- Location
- West Wales
The Drought
- Thread starter Derrick Hughes
- Start date
No they are different. The Sky drill is an upgraded moore.Isn’t the cross slot basically an upgraded Moore unidrill from the 80’s??
cross slot managed some genius marketing about 5 years ago, they sold loads very quickly especially in Essex. They also require loads of HP. Big cat or quad track on a 12m drill -absolutely fine, on 4-6m drill - mad
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
same here....seen it many tines at this time of the year...bitter cold strong winds take the moisture out the ground
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
surely the answer is to have a proper rotation with muck on every stubble field every year and each field grassed down in the rotation for 5 years at a time and then arable for 5 years, this is in my opinion the only way to farm if your young and hope to be farming the same land in 30 years time
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
You softcocks wanna try 3 months of strong winds & above 40 C temps ( following on from 3 years of maybe 1 third of your annual rainfall & above average temperatures, with no income ) before you start whinging about the wind drying things out
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Steevo
Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
Yeah but you still get all our rain coming up from underneath once it’s filtered through the centre of the earth.
- Location
- somerset
quite simple really, but those who farm, all arable, perhaps do not follow that principle. Although, very, very dated, the introduction of the Norfolk 4 year rotation, gave farmers a massive production boost, rotation now, consists of growing different arable crops, each year. Soil is our asset, we must look after it.
Yes and no
stop whinging and farm accordingly after all thats what you are telling us to do.
Wasn't the 4 course rotation based on grazing sheep, in which case fencing could be the business to be in if the arable crowd decide
to re-introduce sheep in order to raise the soil's organic content. Of course, if your lambing in March/April you can kiss the 3rd-4th skiing
holiday good bye!
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
going all arable shouldnt be an option for any farm unless theyre in their 60s and no kids following on
Nonsense, you can introduce diversity into arable rotations through cover and companion cropping g. Root exudates build soil carbon.
Of course animals help but you don’t need them to build soils and fertility.
- Location
- somerset
as I said, very dated, and not relevant today, but the introduction, of planned rotation, which it promoted, brought massive increases to farmers, and a planned rotation today, based on the principles of that, could be beneficial to some, today. Our driest fields are getting harder to produce decent crops, and they certainly not short of fym, I hear some parts of salsibury plain, are getting less able to produce. So something is happening, if we put the goods in, and they don't come out the other end, something is wrong, and the something, is what we don't know, and I would love to be able to say, xyz, that's the remedy, but I can't. Here, we are going to increase methods, to try and look after what we have, rightly, or wrongly, only time will tell.Wasn't the 4 course rotation based on grazing sheep, in which case fencing could be the business to be in if the arable crowd decide
to re-introduce sheep in order to raise the soil's organic content. Of course, if your lambing in March/April you can kiss the 3rd-4th skiing
holiday good bye!
Why not build soil faster with an integrated system involving both animals and crops? Not many stockless organic growers about. Look back to years gone by before the likes of ICI and Monsanto - a mixed farming rotation was seen as key to success and sustainability. How many of the farms you manage now had stock on them in the past? I'll bet it's all of them.
- Location
- Glen Clova, Angus, DD8 4RD
Gove was right after all ....
- Location
- somerset
drive over Salisbury plain, and see all the rusted stock fences, used to be 1000's of sheep, and cattle up there, dorset downs used to be the same, personally I think stock should come back. There are some spring grazers getting the chance to start up, on the plain. A route that gives young farmers a chance to get going, without the huge capitol required. Full circle, back to hosier, and his milking bails !!
Old McDonald
Member
- Location
- Harray, Orkney
Are you farming your own land, either as owner or tenant?
The answer matters a great deal. Whose money do you spend?
You are a young man who cannot have much more than10 years' total experience, if that, of running a farm, yet you are adamant that your approach is correct. Dangerous.
I have owned and farmed five properties in four countries in both hemispheres and lived long enough to know that you need to live on and work land for a while before you can begin to judge even for yourself what is best for it - and then can still be wrong even with decades of experience. You cannot tell someone whose land you have never seen how he should be farming it.
Totally agree, I am not denying that at all. I was just rebutting bossfarmers idea that it should be illegal to have a farm without animals! You can build soils without them, but they obviously help a great deal.
We are actively looking at ways to integrate livestock into our system and are going to work with a local sheep farmer to start with.