Mole Drainage

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Suppose I'm lucky as 2 parts of my farm is lightish land that I can crop if I so wish, the other I would struggle to grow grain on , but that's how a lot of farms around here were devided up , cropping it would be farming against the grain
 
Suppose I'm lucky as 2 parts of my farm is lightish land that I can crop if I so wish, the other I would struggle to grow grain on , but that's how a lot of farms around here were devided up , cropping it would be farming against the grain
I see what you are getting at, I would agree that it is possibly not ideal, but…… it is the out lying fields that I would prefer not to graze so whilst not the right or even easy thing to do cereals works as long as I can keep them alive. I really need the straw as much as the corn, at the moment we are unable to secure commitment from our straw dealer (others in same boat) because of what is going on at the moment. They are unable to buy straw in a lot of cases because of the replacement fert costs combined with our area being more or less already in a drought. Straw in the row around Bourges is said to be in excess of 75€/ ha, normally 25-30€/ ha!!Wheat locally has been irrigated for the last month. I need to build resilience into our business and part of that is producing as much as possible on the farm.
 

Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
No functioning drains to speak of but all fields have reasonable fall to a ditch. Would it not work if I drained from the ditch out into the field?
In theory yes, but getting the mole deep enough in the ditch bank to set off may be an issue, are the ditches in good order, most get 50cm of sediment in them after a few years which can be blocking outlets, if you find some a drain jetter for a few days is money well spent.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Learn is from Hally , go to the top if the field and dig and don't stop until you find water, saves a fortune in underdrains
IMG_20220522_113019.jpg
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
You’ve lost me, sorry 😂. As for pictures if I take some I will post them.
Not relivent to your land unless it's hill land with rising water, shale to clay , under ground water hits clay and shoots up , if You can get deep enough under the clay at the top of the field you can dry the whole field with one drain , been down as deep as 8ft to find an underground stream
 

czechmate

Member
Mixed Farmer
So….. question from someone who has come of chalk down land that never really needed draining. We are now living in central France with some very different ground to what I have been used to. During the winter the ground quickly water logs and takes a long time to dry in the spring. The farm is rented and the landlord highly unlikely to pay for drainage. I am not I clin3d to pay for it either. I have no experience of mole ploughing but was wondering if it would provide a low cost solution to my problem? I know it would need redoing every few years but on a rotational basis that is ok. My question is does it work? I keep reading on here that it is for going over the top of proper drains, does it work as a stand alone solution on a temporary basis and if so how temporary is temporary?

i have done a fair bit up here.
It doesn’t last at all on my ground😕
They used to last some years in the clay in leics🤷‍♂️
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Is there anypoint draining clay without back fill , how do moles work then ? Not saying that is clay mind , I dig and crush my own stone and have my own digger , just have to buy pipe , s
 

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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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