Disappointed

[Andy26]

To be fair most FW farmer comments have had a low to start with followed by the high...

'...the Winter Barley was dissapointing at 2.75t/acre but Wheat muddled in before Christmas has yield a respectable 4.45t/acre...'

'...the Wheats have been poor a ton below the farm average at 2.9t/acre, but the OSR has delivered this year and we are pleased we did the extra fungicide pass as it's yielded 2.2t/acre just a smidge over the farm average...'

 

[Andy26]

When you store at central store your tonnage is dried down to 15.5% with storage loss of 1% plus screenings to take of too, can make quite a diiference to the average yield compared to someone weighing at home at 17% plus . Only average that is important is the tonnes i get paid for and the profit per tonne, if any

Yes a slightly different system to counting trailers!

 

[Clive]

To be fair most FW farmer comments have had a low to start with followed by the high...

'...the Winter Barley was dissapointing at 2.75t/acre but Wheat muddled in before Christmas has yield a respectable 4.45t/acre...'

'...the Wheats have been poor a ton below the farm average at 2.9t/acre, but the OSR has delivered this year and we are pleased we did the extra fungicide pass as it's yielded 2.2t/acre just a smidge over the farm average...'

 

[Clive]

Why are you disappointed? Surely you have been around long enough to realise a lot of farmers are full full of sh!t? It's part of life, just accept it.

I'm not disappointed - but almost every bit in the press says how 'disappointed' farmer x is with just 4t !

I know most farmers are full of sh!t but it seems to get worse every year and now verges on the ridiculous, land agents read this rubbish and sety rents accordingly

how about a bit of honestly in the industry / press ? Joe public isn't thick and can add up, no wonder he thinks we are all loaded and have an easy life

 

[exmoor dave]

I'm more annoyed at how everything in FW is now in Ha's. are they trying to metric us by stealth?
you read the livestock focus farmers pieces and things are in 0.something/ha and you know it was submitted as a nice sensible something/acre number and has been edited by the FW staff.

they could at least put the per acre figure in brackets or even better the ha figure in brackets.

 

[Niels]

When will farmers realise it is better to say you've cut 3t/ac rather than 4 or more for prices and the general opinion in the scene. I know the trade keeps a close eye on what is growing but a general positive or negative opinion can make one hell of a difference. Last year my father in law grew 9t/ha (3.64t/ac) of wheat @ € 240 which makes € 2.160. This year it's 11,2t/ha (4.53t/ac) @ € 160 which makes € 1.792. A fancy yield doesn't always have to be a good margin! The yield was his best ever on the farm though.

Exmoor Dave: Why would you not want to use the metric system? Seedrate is in ha's, chemical application is, fertiliser is so it makes a lot of sense using hectares for most? As you say, put acre figures in brackets if people really find it that important.

 

[exmoor dave]

When will farmers realise it is better to say you've cut 3t/ac rather than 4 or more for prices and the general opinion in the scene. I know the trade keeps a close eye on what is growing but a general positive or negative opinion can make one hell of a difference. Last year my father in law grew 9t/ha (3.64t/ac) of wheat @ € 240 which makes € 2.160. This year it's 11,2t/ha (4.53t/ac) @ € 160 which makes € 1.792. A fancy yield doesn't always have to be a good margin! The yield was his best ever on the farm though.

Exmoor Dave: Why would you not want to use the metric system? Seedrate is in ha's, chemical application is, fertiliser is so it makes a lot of sense using hectares for most? As you say, put acre figures in brackets if people really find it that important.

because i'm a livestock farmer from darkest Exmoor who is stuck in the past the only thing i'd do in ha would be spray rates, of which I do very little, fert is in kgs/acre (yes a nice mix metric and imperial) but stocking rates -the number one measurement for livestock is sheep/cows per acre.
round here (and in most if not all stock areas) EVERYONE talks to each other in acres.....in fact if someone starting talking bout sheep per ha, we'd probably have a witch hunt and throw them in the Bristol channel

i've got no problem with the metric system, in fact i'm more than happy to mix and match- often in the same measure ment but I wont be told I have to use one over the other. I prefer metric for weights, imperial for measurements (metric in mm when I need accuracy).....but I'm a acres man!

