yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
big field above 40 acres are 20% more efficient for some jobs
I have one 125 acre field when in beans it was 2 ha an hour more harvesting than any other field that year
8ha an hour compared to the others at 6 or less this field was enclosed in 1800 with the hedges removed in and redrained in 1982
one year when fert spreading it needed 500 kg less than the same area in 10 fields
with gps controls the saving on imputs is now much lower
with the 10 fields the area cropped is significantly less because of hedges with cross compliance we have 5 m between crops in the 1980s this was less than 2 m
the down side is that the first year I ploughed it after 2 days I had to work down the first 40 acres before it dried out took a day to plough the headland
now with notill it takes less than a day
now we have wider kit the smaller field have better crops as there is less turning the big fields were always ok even with 5 furrow plough or 12m sprayer
some times with smaller field you target to finish the field and get more done
rather than finish at a certain time
the environment would benefit if we had 100 acre fields with the equivalent area for the environment round the edges 100 acre field plus 10 acres for the environment would produce more food and more wildlife than 110 acres in 15 fields with hedges
I have one 125 acre field when in beans it was 2 ha an hour more harvesting than any other field that year
8ha an hour compared to the others at 6 or less this field was enclosed in 1800 with the hedges removed in and redrained in 1982
one year when fert spreading it needed 500 kg less than the same area in 10 fields
with gps controls the saving on imputs is now much lower
with the 10 fields the area cropped is significantly less because of hedges with cross compliance we have 5 m between crops in the 1980s this was less than 2 m
the down side is that the first year I ploughed it after 2 days I had to work down the first 40 acres before it dried out took a day to plough the headland
now with notill it takes less than a day
now we have wider kit the smaller field have better crops as there is less turning the big fields were always ok even with 5 furrow plough or 12m sprayer
some times with smaller field you target to finish the field and get more done
rather than finish at a certain time
the environment would benefit if we had 100 acre fields with the equivalent area for the environment round the edges 100 acre field plus 10 acres for the environment would produce more food and more wildlife than 110 acres in 15 fields with hedges
, but that sort of land is fickle with the weather and what an autumn it was for heavy land farmers.
