Maize drilling 2021

JCfarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
warks
What a pain in the backside, the weather finally breaks and doesn't know when to stop!:rolleyes:
All mucked and ploughed but too wet to do anything with really at the moment. Not going to maul it in, better to wait 10days I think with more rain forecast.
 

DRC

Member
Took the decision to go a week early, despite the ground being a bit cold, so got it in and sprayed by the Saturday night before the weather broke. It’s not through yet but has started to grow. Just don’t need a late frost.
Im sure any not drilled yet will fly away and is often the better crop.
 

Hobbit

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
South West
Have been drilling for the last 3 weeks but none of it through yet. Has been easy going in the dry. Not looking forward to trying to finish in the wet
 

The Son

Member
Location
Herefordshire
What a pain in the backside, the weather finally breaks and doesn't know when to stop!:rolleyes:
All mucked and ploughed but too wet to do anything with really at the moment. Not going to maul it in, better to wait 10days I think with more rain forecast.
Same position here, i would really like it in next week, but after yesterdays rain it is going to take some drying.
 

Martyn

Member
Location
South west
How late in the season have people drilled and still got sensible cropping. I'm hoping to drill some organic maize for the first time but need good soil temp from the start.
 

JCfarmer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
warks
Drilled mid June with no yield penalty . It soon catches up in the right conditions
I drilled some a few years ago on June 16th I remember as it was around cereals show.
It went in late as someone offered us 15 acres about the 11th June!:rolleyes:
That came well and yielded well considering but we did have the right weather and it came out the ground running.
 

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
I feel better now reading the replies on here! 120 acres left to do. Cursing why we hadnt finished, but with 80mm plus now on what would have been freshly drilled it would be a bit of a mess. Taking encouragement that if we can get it in end of this week it will fly out of the ground.
 

Hobbit

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
South West
We have an accord optima with disc openers and solid depth wheels. This is a good set up in dry, hard, poor seed beds which we encounter as a contractor. However it’s the worst drill to use in lose or damp conditions. The depth wheels just fill up with soil and stop the disc turning. Each wheel then has to be removed and scraped out. Our old optima just had a simple boot coulter a bit like a boat and this worked very well.
What drills are others using and how do they cope in wet conditions?

Will.
 

dowcow

Member
Location
Lancashire
Maize doesn't like cold soil under and until around a week ago the soil was too cold around here, so there was little point sowing unless it was under plastic this year. We used to drill in last couple of weeks of May anyway as used to try get a first cut of grass off, but it is on the same ground as last years maize this time. It came wet a bit sooner here, and went a week between ploughing and being power harrowed with me watching heavy shower drench the fields a few hundred yards to the west of me while I was harrowing and it only just wet my mudguards... so there was some nice dry soil by the next morning when our contractor came with the drill but that was by luck alone. It has been in nearly a week but just waiting for a dry spell to shift some grass now.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

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

  • 1,287
  • 1
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/
Top