Drilling anyone?

[DrWazzock]

Just out of interest what direct drill and was all residue left or baled ?

moore unidrill old style. Residue chopped( rape straw) .
Not blaming the drill. It was my own misjudgement to expect a disc / tine drill to cope with solid wet clay and endless rain. Thankfully not a big area but an experiment to prove it that myself once and for all that direct drilling heavy land here is a non starter unless conditions are perfect which is almost never.
It’s worked well on the sand though and I have therefore 75% of my winter wheat up now, though it won’t break any records.

 

[teslacoils]

Will roll behind drill, and either again straight away or once it's up.

 

[DrWazzock]

I am powerhsrrowing after ploughing to level and consolidate then rolling in front of drill .Then the unidrill leaves it nicely corrugated but rolled in to hopefully avoid a blow. Preem on after drilling. Strategy keeps me awake at night, but I am in ploughing mood this spring .

 

[Flat 10]

Ploughing the ex beet land as I type. Kverneland five furrow vari width. Lovely job. Just dry enough. Not smearing. Why didn’t we buy a kverneland years ago rather than struggle with others? Goes through heavy and light straight as an arrow. If the virus gets me I’ll die happy.
I have also learned ploughs run straight when the landslides run at a slight angle to line of travel thereby balancing side draft of share and wing. Only taken me 40 years.

Your picture was very impressive the other day

 

[Brisel]

Is everyone rolling afterwards?

Yes. It is drying off so fast I now want to keep the moisture around the seed. A bit of rain forecast next weekend but not much.

 

[snarling bee]

The end of the beginning.
550 acres to go.

 

[Bob lincs]

We’re down to 200ish acres now so have stood one drill down and will finish off with the other one as loads of spraying to get on with when the wind drops . We’re a man down now as I have had to ask dad to stay at home now for his own safety regarding cv-19 . I’m now Chem sorting man, seed sorting man and all the little jobs that dad does that we don’t notice .

 

[snarling bee]

We are on dedicated machines/tractors and tearoom/workshop restrictions, as well as 4m gap between us. Had a friend's brother in law die of covid 19, so cant be too careful. Bit close to home etc. But doesn't make life particularly easy when I cannot share pickup etc.

 

[Still Farming]

Plenty of dust here.

 

[Renaultman]

If its 1.5 ton and nothing has been spent the best thing is rip it up, it wont cover its ongoing costs. Would you plant wheat knowing its going to be 1.5t/ac?

So ripping it up and plant a 2t 2.5t crop of spring barley is going to give a better return? I'm a firm believer in 'your first loss is your best loss'

 

[Renaultman]

Weed pressure as well. A lot of wheat that looked ok round here had no spray on it and in reality was 1.5t of wheat and 0.5t of blackgrass.

I can understand that.

 

[Fish]

You got a strip till drill??? [emoji4]

Na, just these two, green flavour or red flavour

 

[DrWazzock]

Your picture was very impressive the other day

Today I am turning ex beet land that hasn’t been ploughed for 5 years into something that will form a seedbed thanks to the restorative effects of the plough.
Our heavier soils don’t restructure under a no till regime particularly after a root harvest during a winter like we have had.

 

[DrWazzock]

I have some fairly ropey looking winter wheat but I am leaving it. Sometimes the thinnest most backward looking wheat at this time of year yields best here come harvest. I just can’t contemplate sowing the whole farm to spring barley and who says it will be that successful anyway.

 

[Wombat]

Na, just these two, green flavour or red flavour View attachment 866923

Nice, the symptoms you described looked exactly like what our neighbour was doing with his strip till drill

 

[Wombat]

I have some fairly ropey looking winter wheat but I am leaving it. Sometimes the thinnest most backward looking wheat at this time of year yields best here come harvest. I just can’t contemplate sowing the whole farm to spring barley and who says it will be that successful anyway.

Same here I have some crap stuff but we normally keep getting tillers up until May and as it’s so cold I am not as bothered at The moment. If I could do 2T on everything we drilled in Jan the weather fecked I would take it at the moment

 

[4course]

We’re down to 200ish acres now so have stood one drill down and will finish off with the other one as loads of spraying to get on with when the wind drops . We’re a man down now as I have had to ask dad to stay at home now for his own safety regarding cv-19 . I’m now Chem sorting man, seed sorting man and all the little jobs that dad does that we don’t notice .

your dads job is my job you will find it more than fills a day

 

[4course]

So ripping it up and plant a 2t 2.5t crop of spring barley is going to give a better return? I'm a firm believer in 'your first loss is your best loss'

my interpretation of first loss is best loss is different , I work to the principle as follows,the first loss is the initial crop of wheat so no use trying to save it by spending ,accept the loss move on and sow another

 

[Romeogolf]

FSS laureate going into soils this week not moved since September at 220kg/ha... Freeflow finding some moisture under the dry top. Rightly or wrongly ripped up a lot of very patchy winter wheat, with only the cost of seed incurred and only 40% of the field with plants it seemed right at the time.

Certainly a year when you have to make the decision that seems right to you and stick with it.
Rolled down tight afterwards, amazing how we can go from trying to dry things out to attempting to conserve moisture.

 

[teslacoils]

Tbh we are always trying to conserve moisture between April and October.