FabaBeans in 2014, good or bad?

[Ronski]

What did everyone think of faba's in 2014? Better than peas for disease? Is the price holding up with higher production or is there a glut?

Worst case are they worth the same as feed peas or is there a discount? (I believe they should be worth more because of protein but...)

Thanks

[crusher]

Or FabaBeans in 2015, good or bad?

[freewheat]

My local hog guys say they will pay equal to peas.

I plan to try some. If for feed, I would like to try the snowdrop variety. They are a small seed and only need a two bushel seeding rate.

I hope some guys answer. Seed was short last year, but I hear so little chatter about how the crop performed, etc..

[Oliver88]

Question I have:

How do they stand up and how high off ground do pods start?
Straight cut them?
Need to be rolled?
Average yield and price?
How do they do under stressful/wet conditions?

[seabass]

Free wheat do you have a number a guy could call for the hog barns

[freewheat]

Where are you at? Olymel has many barns to choose from, depending where you are...

Fababeans stand tall, sometimes too dang tall, and the lowest pods are high enough off the ground to not have to shave it. They don't generally lodge like peas can...

They like moisture and low heat. Yes to straight cut. I have yet to try them, but have been wanting to for many years, just has not worked out yet. They fix more n than peas by a fair amount, too.

IMO, they should fit my wet area well, and would be very much cheaper to grow than most alternatives, plus you get the larger n bonus than with peas...

Some guys have got 100 bushels plus.

[Oliver88]

Sounds Interesting Freewheat.

[seabass]

Straight east of you a hundred miles. We grew snowbird last year and they were a good crop. Easy to harvest. They handled the moisture better but noticed if u run out of rain at the end of July with a lot of heat they will finish up flowering earlier than u would like.

[Braveheart]

I wonder what percentage of Fababeans a hog ran would consider including and in what class of feed.

I was in the hog business for 18 years and actually have a diploma in hog production from the University of Guelph. Fababeans (back then) were too high in tannins to be a good protein source. Between that and fibre, which was indigestible, they were not recommended. Also, Fababeans didn't have enough lysine to make up the quality protein for growth.

If they'll buy Fababeans though, that's great. It might be a less risky crop to grow than peas.

[seabass]

Brave this variety is a low tannin and could have been sold for human consumption if we wouldn't have had lygus bug damage.