Brisel

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
Interesting and inspiring, as ever Brisel, and thank you. Looks a good system, though think I'd keep the wb in front of WOSR, very handy to of dealt with volunteers and have the osr land ready to drill before the wheat etc is ready to cut. Its also the most profitable of all straw crops/ac to sell, and doable easier in July than chasing wheat straw in September when its wet. Even at £35/40/t theres the thick end of a hundred quid an acre added to the top line.
What cover crops are you growing?

Spud
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Interesting and inspiring, as ever Brisel, and thank you. Looks a good system, though think I'd keep the wb in front of WOSR, very handy to of dealt with volunteers and have the osr land ready to drill before the wheat etc is ready to cut. Its also the most profitable of all straw crops/ac to sell, and doable easier in July than chasing wheat straw in September when its wet. Even at £35/40/t theres the thick end of a hundred quid an acre added to the top line.
What cover crops are you growing?

Spud

I'm trying a few out this autumn, but stubble turnips will feature where I have a weed problem. Growing them for the cattle cleaned up the land a treat. That's the Golden Hoof at work.

The aim of the cover crops is partly for wildlife above ground as well as soil structure below it. The focus on more soil friendly mixes will come in time as I head for true no till. There's much to learn in the mean time.

Why winter barley? Negative net margin, more grass weeds & with DD and a reduced area there's less time needed between crops. Nothing wrong with it - it just doesn't fit in here as well any more. It used to be great. Early start to harvest, time for straw baling & compost spreading before an early entry into osr. Potential to get nearly half the farm harvested in July too. Whatever suits your system. I've changed mine. I'm not bothered by wheat straw - worthless to sell here & always followed by a spring crop anyway.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
I'm trying a few out this autumn, but stubble turnips will feature where I have a weed problem. Growing them for the cattle cleaned up the land a treat. That's the Golden Hoof at work.

The aim of the cover crops is partly for wildlife above ground as well as soil structure below it. The focus on more soil friendly mixes will come in time as I head for true no till. There's much to learn in the mean time.

Why winter barley? Negative net margin, more grass weeds & with DD and a reduced area there's less time needed between crops. Nothing wrong with it - it just doesn't fit in here as well any more. It used to be great. Early start to harvest, time for straw baling & compost spreading before an early entry into osr. Potential to get nearly half the farm harvested in July too. Whatever suits your system. I've changed mine. I'm not bothered by wheat straw - worthless to sell here & always followed by a spring crop anyway.

Grassweeds do alter the perspective a little! TBF we growe it on the lighter land thats in a root crop rotation, so more actives and less grassweeds than the heavy stuff. Its a positive net margin too, though looks a lot better with the straw money added. Negative on the heavy land, just cant get the same yield (2 row).

Cover crops here are pre spring breaks (spring barley usually after late lifted sugar beet) and are as cheap as poss. Tame oats off the heap ddrilled after a kilo or two of mustard spun on with the pelleter, and rolled down. No fert, just aim to get them drilled in August. Looking for a similar priced idea to fit between wheat and spring oats currently, any suggestions?
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
What's wrong with your same oat/mustard mixture? Do you grow other brassicas in that rotation?

No Brassicas, and it works well pre spring beans and potatoes, I'd just rather not have an oat cover before an oat crop ideally (and keen to do a bit of learning trying other things to tweak the system) What I'm not keen for is a £ heavy megamix offered by some of the seed houses at cereals!
The rotation on the land in question is Spring oats, (spring break cleans things up, not barley land, good straw from them, low risk to grow, no slugs, competitive against grassweeds) 2xww, Winter beans (grassweed control, efa, diversity, lowers risk) 2xww and back to s oats.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
No Brassicas, and it works well pre spring beans and potatoes, I'd just rather not have an oat cover before an oat crop ideally (and keen to do a bit of learning trying other things to tweak the system) What I'm not keen for is a £ heavy megamix offered by some of the seed houses at cereals!
The rotation on the land in question is Spring oats, (spring break cleans things up, not barley land, good straw from them, low risk to grow, no slugs, competitive against grassweeds) 2xww, Winter beans (grassweed control, efa, diversity, lowers risk) 2xww and back to s oats.

How about some wheat out of the shed to mix with the mustard? Any cereal will provide a green bridge for aphids, disease etc. Since you have pulses in there I'd question the inclusion of bought in legume CCs. Some ryegrass seed sweepings from the floor of the local seed plant maybe?
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
That number will soon be 176! I spoke to Steve at Groundswell & thought that BASE would be a worthwhile investment (y)
which ones you :D

awww.damemagazine.com_sites_default_files_field_image_kkk.jpg
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
We were in the same situation and bought a Moores drill and have been impressed with the results.
At £4000 i think it will of about payed for itself in the first year
I do keep looking at them and must say, have been tempted. Think there would be a bit of a market for repairing pastures and establishing cover crops at worst.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,292
  • 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