Convince me to not plough

[neilo]

our soils are prone to panning, both below, and capping on top, we are trying not to plough, if possible, and we use aerator for capping. Ploughing, the physical action, of turning the soil over, kills off most of the worms, bugs and fungii, that help maintain, and improve soil structure. As a compromise, we are using 'deep tine cultivation, thus breaking any pan, with least physical disturbance, of the soil. So far, there seems little difference, crop wise, between the two, - plough, power harrow, 5/6 ins, or tine, power harrow, 3/4 ins, the second, is certainly cheaper ! The most important thing, is to get contact, between seed, and moisture, and we feel, the tine, retains more moisture than the plough, and a good rolling afterwards.

You started so well....

I use tines myself where I need to cultivate, but they do almost as much damage to the soil structure & biology, particularly if you still follow it up with a power harrow.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Straight swap, plough/ PH/ drill for a No till drill, and I'm willing to give it a go.
I ain't spending money whilst the fundamental problem of 1970's prices persist.

Its cheaper to get a contactor in , why on Erth would you want to buy one

 

[Bury the Trash]

We have a small field that has been in a cereal/rape/legume rotation for a good few years now and needs to be put back to grass. I would like to get away from using the plough every time we drill but I'm never sure our soils are quite light enough to min till (we are mostly clay with some loam). We have however DD forage rape into stubble and that seemed to work ok. But of course rape seed is very cheap in comparison to grass.
Given that this is a small field, the weather seems pretty settled and I have enough time in the year to establish grass I am willing to experiment a bit here. It's currently pea and barley stubble which has been grazed off tight by the sheep. Im planning on putting glyphosate on the headlands. Following that my thoughts were to maybe power harrow the top couple of inches, roll, and drill grass into that.
Am I wasting my time?

No,Jim you wont be wasting your time, infact you will be saving time and diesal.
you dont need to plough
we just use a powerharrow quite often to grass out corn fields in the Autumn, on differing soil types, bit of dry weather helps.

it will be fine.
if you want any more advice ,you might have to reply if you so wish...

 

[roscoe erf]

just f**king plough it

 

[roscoe erf]

and then sit back and watch out for ............................

 

[Kevtherev]

and then sit back and watch out for ............................View attachment 899342

Are they slag dealers?

 

[neilo]

 

[neilo]

Its cheaper to get a contactor in , why on Erth would you want to buy one

Wanting to go down that route wherever possible, I ruled out paying a contractor and bought a secondhand drill.

I understand you have a contracting service to plug, but why on Erth would you pay a contractor if you have many acres to do and wish to see the light fully?

Obviously I made a terrible mistake and bought the wrong drill though, twice.

 

[Great In Grass]

Its cheaper to get a contactor in , why on Erth would you want to buy one

Or he could convince a mate to buy one.

 

[Jimfandango]

Thanks for the input guys. In my time ringing about today I have found out that a nearby has farm has just acquired a disc and drill set up that i am quite interested to give a whirl. I can also lay my hands on a shatta board and cambridge roller, or just the old combi drill.Could do with some of this kit myself really but it's all so power hungry.
I'm probably going to let it green up after this bit of wet, burn it off and then get the seed down. Happy days

 

[Great In Grass]

You don't need a Cambridge roller to establish grass seed.

 

[som farmer]

You started so well....

I use tines myself where I need to cultivate, but they do almost as much damage to the soil structure & biology, particularly if you still follow it up with a power harrow.

yes, i know, but cannot think of another way, to sort the pan out ! That's where there is one, otherwise vaderstat x 2 passes. Any ideas about 'sorting' the pan, without tine/plough ? Fact of life, we pan very easily, and it's usually a very hard layer ! Cousin farms next door, refuses to think there is a pan, his cereal yields have plummeted, to the stage he just tops some of it, i used to get 4 ton wheat sold/acre !

 

[Heatgereater]

If you have plenty big stones you will soon learn to min till otherwise ploughing is a very slow job indeed

 

[som farmer]

when the A303 was dueled, way back, they 'shaved' our boundary, removed a 'ridge' and used the spoil, to level a dip, they built our 'dip' field up, not sure how much, but we know it was higher, than a JCB can reach down, so 20 + feet. meant to be 3 feet of soil on top, big stones are still coming up, after 40+years, some require tractor and chain to move ! And for several years, dozens of wooden marker stakes ! Ploughing consisted of dead slow, over the made up bit, if lucky, you could 'feel' them, and lift up, and over the top.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

yes, i know, but cannot think of another way, to sort the pan out ! That's where there is one, otherwise vaderstat x 2 passes. Any ideas about 'sorting' the pan, without tine/plough ? Fact of life, we pan very easily, and it's usually a very hard layer ! Cousin farms next door, refuses to think there is a pan, his cereal yields have plummeted, to the stage he just tops some of it, i used to get 4 ton wheat sold/acre !

Try some chicory, it's got a really good tap root

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I'm going to give it my best shot as the advantages are enormous, only reason I would want to ploagh again is to level ground out

 

[Dog Bowl]

I've just taken 4th cut from some westerwolds. Going to leave it a week or so and then spray off. What would folk recommend to do to this to then establish a grazing ley? Before the sales patter starts @Great In Grass has sorted out my seed! Its cotswold brash but with a good amount of body to the soil. Previous tenant grew maize for the last 5 years

 

[roscoe erf]

Are they slag dealers?

is one of them wearing lycra

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You don't need a Cambridge roller to establish grass seed.

Cambridge is the best thing if your broadcasting though, before you sow

 

[ollie989898]

We have a small field that has been in a cereal/rape/legume rotation for a good few years now and needs to be put back to grass. I would like to get away from using the plough every time we drill but I'm never sure our soils are quite light enough to min till (we are mostly clay with some loam). We have however DD forage rape into stubble and that seemed to work ok. But of course rape seed is very cheap in comparison to grass.
Given that this is a small field, the weather seems pretty settled and I have enough time in the year to establish grass I am willing to experiment a bit here. It's currently pea and barley stubble which has been grazed off tight by the sheep. Im planning on putting glyphosate on the headlands. Following that my thoughts were to maybe power harrow the top couple of inches, roll, and drill grass into that.
Am I wasting my time?

So I am assuming this field has been growing various crops over the last few years? Not grass. Correct?

That being the case, you don't need to plough and will gain no benefit from doing so.

Spray the field off. Take a subsoiler or min-till cultivator deep enough along the tramlines, then pull up the surface a few inches to get some tilth. Powerharrow to finish up and sow your grass seed. Roll with cambridge rolls and wait to see what weeds come up.

None of my clients would plough after a cereal crop unless the field was totally borked, always min-tilled grass in. There is nothing to be gained from ploughing it.