charles brown AKA charlie brown

charlesbrown

New Member
Location
N Beds
Hi everyone,some will know me from the BFF. My name is Andrew and I farm just over 600 acs on N Beds chalky boulder clay(hanslope series).
Its terrific soil and I wouldnt change it, but it needs handling carefully, and it is self structuring so ideal for dd. Back in the 70's I like to think I was a pioneer dder with help from ICI and Gramoxone, indeed winning prizes for it and hosting open days. At one stage the whole farm was dded with an IH 511 drill and we only had a sprayer and fert spreader, all pulled with a Ford5000. But we got clever (so we thought!) and started growing brussel sprouts and other crops, which entailed ploughing , and eventually with the burning ban ended up ploughing everything.
But I have always wanted to get back to dd, and 3 years ago started experimenting. We have now tried a Dale, a Mzuri, a Claydon and have eventually settled on a T Sem, and have had some good results with this simple little drill(I like to work on the KISS principle) We are now also rebuilding a Moore 4m.
This year has been particularly challenging and we are entering unchartered waters with a substantial acreage of spring cropping (S/wheat,linseed and borage) and failed crops of w/wheat and WOSR.
Of possible interest to members is an area of 60+ acres in continuous wheat, one field since 1975 and the rest since 1979. They have virtually no grassweed problems and have settled into a comfortable average yield. I intend to try and keep them dded (quelle horreur! I hear you cry)

I look forward to meeting some of you at Stoneleigh.

Andrew
 

robs1

Member
Hi Charlie, Have a question for you re the simtech,how do you rate the depth control as it has no individual control, does it make any difference to the yield at the end of the day. Have hired one a couple of times and pleased with the results but quite like the look of the tsem contour but it has a 230mm row width, maybe bit wide for cereals ?
 

db1210

Member
Hi everyone,some will know me from the BFF. My name is Andrew and I farm just over 600 acs on N Beds chalky boulder clay(hanslope series).
Its terrific soil and I wouldnt change it, but it needs handling carefully, and it is self structuring so ideal for dd. Back in the 70's I like to think I was a pioneer dder with help from ICI and Gramoxone, indeed winning prizes for it and hosting open days. At one stage the whole farm was dded with an IH 511 drill and we only had a sprayer and fert spreader, all pulled with a Ford5000. But we got clever (so we thought!) and started growing brussel sprouts and other crops, which entailed ploughing , and eventually with the burning ban ended up ploughing everything.
But I have always wanted to get back to dd, and 3 years ago started experimenting. We have now tried a Dale, a Mzuri, a Claydon and have eventually settled on a T Sem, and have had some good results with this simple little drill(I like to work on the KISS principle) We are now also rebuilding a Moore 4m.
This year has been particularly challenging and we are entering unchartered waters with a substantial acreage of spring cropping (S/wheat,linseed and borage) and failed crops of w/wheat and WOSR.
Of possible interest to members is an area of 60+ acres in continuous wheat, one field since 1975 and the rest since 1979. They have virtually no grassweed problems and have settled into a comfortable average yield. I intend to try and keep them dded (quelle horreur! I hear you cry)

I look forward to meeting some of you at Stoneleigh.

Andrew
Hi how dos th ih drill work on dd was thinking of geting one only got small acre and they are fairy cheap to buy.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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

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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/
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