Countryside Seeds Ltd

Countryside Seeds Ltd

As of the 1st July a slight change to the business, it's become incorporated and with it a change of name. Farm machinery sales have not been a part of Farm Equip's business for a number of years and we felt now was the time for a new name to reflect more of what we do, so Countryside Seeds Limited was born.

We still offer friendly service and advice with up to date products at keen prices.

Company History

Farm Equip was launched by myself (Kevin) on the 1st January 1980. Initially selling farm consumables from the back of a yellow transit van.

Over the past few years the business has become almost predominately the sale of seed in its varies guises where it be a single bag of lawn seed to tonnes of grass/cereal seed.

I am in the very lucky position to be a distributor for some of the UK’s leading seed houses which include Barenbrug UK Ltd, DLF Trifolium Ltd, Grainseed Ltd and Soya UK to name a few.

I am more than happy to work with the customer on compiling their own mixture.

To contact me you may PM through the forum or I am very happy to be telephoned on 07881 804442.
Email: [email protected]

As like a lot of you I'm self employed so no 9-5 here so please telephone at your convenience.
 
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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Wet lawn in winter - sounds familiar?

How short days and cool, wet conditions affect the lawn.

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Mild winter so far in temperate northern Europe. The hours of sunlight are few and lawns are not growing even if temperatures are mild. What can we do to give the lawn the best conditions? Follow some simple guidelines to get your lawn in shape for the coming season.
Do not cut the lawn out of growth season

Let the last cut in the fall be somewhat higher than during growth season. This leaves leaf material to initiate photosynthesis and green up as soon as the sun returns in spring.

Have you removed fall leaves from the lawn?

Allowing any light to reach the lawn and ensuring that moisture can evaporate from the lawn canopy is a good start. We know that fungi prefer moist environments. Let debris mulch another place in the garden than on the lawn.
Do you have pools of water forming on the lawn?

It is not necessarily a problem that the soil is filled to full water capacity. A good drain in the soil profile is preferable, but some days of pools are acceptable. Do avoid traffic on the lawn while the water is there, the crowns, the growth points of the grass plant, may be more vulnerable than usual in these conditions.
Learning and thinking ahead

A good lawn mixture adapted to your region will be able to buffer the wet conditions. In extended periods of water logged conditions smooth stalked meadow grass will be standing strong after the pools have drained. Over time, I'm talking years, a trained eye will notice the lawn segregating into local conditions in the lawn: Shadow areas will increase in fescues, traffic areas will leave smooth stalked and ryegrass, water logged patches are most tolerable to smooth stalked. Over the years the mature lawn will appear naturally patchy as it adapts to the local conditions.

To rejuvenate and homogenized the lawn consider having a spring over seeding plan ready every few years.

Speaking of winter activities for the garden owner, consider sharpening the blade of the mower. This makes for a much more clean cut and it does make a visible difference!

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Ribambelle fodder beet is a new variety for the UK market. It has been bred to provide a high energy feed for dairy, beef or sheep and can be mechanically harvested or grazed in situ. Ribambelle grows 50-60% out of the ground, making the crop very easy to utilise.
 

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Improving grass performance

Since 2015 we have been able to predict trait performance in perennial ryegrass based on a simple DNA profile and every day, we become increasingly better at doing it.

It all started 10 years ago when researchers and breeders at Aarhus University and DLF decided to attempt something no one had tried before: Develop and implement genomic selection in an open-pollinating, population-bred crop. At the time, the only tools available were developed for animal breeding, which is based on single individuals.
Like all other open-pollinated species, ryegrass breeding lines consist of several similar (but not identical) siblings and sometimes even more distantly related individuals. This feature ruled out the use of chip-genotyping, which was state-of-the-art for determining the DNA profile of a single individual. Instead, a sequence-based approach was deployed that more efficiently could describe the DNA profile of a mixed population in a quantitative manner. The use of this new technology, however, meant that all statistical models behind Genomic Selection had to be revised and redesigned to deal with such quantitative DNA profiles.
Genotyping_pipeline_2019_02-1-2048x1536.jpg

Fortunately, the research was spiked by extra funding from an innovative executive management and two Danish National Research Foundations, who saw the potential of moving breeding faster and with a higher success rate. More than 1000 breeding lines tracking ten years back was pulled out from the seed storages and subject to sequencing and re-testing in the field. The output from this training set was used to develop the first genomic prediction models, which showed to be surprisingly good. Following additional years of model improvement, the first GS-based synthetic variety crosses were made in 2015 and today Genomic Selection is an integrated part of forage perennial ryegrass breeding at DLF’s breeding stations in Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, and New Zealand.
Genomic Selection enables breeders to pre-select lines with sufficient potential to be tested in the field, it allows them to cut down development time, and it increases the annual breeding gain substantially. The inclusion of material from several breeding locations has since advanced Genomic Selection models so that the performance of a certain line can be predicted for different environments. That option holds great prospects for breeding in a future with an ever-changing climate. We will not be able to predict that future, but we will be able to predict how our forage grasses will perform. The future is green.

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som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Over 320 acres of a Herbal Ley mixture treated with Mycorrhizal Fungi ready for the onward journey to the farm.

Please contact your 2020 Herbal Ley requirements.

