Today at work

Turned some week olds out, had a successful wet adoption and put up some of the clean pens

sticky said:

Turned some week olds out, had a successful wet adoption and put up some of the clean pensView attachment 1170688View attachment 1170689View attachment 1170690

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Did you have your break away?

CPF said:

Did you have your break away?

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I did yes, two weeks.

Doesn't look like the Avon I remember.

le bon paysan said:

Doesn't look like the Avon I remember.

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How are crops/farming looking like in France? Is it as wet as us ?

rewiring completed on the Massey 35. still looking for the original seat

Just because said:

How are crops/farming looking like in France? Is it as wet as us ?

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Alot not planted. A neighbour has some DDed and fert on. His rape has fert x 2 and is coming in to flower. I planted 6 hc 6 weeks ago and looks ok but perhaps .2 h drowned and 4 hc winter barley will be ok once I get some fert on. Temperatures are on the up for a few day to a max of 21C. Still got winter oats to plant myself. Next couple of days will interesting re planting for me. The last 5 months we've had almost an annual average rainfall so it's a bit wet under foot. My little tractor has been a god send in the wet for the little bits of groundwork I've done.

National plantings are down but I can't say how much.
Options are of course maize and sunflowers with other stuff like sorghum.

Trying to get some lambing fields dryed up.

Stw88 said:

View attachment 1170769Trying to get some lambing fields dryed up.

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That looks claggy stuff. Always a positive sign when you see a tile at least.

le bon paysan said:

Doesn't look like the Avon I remember.

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There’s been a lot of rain and development since you left Stratford.

Best make a start I guess @sticky do you remember what yours look like. Trade will drop now always does when I start

Just because said:

Best make a start I guess @sticky do you remember what yours look like. Trade will drop now always does when I start
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They would be a good bit bigger than when I last saw them.
Hopefully they will do you very well this year.
Going back to the market they came out of?

sticky said:

They would be a good bit bigger than when I last saw them.
Hopefully they will do you very well this year.
Going back to the market they came out of?

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Yes in morning

Somehow I’ve posted my taw in the confessions thread.
But this is what happened.

Finally got a bit o the white stuff chucked on.
Travelled far better than i thought I would, even on the steep banks

Whereabouts near Durham are you @Dman2 ?

I was up there for a few days last week, Annfield Plain, Lanchester, Durham way.

The bits of arable ground around there look a far sight better than around here!!

Same story in North Yorkshire, some good looking crops alongside the A1M

We are the other side of Durham, nearer Hartlepool than Durham
Yeah the crops around here are not to bad. Regularly fly down to York area or Nottingham and they have suffered far more than us.
One or 2 DD ers around here who won`t have much to harvest though

New timber frame for more weatherboarding

A screw for each job

Blended into the office surroundings

Cab-over Pete said:

It’s all looking very green Roy. I know you often have long periods of severe drought, but are you going through a prosperous spell just now?

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Hi
It’s actually been a very hot summer this year & we are in an El Niño period, which does have a major influence on our weather.
The secret to farming here is moisture conservation, deep heavy alluvial soils that can store a LOT of soil moisture, retaining as much stubble / ground cover as possible, zero till as the default method of cropping, crop rotations that allow soil moisture levels to recharge between crops & only planting a crop on a full profile ( at least 1 metre ) of soil moisture.
And deep, heavy clay soils, just in case I didn’t say it before
Only cropping on land that is best suited to it, no point growing crops in summer on light shallow soils & just “hoping” it will rain . . .
As an example, look at this pic of a block on the edge of the floodplain. The only difference here is the soil is shallower, running up to a ridge line, a bit lighter & can’t store as much water throughout the season, as the deeper soil further out on the plain. This isnt a big area, just extends maybe 50 m from the headland, but shows the difference soil depth / water holding capacity has in a "dry" time

this shows the impact of soil moisture here. A pretty graphic illustration of how far the tree roots extend . . .
No - I am NOT going to remove the trees. This was originally all grassland, a treeless floodplain. These trees were planted by my grandfather in the 50’s & for the few hundred kg of grain they represent, I think they perform eco services worth a lot more than that

we are well used to dry conditions here, all our management decisions & our farming practices reflect that & we generally do ok because of that - when we do run into trouble is extended periods of extreme heat ( weeks of 40 + C & nightime / min temps still in the high 20's or even 30's, which do seem to be becoming more regular ) & multiple consecutive years of below average rainfall, which dont give us any opportunities to rebuild soil moisture levels. Or - major flood events, In 2022 we had 7 individual flood peaks through here from july to september. Hence the absolute importance of retaining straw / ground cover & eliminating as much soil disturbance & traffic as possible

Thanks Roy.

What are your main crops?