagriculture.com/crops/forage_maize.cfm

It's the same plant as sweetcorn, incidentally! There isn't enough
sun in the UK to ripen maize properly, so it's almost all grown to
be eaten green (mainly as forage, as Chris Hogg says).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.