Maize and soil erosion

[Kevtherev]

Maize cannot really be blamed for erosion sugar beet is just as bad for ruts and soil movement by machinery.
I've seen both winter and spring down cereal fields gouged out by heavy rain.
I've also seen reseeding done in the spring virtually ruined by heavy thunderstorms.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Maize cannot really be blamed for erosion sugar beet is just as bad for ruts and soil movement by machinery.
I've seen both winter and spring down cereal fields gouged out by heavy rain.
I've also seen reseeding done in the spring virtually ruined by heavy thunderstorms.

Agreed.

In some cases fields are in cultivation these days that really should be permanent pasture. Most were first cultivated in or after WW2 in the "dig for victory" or under food rationing.

Many of these sweeping comments about misuse of land are made by armchair experts who've never actually managed their own land (George Monbiot included). In the same way current cross compliance rules are set by "experts" who have also not managed land themselves. A typical example is the blanket NVZ manure closed season. Experienced land managers know that you can't farm by the calendar, you do it by what the weather is doing and knowledge of your soils.

 

[Kevtherev]

I've seen pictures of soil run off grass fields quoted by 'environmentalists ' and when you look closely the brown water is only from the gateway that's been rutted or puddled by stock

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I've seen pictures of soil run off grass fields quoted by 'environmentalists ' and when you look closely the brown water is only from the gateway that's been rutted or puddled by stock

Or running across the grass field from a neighboring arable one

 

[Kevtherev]

Erosion is a natural process like rivers scouring the banks out.
Man does have an effect on it but it isn't just farmers to blame lots of sites around the country have dumpers and dozers wallowing around in slop.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Erosion is a natural process like rivers scouring the banks out.
Man does have an effect on it but it isn't just farmers to blame lots of sites around the country have dumpers and dozers wallowing around in slop.

There are huge amounts of silt in the rivers in East London. I've heard the Essex arable boys blamed but it's almost all from bank erosion south of Abridge and urban runoff.


And, of course, the silt and sewage that is swept back up river from the Thames on each high tide.

 

[alwaysraining]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/strip-tillage-proves-ideal-for-establishing-maize.htm

 

[Kevtherev]

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/strip-tillage-proves-ideal-for-establishing-maize.htm

£60/acre for strip tillage

 

[alwaysraining]

£60/acre for strip tillage

Not cheep but very Reliable results in large range of conditions with great reduction in soil erosion risk

 

[sjt01]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/strip-tillage-proves-ideal-for-establishing-maize.htm

Even got my mug shot!

 

[sjt01]

£60/acre for strip tillage

We reckon about a quarter of the cost of plough/power harrow, where did you get the £60 figure?
Stephen

 

[Devon James]

We reckon about a quarter of the cost of plough/power harrow, where did you get the £60 figure?
Stephen

It was the figure quoted in the fw link.

What row width are you strip tilling maize at?

 

[sjt01]

It was the figure quoted in the fw link.

What row width are you strip tilling maize at?

30", standard maize width. When we started with the machine, we had a fixed width maize header. There are small improvements to be made from changing row width, but not enough to persuade us to invest.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

We reckon about a quarter of the cost of plough/power harrow, where did you get the £60 figure?
Stephen

But our plough, Power harrow and maize drill are all over 20 years old and owe us nothing. I haven't accurately costed it but I'm confident I can establich our maize for less than that.

Even a used strip till/drill combination would be out of our price range and we'd probably not have the power for it.

 

[sjt01]

Even a used strip till/drill combination would be out of our price range and we'd probably not have the power for it.

Not too difficult to make one from an old subsoiler! Come and take some photos of ours. Major savings in fuel, and on our abrasive soils, plough and power harrow steel.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Not too difficult to make one from an old subsoiler! Come and take some photos of ours. Major savings in fuel, and on our abrasive soils, plough and power harrow steel.

I may even take you up on that!

 

[Mr Charisma]

I may even take you up on that!

As long as you have ground that can be moved at depth and then take the drilling element
We would probably need to let our red marl haze off for 5 days before we tried anything for the same reason why furrow presses don't work with us , learnt the hard way

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

As long as you have ground that can be moved at depth and then take the drilling element
We would probably need to let our red marl haze off for 5 days before we tried anything for the same reason why furrow presses don't work with us , learnt the hard way

This is Hertfordshire. We have almost every soil type going in just 200 acres so it depends which field we're working.

 

[Mr Charisma]

This is Hertfordshire. We have almost every soil type going in just 200 acres so it depends which field we're working.

Same as warwickshire then ,,,,,,, so like us it depends on if you can justify a piece of kit that will only work on a certain % of your farm