What is eating my maize cover crops??

[Forestgump]

Hey everyone, I need a little advice please. My cover crops this year are maize plants, now standing 4 to 6 foot tall with very young delicious corn cobs. Random plants are being chewed off at the very base then the corn is chewed out. Has anyone seen this before (please see picture attached). We have badgers (doesnt everyone), roe and the new kids on the block muntjac. I have not seen this before, but from experience roe will just stand and eat your cobs, I have heard badgers like rolling the maize so am I correct in thinking it is the munties? I suppose the next step is trail cams and electric fences.

 

[Tim.243]

Hey everyone, I need a little advice please. My cover crops this year are maize plants, now standing 4 to 6 foot tall with very young delicious corn cobs. Random plants are being chewed off at the very base then the corn is chewed out. Has anyone seen this before (please see picture attached). We have badgers (doesnt everyone), roe and the new kids on the block muntjac. I have not seen this before, but from experience roe will just stand and eat your cobs, I have heard badgers like rolling the maize so am I correct in thinking it is the munties? I suppose the next step is trail cams and electric fences.

brock, go look at their toilet area and find maize poo

 

[VSS]

Probably badgers.

 

[Forestgump]

Thanks Gents, that confirms the the electric fence has to go up because if we start feeding the badgers as well, I don't want imagine how many more we will windup having

 

[tozzybum]

They totally undermined a hillside so it's crumbled away.Used to be a bad situation till the cull.
And with the current grubament I can't see the badger cull lasting much longer.

 

[GWP]

Just make sure its a strong pulse as they dont take much notice of a little tickle

 

[jall55]

i dont think badgers - i would suggest munties
Seen squirrels make a shocking mess of crops too

 

[Cyres]

Badgers tend to flatten the crop and you should see a run or trod. Spade full of peanuts well dug in will soon indicate if you have brock.
I suspect it may be rodent damage rat or squirrel.
D

 

[25 Sharps]

They totally undermined a hillside so it's crumbled away.Used to be a bad situation till the cull.
And with the current grubament I can't see the badger cull lasting much longer.

It was already stopped by the tories, no new licences issued and current supplementary ones cut short .

 

[Cyres]

That's not correct.
D

 

[old keeper]

Generally, most badger damage to maize is around the perimeters of the crop to start with and they don't necessarily roll maize like they do wheat.

 

[Forestgump]

Ok I'll put up trail cams to confirm and send some feedback. I will also be out tomorrow night so will have a look with the thermal to see if anything is buggering about in the cover crop. Funny thing is the roe are generally pretty good, but I know we have a few munties around that field and a shed load of badgers. I wish we could have a badger cull in the area, I like watching badgers but when you see seven of them in two fields at the same time you know you have a problem.

 

[AGR]

Muntjac used to eat my maize. I remember looking at the crop one day and now and again a plant would suddenly disappear downwards.

 

[Forestgump]

Ok so after sitting next to the cover crop I can confirm it is a badger. We have several but one seems to have developed a taste for maise. I have electrified the outside of the cover crop so hopefully it will deter them. I was literally chasing it around the cover crop and must have looked like a madman as I was clapping my hands and shouting and all it would do is just move a few rows down and all you could hear is, crunch crunch snap as another plant was broken.

 

[Tony0851]

Trail cam the maize. You will have your answer.

 

[20-250]

Trail cam the maize. You will have your answer.

From the post above, it looks like he had his answer a month ago!

 

[Forestgump]

Trail cam the maize. You will have your answer.

Yes I have a few trail cams in another cover crop to gather data. We are all worried about TB but I feel for any farmer with maise as it must be a pain to try make a living with badgers ruining crops.

 

[Tim.243]

Yes I have a few trail cams in another cover crop to gather data. We are all worried about TB but I feel for any farmer with maise as it must be a pain to try make a living with badgers ruining crops.

The daily overheads break-downs lost time to weather drivers breaking kit dwarfs the tiny amount badges do.
TB yes but get the timing wrong on say drilling rape flee beetle and no rain then then pull it up and put something else in then the badger is doing nothing.

 

[Pete6.5]

The daily overheads break-downs lost time to weather drivers breaking kit dwarfs the tiny amount badges do.
TB yes but get the timing wrong on say drilling rape flee beetle and no rain then then pull it up and put something else in then the badger is doing nothing.

Tell that to the farm that's paid £300 per acre to get it to harvest

 

[Tim.243]

Tell that to the farm that's paid £300 per acre to get it to harvest

Tell that to the farmer when a bailing contractor has not blown down from a different farm and next year you have a sea of black/rye grass with out even seeing a badger so have to the following year leave it and put in a spring crop after hitting it 2/3 times with the sprayer let alone the fuel.... no badgers were harmed in this reply.
Yes they are a pain but 40/50 fallow/reds walk through a ready to cut bean or rape field and you just see white open pods.