- Location
- Lincolnshire
That’s it really.You've only just got shot of the horse manure enterprise! Chop the straw and get nutrients out a bag for a few years. At least give the easier life a chance to see if you prefer it
That’s it really.You've only just got shot of the horse manure enterprise! Chop the straw and get nutrients out a bag for a few years. At least give the easier life a chance to see if you prefer it
Would composting it get rid of the possible BG issue?don’t think the plastic and stone out the sheds will be too bad but the possibility of blackgrass is my biggest concern
So he wants roughly 1 ton of straw for 2 ton of muck and you do a lot of the work regarding the muck , sod off springs to mindSo I am offered 500 tonnes 2 miles away through a twee village with very narrow streets and badly parked cars, inhabited by people who like ringing the council. I am expected to haul half of it myself which might end up me doing the entire mucking out job, you never really know. I have an aged 8 t dump trailer with holes in the floor patched up with boards and an elderly tractor. The livestock (beef) farmer wants all my straw off say 150 acres in return which he will bale and haul. He also takes in straw from land infested with blackgrass but apparently the seed dies in the heap. Not guaranteed stone free or wrap free either. I have to spread it and incorporate it, maybe plough it in. I have an elderly muck spreader and telehandler which don’t really like breaking a sweat, a bit like myself.
I know muck benefits the soil, but my gut says “avoid”, mainly because of the haulage, the disruption to my simple cheap direct drilling system and the blackgrass risk.
Am I being idiot, or am I avoiding being a busy fool? My gut says no and I think it’s right but just wondered what people thought. That straw chopper switch doesn’t half save some trailing about IMO.
He takes in straw from all over and will continue to do so hence the blackgrass and other weed worries. Who’s straw and indeed how much I get back isn’t at all certain. Who knows if he has enough at harvest I might end up with left in the swath, wet. Nothing is written down.The other way of looking at it is for you and only you to supply straw and take the muck from your own straw next year.
Forget the whats on farm muck for this year.
I'll buck the trend and say go for it Dr.So I am offered 500 tonnes 2 miles away through a twee village with very narrow streets and badly parked cars, inhabited by people who like ringing the council. I am expected to haul half of it myself which might end up me doing the entire mucking out job, you never really know. I have an aged 8 t dump trailer with holes in the floor patched up with boards and an elderly tractor. The livestock (beef) farmer wants all my straw off say 150 acres in return which he will bale and haul. He also takes in straw from land infested with blackgrass but apparently the seed dies in the heap. Not guaranteed stone free or wrap free either. I have to spread it and incorporate it, maybe plough it in. I have an elderly muck spreader and telehandler which don’t really like breaking a sweat, a bit like myself.
I know muck benefits the soil, but my gut says “avoid”, mainly because of the haulage, the disruption to my simple cheap direct drilling system and the blackgrass risk.
Am I being idiot, or am I avoiding being a busy fool? My gut says no and I think it’s right but just wondered what people thought. That straw chopper switch doesn’t half save some trailing about IMO.
I have no doubt it does the land a lot of good. It’s very tempting. But.....I'll buck the trend and say go for it Dr.
From what you've said in the past I'd say your land with snotty clay and sand that slumps and caps will benefit greatly from any muck.
If you can pile it up and compost it that will help a lot with weed seeds and would allow you to make it work on direct drilling and not need to incorporate it.
The distance is good we haul our own muck to our own land nuch further that your proposal, badly parked cars are easily sorted by removing a wing mirror or two on the first few loads, they soon get the idea!!!
I do think thought that for 150 acres of straw you want to be having double the muck youve been offered.
Yes the chopper and bagged feet is easier but you get out what you put in and muck is by far the best and worth all the hassle in my opinion.
It’s very difficult almost impossible to measure , but look at it like this , a farm that’s had a regular supply of fym all things equal for a prolonged period of time will be twice the farm that has not had fym , you choose , and chopping straw will do Fuk all for your land your just kidding yourself if you think it will.
Yes but we are not all blessed with land las good as that , and imagine it had been returned as manure each year since the war it could well be a lot better I’m many ways their is more to land than just yield .It’s a nice idea and exactly what I do here. however, the land I left in leics in 2015 had been ploughed up for the war effort and never seen muck since and was still turning out 9.5 tonne crops - did spend some on all artificial’s of course
Leave it well alone end ofSo I am offered 500 tonnes 2 miles away through a twee village with very narrow streets and badly parked cars, inhabited by people who like ringing the council. I am expected to haul half of it myself which might end up me doing the entire mucking out job, you never really know. I have an aged 8 t dump trailer with holes in the floor patched up with boards and an elderly tractor. The livestock (beef) farmer wants all my straw off say 150 acres in return which he will bale and haul. He also takes in straw from land infested with blackgrass but apparently the seed dies in the heap. Not guaranteed stone free or wrap free either. I have to spread it and incorporate it, maybe plough it in. I have an elderly muck spreader and telehandler which don’t really like breaking a sweat, a bit like myself.
I know muck benefits the soil, but my gut says “avoid”, mainly because of the haulage, the disruption to my simple cheap direct drilling system and the blackgrass risk.
Am I being idiot, or am I avoiding being a busy fool? My gut says no and I think it’s right but just wondered what people thought. That straw chopper switch doesn’t half save some trailing about IMO.