It isn't all about Direct Drills when it comes to Soil Health
SEEDBED MANAGEMENT KEY FOR YIELD AND PEST CONTROL
Good seed bed management and crop establishment alongside controlling blackgrass and reducing the slug risk is farm manager Simon Hill’s main priority on the 687 hectare Strattons Farms LLP in Hampshire. The land is roughly split into two types, approximately half is chalk land with a clay cap and the other half is a silty clay loam. The vast majority of the land is down to a cereal rotation apart from 109 hectares of grassland which supports a beef suckler herd.
“We try where possible to keep an open six year rotation using winter wheat, winter oats, winter barley oilseed rape and spring barley,” says Mr Hill. “In recent years we have grown less and less soft milling wheat and now we are growing almost exclusively hard feed wheat.
“There is no second wheat and the further the oilseed rape crops are kept apart the better. By growing the rape once in every six years rather than once in every three means that we get far better yields as there is a lot less chance of damage by pests, especially now there are no neonicotinoids available to control flea beetles.” In order to get the best seedbed available and good crop establishment Mr Hill has adopted a non-inversion tillage programme, although a small amount of ploughing is carried out when needed to help weed control, especially blackgrass.
It is a relatively simple system, he says, with around 70% of the straw produced being baled, but this presents a problem with chaff and straw because a 30ft combine has difficulty spreading it evenly across the full working width. Consequently he has replaced an old Vaderstad Carrier with a new Carrier 525XL, pulled by a John Deere 6190R, which has a straw rake on the front and 61cm discs.
“We travel at a 250–300 angle across the tramlines as soon as possible after harvest,” says Mr Hill. “We set the discs to go to at a depth of between 7.5cm and 10cm, which is essential to do as soon as possible after harvest to ensure trash and soils are well mixed. This will allow the micro-organisms in the soil to start to break down the chaff and trash which helps in the control of slugs without the need for any chemical control.”
Two of the three farms on the estate have open water ditches and so are under the control of Catchment Sensitive Areas. The other farm has no surface water as such but water from the aquifer below is used for drinking water and so is bound by regulations regarding slug pellets. The land is then left to green up before being sprayed off with glyphosate. This is followed by a pass with a Vaderstad TopDown to a depth of 175mm pulled by a John Deere 8345R.
The land is then left to green up again before being sprayed off with a second application of glyphosate. “We have done this since we started getting some signs of blackgrass resistance to Atlantis and so far it appears to be working well and keeping things under control. Only following the second dose of glyphosate do we consider drilling. This is done with a 4m Vaderstad Rapid drill pulled by a Fendt 820 Vario. “By using this system we feel we are getting the best seed bed possible with good high quality kit that holds its value. Good establishment is essential for good yields and also we are able to adopt good cultural practices for weed and pest control.”
You can read the Article online which is on Page 20 Of Direct Driller Magazine here: https://issuu.com/directdriller/docs/direct_driller_issue_2/20
SEEDBED MANAGEMENT KEY FOR YIELD AND PEST CONTROL
Good seed bed management and crop establishment alongside controlling blackgrass and reducing the slug risk is farm manager Simon Hill’s main priority on the 687 hectare Strattons Farms LLP in Hampshire. The land is roughly split into two types, approximately half is chalk land with a clay cap and the other half is a silty clay loam. The vast majority of the land is down to a cereal rotation apart from 109 hectares of grassland which supports a beef suckler herd.
“We try where possible to keep an open six year rotation using winter wheat, winter oats, winter barley oilseed rape and spring barley,” says Mr Hill. “In recent years we have grown less and less soft milling wheat and now we are growing almost exclusively hard feed wheat.
“There is no second wheat and the further the oilseed rape crops are kept apart the better. By growing the rape once in every six years rather than once in every three means that we get far better yields as there is a lot less chance of damage by pests, especially now there are no neonicotinoids available to control flea beetles.” In order to get the best seedbed available and good crop establishment Mr Hill has adopted a non-inversion tillage programme, although a small amount of ploughing is carried out when needed to help weed control, especially blackgrass.
It is a relatively simple system, he says, with around 70% of the straw produced being baled, but this presents a problem with chaff and straw because a 30ft combine has difficulty spreading it evenly across the full working width. Consequently he has replaced an old Vaderstad Carrier with a new Carrier 525XL, pulled by a John Deere 6190R, which has a straw rake on the front and 61cm discs.
“We travel at a 250–300 angle across the tramlines as soon as possible after harvest,” says Mr Hill. “We set the discs to go to at a depth of between 7.5cm and 10cm, which is essential to do as soon as possible after harvest to ensure trash and soils are well mixed. This will allow the micro-organisms in the soil to start to break down the chaff and trash which helps in the control of slugs without the need for any chemical control.”
Two of the three farms on the estate have open water ditches and so are under the control of Catchment Sensitive Areas. The other farm has no surface water as such but water from the aquifer below is used for drinking water and so is bound by regulations regarding slug pellets. The land is then left to green up before being sprayed off with glyphosate. This is followed by a pass with a Vaderstad TopDown to a depth of 175mm pulled by a John Deere 8345R.
The land is then left to green up again before being sprayed off with a second application of glyphosate. “We have done this since we started getting some signs of blackgrass resistance to Atlantis and so far it appears to be working well and keeping things under control. Only following the second dose of glyphosate do we consider drilling. This is done with a 4m Vaderstad Rapid drill pulled by a Fendt 820 Vario. “By using this system we feel we are getting the best seed bed possible with good high quality kit that holds its value. Good establishment is essential for good yields and also we are able to adopt good cultural practices for weed and pest control.”
You can read the Article online which is on Page 20 Of Direct Driller Magazine here: https://issuu.com/directdriller/docs/direct_driller_issue_2/20