The weather has remained stubbornly dry - as big a contrast
with last year as could be possible. Combining the wheat was not too
much of a problem with firm ground to travel
on and less straw to thrash than normal. Unfortunately
yields were down as well because of the dry spring/early
summer, probably to an 'average' yield. Most of the
straw was
chopped but some neigbours were very short of straw
for livestock so some was baled for them.
Conditions for the Sumo Trio were ideal so a majority
of the land was worked up to be left to get a 'flush'
of weeds and volunteers germinating. One field was
left to see if OSR seeds would germinate on the surface prior to cultivation.
Drilling first wheats started on the 18th September,
with the variety Robigus at 190 kg/ha. Some Beluga
is being tried this year too and this too was sown
at 190 kg/ha. The new
Khun Venta drill lived up to expectations and worked very well in trashy conditions,
and calibration being very accurate and easy. It
is however very heavy weighing in at 3.1
tonnes empty but will easily hold 1 tonne of seed. Consequently the front power
harrow is still in use mainly as it is required to
create a seedbed at home, but also as ballast. No
malting barley is being grown this year as the maltsters
are still up their old tricks in years of surplus
production. The variety sown is again Camion which
has done me well
over the years, sown at between 185 and 205 kg/ha depending on the seedbed quality.
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| Wheat tipped at the drier intake. |
Min Tilled land after one pass of the Sumo Trio |
Bunning Muck spreader |
Spreading muck |
It has been dry enough to roll directly behind the drill this year and as IPU has been
banned this year spraying directly behind the rollers. The recommendation is that the newer herbicides should be applied pre-emergence.
Two main mixes have been tried: Defy(Prosulfocarb) + PDM (pendimethalin) and Crystal (Flufenacet + Pendimethalin) varied rates are also being tried to find the optimum. The
land was however very dry at application and rain did not arrive when forecast so the results may be a little patchy. Already some weeds are visible and whether the recent rain
will be sufficient to get the herbicide down to the roots remains to be seen.
As may be expected slugs have not been a major problem with only spot
applications being necessary, mainly adjacent to fields which grew OSR
last year. Normally use one
of the more expensive products, but given the weather conditions and the fact
the metaldehyde is going to be banned soon too, I used metaldehyde.
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| The NH T6080 on Kuhn Venta seed drill. |
The NH T6080 on Kuhn Venta seed drill. |
The NH T6080 on Kuhn Venta seed drill. |
This years crop of OSR was very slow to establish mainly because I may
have drilled it too deep with the new drill but also
because of the lack of moisture. The varieties Catana
(40 seeds/m²) and Excel (30 seeds/m²) were sown on the 20th - 21st
August. All fields were immediately sprayed after rolling with
1.7 lt/ha of Katamaran Turbo (dimethenamid
p, metazachlor and quinmerac) this has done an extremely good job especially
on Annual Meadow Grass. Some nitrogen fertiliser (126
kg/ha) was applied but this had little effect until
mid September. Volunteer barley is always a problem
when min-tilling so these had to be removed
with Falcon (propaquizafop) at 0.3 lt/ha. One field which has varied soil types
was sown using the Sumo Trio with my homemade seeder
attached. The results on the better land are very good
but on the heavy clay is less so but acceptable. As
the seed is sown in bands, Catana was sown at 30 seeds/m²
It was difficult to hold off drilling second wheats until early October
as most of the big farms were sowing large acreages. Later sowing of
second whet is a major factor in
reducing disease later in the season, particularly Take All. I have the second
wheat seed dressed with Latitude seed dressing (silthiofam) to combat
Take All as well. Drilling
started on the 5th October with rates starting at 195 kg/ha and ending at 210
kg/ha. There was a glitch with the new drill when the control box sowed
about 1.5 ha at 297 kg/ha.
The box has been replaced and all appears well.
As work was well up to date, 250kg/ha of Triple Super Phosphate fertiliser
(0:46:0)was applied across the farm as we did not purchase
any potash or phosphate last year. Potash prices remain
too high at present.
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| Seed barley on the trailer. |
Breaking heavy land to allow rain to soften it. |
Breaking heavy land to allow rain to soften it. |
I walk round all the fields every Sunday if possible to check progress and look for problems, this year it is in total contrast to last - my boots are not even sticky after my walk
whereas last year wellingtons were required. There is so much more satisfaction when the whole farm looks so much better with even germination and good growth.
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