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Got a bit of a conundrum with a new herbal ley. It's got quite a lot of groundsel in it, which I have recently discovered is toxic to cattle. I should have topped it out but (surprise!) it's been too wet until this week. Now the grass / clover is welly height and topping seems wasteful. I would...

Warning: some elements of this post are a bit of a rant. I think many if not all farmers assume that they need to grow their business. The mentality is that if you are not expanding, then you are standing still or even going backwards. Where does this notion come from? Take it to the logical...

I don't grow produce myself, but I think this is worth supporting. https://getfairaboutfarming.co.uk/

How do other people record pedigree information when running more than one bull with a group of cows? Do you guess the sire or DNA test or what? I'm not selling breeding stock at the moment, but want to maintain pedigree status so I can do in the future.

It gets to about 3000 hours and hey presto, air con failures, ad-blue faults, pipes leaking, going into limp mode for no good reason and all costs a fortune to fix. I'm fed up with it frankly. I want to go back to a John Deere 10 series before the build quality of everything fell off a cliff...

If anyone's interested, I've put my Simtech drill and a Weaving stubble rake up for sale in the classified section. Selling due to change in farm policy. Both immaculate. Also have a Kuhn SD3000P for sale if anyone's interested, but not advertising just yet as I might drill some turnips with...

Rakes: Weaving - Stubble rake Category: Rakes Manufacturer: Weaving Price: £5500 Condition: Used Description: 2014 Weaving stubble rake. 6 metre working width. Excellent for getting a chit after harvest. 5 Rows of heavy duty tines with hydraulic tine angle adjustment. LED...

Drills: Other - T-Sem 300P Category: Drills Manufacturer: Other Price: £19000 Condition: Used Description: Simtech T-Sem 300 Pneumatic. 3m direct / no till drill. Purchased new in 2013 but only 240 hectares drilled. 20 row drill giving a 15 cm row width. Marker arms and following chain...

Seeing as I have been asked why I am quitting no till on another thread, Here We Are! Several reasons: 1. The main one. I have never managed to get on top of the slug problem. Tiny little grey field slugs that don't bother my slug traps but then decimate my crops every bloomin' year. 2. The...

So Groundswell was very good and thought-provoking and I have come away with the sense that the ultimate farming system that many there are aiming for is some kind of organic no-till, maybe with ruminant animals grazing perennials and cover crops etc etc. A few problems: 1. Grass weeds. 2. If...

Anyone ever tried one on a no till crop? Would it work or is the hard surface a problem?

Does anyone think it would be possible to rear dairy bred calves and finish on pasture alone (NO concentrates even in the rearing phase). I'm thinking angus or hereford as the sire so should get to decent weights by 20 months with good grazing management and silage making, but not sure how the...

@sherg I've checked your sheep. They seem fine. There were only 23 I could see but judging by them all is well.

So if no till isn't working for some people due to lack of management ability, difficult crops or inappropriate soils then what is the solution? Is min till 2" deep so bad. What about shallow ploughing on lighter soils? Grass leys in the rotation. What is the least worst alternative?

Out rolling freshly drilled wheat at the moment ( loving GPS by the way). What rolls are people using and how fast are you driving? I'm using a Dal Bo with breaker rings at 8 kph and it's not doing much. Might go again at an angle to help with slug control.

Be honest now, how many slug pellets are you using because I'm using bloody loads and still having crops decimated. Does ferric phosphate actually do anything? Loads of little tiny slugs are the problem.

Planning on using a Simtech straight into wheat stubble to establish some herbal leys. Considering cross drilling to thicken the sward and help level out the field a bit. Good or bad idea. Also concerned about drilling depth as lots of clover which prefers very shallow seed bed. And should I...

We've been using urea for the last couple of years and I feel my crops seem to be ripening later than my neighbours who are all on AN. Am I imagining this? Or is it a DD effect.? Urea is cheaper but when you haven't even started cutting wheat and missed a great weather window which everyone...

We have a two year Italian ryegrass and red clover ley that I want to put back to arable. Will be grazing it until the end of October. The obvious crop is beans but it's over gravel and beans might struggle in a dry time. Would a November drilling slot be OK for winter oats if I broadcast some...

Next year I'm putting some fairly sloping fields into cattle grazing for 3 years. I have some decent plastic tanks but want to graze rotationally so will need to be moving the tanks daily. Short of digging a flat place out every time any suggestions on making water tanks for hills work?