Welcome to new tractor driver Jay who has replaced the now retired Ken. He is proving to be a great asset and at 24, his enthusiasm is infectious. So with our harvest student, Ivan, joining Ian and I we are well placed for harvest. This was one of the better crops of rape and it only managed 2.5t/ha. Unlike some of the other fields, there … Continue reading It’s got to go!
The jolly green giant is back out strutting her stuff again. Not quite a flawless start as 2 sets of belts that should have been changed over the winter failed during the first 100ha. Nevertheless, 940 tonnes of feed barley are either in the shed or have been collected and that crop can be ticked off the list. At 8.3t/ha over our weighbridge, that’s just … Continue reading Now we are up and away.
The variable seed rate maize drilled with the John Deere 750A and the help of SOYL, is looking interesting. The field on the top left in the photo above was drilled with a conventional precision maize drill. The field in the foreground was sown on standard row widths with the seed rate varied according to the available soil moisture. Both fields have very similar soil … Continue reading We are off, oh no we are not!
Luckily we only have 20 ha out of 270 ha of wheat this year that’s on gravel and looks like this in places! Whilst literally a few metres away it is growing nicely. For the overall picture, this is what happens on gravel as it runs out of moisture. It’s not as if we haven’t had any rain, with 37mm in May and 200mm so … Continue reading The joys of farming on gravel.
Two fields of very similar soil type either side of the road. Drilled within a day of each other. One was established with a maize drill at 100,000 seeds per hectare the other drilled by weight of seed with our own John Deere 750A on conventional drill widths. The latter method has been in use for the last 5 years. Originally, we used the farm … Continue reading Variable drilled Maize on the up.
The delicate blue flowers of the winter linseed look a picture at the moment. It is however quite difficult to get a photo of the whole field in flower as they open and close as the clouds pass over. I always seem to be on the sprayer just when the sun shines. The crop itself looks really good this year, weed and disease free so … Continue reading Blue is the colour
The oilseed rape, as it often does, appears to have made a remarkable recovery. Well at least some of it. We still have fields which resemble a Gouda cheese and are full of holes, with bare patches now being colonised by weeds. The field in the photo was infested with cabbage stem flea beetle larvae a few months ago and looked like a lost cause. … Continue reading A reprieve for the rape?
