Impatience got the better of me yesterday and I spread some fertiliser on the Winter Barley. Ammonium sulphate (26 N, 34 S)applied at 130 kg/ha. I probably should have carried on to the canola but decided that could wait for another week or so.
The daily weather has been unreliable (to say the least) over the last month however new hardware and cabling is now in place and everything is back to normal.
After a very busy summer and autumn, the crops are back in the ground. Harvest was a relatively straightforward affair this year after a very wet July which spoiled yield and quality of most cereals. Ironically, September and October were unusually dry with land ploughing up hard and difficult to manage. Even mid-October sown wheat is finding it difficult to obtain enough moisture. This year there is a zero setaside requirement, as due to worldwide poor harvests, there will be much less surplus grain available. It was decided to put the whole farm down to winter crop, and all the setaside grass has been drilled with wheat.
A new cropping map can be found here.
Winter Barley is now at the flowering stage and despite the severe shortage of rain, is still looking very clean and healthy. The prospects for a decent yield must remain fairly high if some rain comes in the next week or so.
Winter wheat is just at the full flag leaf stage (GS39) and will receive it's main fungicide next week. Some varieties are suffering from drought stress and others seem totally unaffected.
Canola (OSR) has now completed flowering and looks good - however it can be one of the most deceptive crops.
Early drilled spring barleys continue to grow reasonably well, but the later crops are still struggling.
Grass, remarkably, is still growing but again, requires some rain.
There was some very welcome rain on 9th & 10th May, which will wash some of the fertiliser off the surface of the ground. Unfortunately there was only around 10 mm in total and around 5 mm was in very light showers which evaporated almost immediately.
Winter barley awns are emerging which is earlier than normal but this is due to the plant being under drought stress and racing to produce seed before it dies.
Winter Wheat is practically static having grown very little in the last 3 weeks.
Spring barleys are very variable - early drilled crops are even and growing, albeit very slowly, but later sown crops are very variable, from patchy to non existent.
Canola (OSR) is surviving well as it comes towards the end of flowering. A little moisture in the soil now will enable the plants to retain and fill all their pods - if this happens yield potential looks promising.
It isn't officially a drought yet but most crops are now starting to show some effects of lack of moisture. Applied nitrogen fertiliser has not been washed down to the plant roots and is not having the desired effect either. Winter Wheat has had it's final split of growth regulator and winter barley is just at flag leaf so has had it's first fungicide and growth regulator. Both crops are showing little sign of disease.
Canola is in full flower and appears to be enjoying the warm sunny weather as it seems to be flowering for a longer period than last year - lets hope that translates into yield.
Spring barley is very variable and desperately needs rain. Most crops are under stress and will not receive any herbicide until rain comes.
Although grass is becoming less plentiful lambs are growing well and enjoying 'the sun on their backs'.
Canola is just coming into flower with the fields taking on the faint yellow tinge. It has received all it's fertilser, fungicides and trace elements, so there should be little to do to the crop until harvest.
First wheats still have not had any Nitrogen applied, but the second wheats and winter barley have had about 50 kg pllus a little sulphur to get them started. All the wheat has had a first split of growth regulator.
Although the winter has been very mild, crop development is not far from normal. In the last few days Canola has received the last of it's nitrogen and a final fungicide. Winter barley and second wheats have had a small amount of 'N' to get them started.
The next job will be applying growth regulators on the wheats.
This is a very quiet time of year generally as things are normally too wet and cold to carry out any work. This year however has been very warm and relatively dry so that it feels like spring in mid-February. There is however no rush to get on to the land as with the good autumn, all spraying and fertiliser is up to date.
To date only 190 tonnes of wheat have been moved off the farm although a further 280 tonnes are sold for March movement. A good price was also achieved for the winter feed barley which will also be lifted in March. Canola is on contract to be collected in May.