 

[Robigus]

I'm more annoyed at how everything in FW is now in Ha's. are they trying to metric us by stealth?
you read the livestock focus farmers pieces and things are in 0.something/ha and you know it was submitted as a nice sensible something/acre number and has been edited by the FW staff.

they could at least put the per acre figure in brackets or even better the ha figure in brackets.

I was educated using both (it's just down to date of birth) and am happy to use either.

But I agree with you on the mindless conversions. There was a piece some time ago that said an adjustment had to be between 38.1mm and 50.8mm, i.e accuracy to 39 thou." but what it meant was 1.5" to 2", accuracy half an inch.

 

[Niels]

I think your opinion is generally that of every farmer in the UK? I've worked in the East (Suffolk). You can tell the posh people only use hectares and the general farmer is onto acres. Probably because it sounds a lot less and the big boys can make up for it . I reckon it will always stay acres for talks but for proper measurement and work on the farm hectares are far superiour! The mm thing (UK) is plain silly though. I don't need anyone to tell me that a drill is 3000 mm. Just use centimetres!

 

[exmoor dave]

I think your opinion is generally that of every farmer in the UK? I've worked in the East (Suffolk). You can tell the posh people only use hectares and the general farmer is onto acres. Probably because it sounds a lot less and the big boys can make up for it . I reckon it will always stay acres for talks but for proper measurement and work on the farm hectares are far superiour! The mm thing (UK) is plain silly though. I don't need anyone to tell me that a drill is 3000 mm. Just use centimetres!

or even better 10ft

I think a lot of it is that as farmers we know our field sizes in acres, we've had it drilled in to us from birth. its second knowledge so why change, also imperial is easier to visualise.

just use the best of each! I can't see imperial disappearing to quickly, i'm under 30 so was only taught metric at school yet I can talk to people my age and younger in imperial no problem so it must be going strong outside of farming somewhere.

 

[Niels]

After having worked on a Suffolk farm for 6 months I was already changed over to imperial and often still do so, which confuses a lot of people! Especially when your speaking in English to Germans or French and you automatically start converting everything in imperial . A friend of mine always says; it comes down to what the housewife uses. They want ounces and pounds in the supermarket. Not gramms and kilo's.

 

[rob1]

Have used both for years but if I look at a field I can give a pretty good guesstimate at how many acres it is but not an idea how many ha's without converting it from acres, why??

 

[Steevo]

Price pressure as harvest exceeds expectations

 

[Chae1]

I use ha for spraying and fert spreading always litres/ha, kg/ha.

 

[Clive]

Price pressure as harvest exceeds expectations

I am either the UK's worse farmer or not farming in the same country ?

There seems to be a complete misunderstand of the phrase 'better than expected'. In the context of this year expectations where at some points nothing so anything was better than expected as merchants are quoting

However it doesn't mean better than average which is the context of much of the harvest reporting

 

[bobk]

I use ha for spraying and fert spreading always litres/ha, kg/ha.

I use litres /ha for spraying and units/ acre for fert ... so I'm halfway there

 

[Steevo]

I am either the UK's worse farmer or not farming in the same country ?

There seems to be a complete misunderstand of the phrase 'better than expected'. In the context of this year expectations where at some points nothing so anything was better than expected as merchants are quoting

However it doesn't mean better than average which is the context of much of the harvest reporting

We're all thinking the same. Trouble is the exception gets taken as the "average" because it makes for a better headline, despite being unrepresentative. Such variability around this harvest too, and for many of us it's the second poor harvest in a row.

 

[Old Spot]

Same as Clive must be one of the worst farmers!
On the metric Imperial comments try to use metric but everyone knows where the 19 acres is. If I sent the hedgetrimmer to the slightly less then 8ha in doesnt sound the same.
Thought the BBC showed it well last night, well done to the farmers involved came over just right.