Drilling now

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Not in my experience
March planted spring crops always have bg since fusillade failed in 1991
Avadex treated spring barley planted in April is often bg free
Spring beans later planted with glyphosate 2 weeks or later after drilling
Can give bg a head ache
Bg struggles with low n crops
Problem is on the hanslope clay generally if you are drilling into April/may you end up with terrible crops. I'd take abit of BG to know Im going to be hitting good yields. The difference this year between mid march and mid-end April was 2t/ha on spring barley.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Spring beans don't like hard frosts, though should be safe enough pre emergence. My volunteer spring beans in the following wheat crop have mostly been frosted off before Christmas.
 

Landrover

Member
What are people's views on this, got a field after fodder beet that would sow now with belepi wheat, should I ? Light ground Scottish borders, I've got plenty of seed so could put it in thick my only worry is that the crows would get it and would be slow to emerge if I turns cold ! Anyone any thoughts on this ?
 

Flintstone

Member
Location
Berkshire
I’m going to bang 170 acres of Belepi in this weekend.

Why?

1. It’s dry enough.
2. Spring barley buyers are getting too fussy and I don’t trust the labs any more.
3. I think wheat will hit £175
4. My better half is having a baby in March.
5. Last year my March workload was almost unbearable.

I don’t agree with the attitude of avoiding zero till between Oct and April.

The Claydon (a system I love) moves just enough soil so that I can leave it for a few days before rolling it, thereby creating a nice crumble in front of the rolls.

The 740A “slit-slot-slappers” as I call them will struggle though.

Pics to follow....
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
I’m going to bang 170 acres of Belepi in this weekend.

Why?

1. It’s dry enough.
2. Spring barley buyers are getting too fussy and I don’t trust the labs any more.
3. I think wheat will hit £175
4. My better half is having a baby in March.
5. Last year my March workload was almost unbearable.

I don’t agree with the attitude of avoiding zero till between Oct and April.

The Claydon (a system I love) moves just enough soil so that I can leave it for a few days before rolling it, thereby creating a nice crumble in front of the rolls.

The 740A “slit-slot-slappers” as I call them will struggle though.

Pics to follow....
A man of action. (y)
FWIW if i had spring wheat I would be drilling it. Happy to leave the barley for now.
 
Problem is on the hanslope clay generally if you are drilling into April/may you end up with terrible crops. I'd take abit of BG to know Im going to be hitting good yields. The difference this year between mid march and mid-end April was 2t/ha on spring barley.

I have had lower yields from mid march than mid april planted spring crops

this is usually because of a dry march followed by a very cold wet april

april 2013 was a good year for spring crops Ragdale out did hanslope fields which is not normally the case as Ragdale is a more difficult soil
march 2012 a bad year

if it is dry from feb to may the heavier the land the better and the less soil moved the better
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
I have had lower yields from mid march than mid april planted spring crops

this is usually because of a dry march followed by a very cold wet april

april 2013 was a good year for spring crops Ragdale out did hanslope fields which is not normally the case as Ragdale is a more difficult soil
march 2012 a bad year

if it is dry from feb to may the heavier the land the better and the less soil moved the better
I've established cover crops with a light cultivation and killed them in November. This means I can drill into tilth in march and I am massively lowering the risk of cover crops, no till and April/may drilling on clients farms. I just can't take the risk.
 

Against_the_grain

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
S.E
Hoping to put some skyfall ww in behind beet tomorrow. Some wet patches but 95% of the field will go. Will then be switching straight to sw mulika. Conditions are good. If it turns cold and wet won't be ideal but if stays dryish and warmish should be ok. Hate drilling spring crops late and then waiting for moisture.
 

Iben

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fife
Got the last 40 ac of wheat in yesterday and today. Very good conditions for the time of year. Looks unusually mild for next ten days which should help. But winter has to come at some point.
 

Matt77

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Very small block of spring oats I want to put in to over winter ploughing, never done oats before so learning on the move, too early or no reason why not?? If it doesn’t rain conditions are there now but it might be wet by time I get around to it. TIA
 

Iben

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fife
Very small block of spring oats I want to put in to over winter ploughing, never done oats before so learning on the move, too early or no reason why not?? If it doesn’t rain conditions are there now but it might be wet by time I get around to it. TIA

There are a few folk around here now sowing spring oats in the autumn. Did hear of a farm locally that sowed them first week of September and they are now at gs31!
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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