View attachment 855497View attachment 855498

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tell us more please, the only drawback, that I can see, is the 'gm' bit, not from us, but gen public. For us, the 'holy grail' is a really decent spray, to remove docks etc, from clover. But anything that increases grass productivity, is welcome, it adds to the bottom line. Have some reseeding to do this spring, message me for a chat.
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
tell us more please, the only drawback, that I can see, is the 'gm' bit, not from us, but gen public. For us, the 'holy grail' is a really decent spray, to remove docks etc, from clover. But anything that increases grass productivity, is welcome, it adds to the bottom line. Have some reseeding to do this spring, message me for a chat.
This particular farm has (apart from one year, we couldn't treat) treated their new grass mixtures for the past 7 years (at least) around the 1000 acre mark in total.

There's nothing sinister in the product you are simply adding to the mycorrhizal fungi already present within the structure of the soil.

From the website: "Arguably the most important of all soil microbes for the support of commercial farming are mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi act as a vast secondary root system extending a crop's access to water and nutrients by over 700 times.

The ideal time to build up mycorrhizal communities is during the planting of leys, cover, catch and forage crops. Particularly grasses and legumes are excellent hosts for mycorrhizal fungi and support the establishment of a robust fungal network. This benefits cover- as well as follow-on cash crops. Trials showed improved nitrogen uptake by catch crops in association with AMF.

Research has shown increased crop performance when other biologicals such as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are combined with a thriving mycorrhizal community.
SR2 is a dry granule and can be mixed with seeds during sowing, applied by broadcasting or via a suitable granular applicator. PlantWorks can offer advice on suitable systems. A range of seed sellers can also supply seed mixes pre-blended with SR2.
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) associate with 90% of all crop plants. By growing into the root, as well as accessing large areas of soil around the plant, these remarkable fungi effectively increase the uptake surface area of plant roots up to 700 times. Additionally plant defense mechanisms are improved by the partnership. Put simply, plants colonised by AMF are healthier and significantly more efficient at collecting water and nutrients from the soil.
Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and unlock soil-bound phosphorus. They work in synergy with AMF, which transport nutrients to host plants. PGPR support a robust plant immune system for healthier crops and produce phytohormones, such as auxins and cytocinins, aiding growth and development of plants".
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
We are again proud to offer the Seedmark range of grass seed mixtures from Germinal for 2020.

Please find the PDF file attached.

Seedmark 2020_digital.jpg
 

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
We are again proud to offer the HSG range of grass seed mixtures from Germinal for 2020.

Please find the PDF file attached.

Front Germinal Forage Seed 2020.jpg
 

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Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Best practice required to maximise the benefits of multi-cut silage


Dairy farmers opting for a modern multi cut approach to grass silage making should prioritise ley mixture selection, timings and nutrient management in order to ensure best results, according to Germinal GB’s Helen Mathieu.

Speaking at Dairy-Tech 2020, Ms Mathieu reported growing popularity of earlier and more frequent cutting strategies but said that best practice was essential in order to maximise the opportunity of increased feed value.

“First and foremost, leys destined for a multi cut approach should be predominantly comprised of modern perennial ryegrasses – so ideally reseeded within the last six years,” she said. “We recommend a mix of intermediate and late heading varieties that will deliver good spring growth. A tight heading date range is essential, so that the entire sward is broadly at the same stage of development when cut, and an equal split of tetraploid and diploid varieties gives the right balance for most systems.

“Adding clover will increase the protein content of the silage and reduce the rate of nitrogen fertiliser required, but I would advise using red as opposed to white clover. With frequent cutting, white clover can proliferate and dominate the sward at the expense of the perennial ryegrass.”

Stressing the importance of timing, Ms Mathieu said that the key was to start early and maintain a discipline all through the silage making season.
“The aim should be to take a first cut in late April or early May, and then stick to a routine of cutting as close to five weekly intervals as possible,” she added. “Don’t wait for crops to bulk up but cut when the grass is still at the leafy stage when D-value will be highest.”

In terms of nutrient management, Ms Mathieu said it was important to ensure any slurry applications are applied as early in the spring as possible, to reduce the risk of residues in the crop.
“It’s also important to allow sufficient time for nitrogen applications to be converted and utilised by the ley,” she said. “The rule of thumb is that a ley will use two units of nitrogen per acre per day, so if you’re applying 80 units/acre (or 100kgN/ha) that should be 40 days before cutting. The same principle will apply between cuts, so obviously with shorter cutting intervals the amount of nitrogen applied should be reduced accordingly.

“When it comes to phosphate and potash, it’s necessary to replace what has been removed in order to maintain the optimum soil indices. The offtake from a four cut system yielding 12 tonnes of dry matter per hectare will typically equate to 25kgs of P and 85kgs of K, and higher still if red clover is included in the ley.

“We’re seeing the biggest shift in silage making practice in recent times as more and more dairy farms put greater reliance on homegrown forage. For those applying a best practice approach, including maintenance of the right sward quality and applying the optimum cutting regime, multi cut systems offer a significant opportunity to raise the bar on grass silage quality and reduce cost of production significantly.”

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From Countryside Seeds Limited.
 

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

  • 1,293
  • 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/
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