thistle

What is best for the hedge and for wildlife, particularly nesting birds, 1. A gentle trim each year. or 2. A major cut back every two, or as some recommendations go, every three years.

Having read whats on offer for grassland farmers in the new english sub system the governments intentions are now clear in black & white, they want to shut down the UK livestock sector, There is nowhere to go now for these farms margins are already incredibly tight, taking away their bps which...

Mods please delete this if anyone objects. I am asking in this section of the forum as your all stock men and take in what you see, if you see poorly/ill people. I have a 19 year old lad, who 2 or 3 years ago started to complain of feeling tired, at first I ignored him as a teenager trying to...

I know this sounds absurd. Just under 200 acres. How difficult can it be? But now we are required to be “qualified” in every aspect from agronomy, fertiliser planning, driving various bits of machinery etc and to attend ongoing training to gain CPD points I really just don’t have time to do...

Moderator notice OK we have done this now in the resource section to try separate he questions and answers from the general chat - we will update it as new questions and answers are added to this thread...

I could hazard a guess as to what has happened here but although it's not far from me, I've not heard anything about this case until today when @unlacedgecko posted it the Natural England knows best thread...

Well I guess it’s time to start another annual thread about how peoples crops are looking at the start of the year. All pics taken today. Generally I’m pretty happy at present other than one but of rape that looks a bit thin in places thanks mainly to pheasants🙄 Wheats Skyfall Two year...

Download PDF Shimpling Park Farms in Suffolk has pioneered many of the practices currently followed by UK organic arable farms. CPM visits to gain an insight and explore their carbon credentials. By Tom Allen-Stevens About half of the field John Pawsey walks into is taken up with an on-farm...

Basis are taking on the scheme administration from 26th January 2023. City and Guilds finish on 23rd December 2022. Interestingly City and Guilds didn't tender for the renewal. I would have thought this will be a positive move, after the comments made on here about poor cpd point retrieval and...

I have a 1900 litre 28m mounted sprayer which I like and does the job very well but I’d like to do more acres in a tank and more litres/ha in certain situations so I’m considering a front tank it would also balance the tractor as currently I need a big stack of weights on the front. It will be a...

Hi, 15 Acres overgrown field, last topped about 10 months ago (plenty thistle) Free for someone to come with their machinery, top it off, bale and take away OX5 - Oxfordshire 2 images attached photos were taken some weeks ago, thistle now completely dead. Any questions please ask.

is it safe to feed tups whole barley during the winter after tupping?

Direct drilled winter barley straight into wheat stubbles. Chaff trails not spread. Thought if I got it into soil it would be alright. But no, not much barley has come though the wheat chaff. Maybe I just didn’t get it into the soil beneath the chaff deep enough as I can find some barley in the...

What level of percentage control does something like a disc get on chitted stubbles? we’ve got some grass weed fields that have greened up nicely but we won’t drill till mid October onwards so do I glyphosate now and then again pre drilling or do we disc now to kill the growth (does it though...

There are few places on Earth that are without weeds. In other words, weeds represent a serious challenge to every crop production. Theoretically, a weed is every undesirable plant that competes with crops for nutrients, water, soil, or sunlight. Moreover, weeds are often host plants for various...

I am struggling with clearing up the farm. I have since taking charge scrapped/skipped/sold an awful lot of stuff. For some reason, over time, I have turned into my elders and am really struggling to get rid of stuff now. I am spending a lot of time trying/wanting to get rid of stuff and...

Just read that Charlie Flindt is effectively surrendering his tenancy of his NT farm and it will be taken back for tree planting and rewilding with a relatively small area planted with grass with him probably becoming the Park keeper. Having seen other farms owned by the NT being left to rack...

Not moving any soil this autumn so what’s best for OSR volunteers, cereal volunteers, the odd but of creeping thistle and a smattering of BLW, fat hen, black bindweed etc. Kyleo or straight glypho? Wetters/enhancers? Does kyleo bring anything to the party that just slinging some 24d in with...

Hi, Really could do with trying to get a bit more old tired grassland reseeded next year. I toyed with idea of dd forage rape this summer but been a bit tight on grass and don't really have much use for forage rape/ turnips etc. Do you think I could risk reseeding it with Italian eye grass in...

Often get these rings appearing which are fungal growth. What I'm interested in is the grass growth is far better. Does the fungus fix nitrogen or something similar?