Farmer Roy's Random Thoughts - I never said it was easy.

[Farmer Roy]

After they've grazed it will they terminate it, or continue to grow it as a cereal crop?

well, at this stage he doesn’t have any cattle ( having sold them all due to lack of feed / dry conditions last year ), & this really light hard country won’t produce much of a grain crop unless it’s a particularly wet season . . . His priority was just to get something planted as groundcover, & hopefully be able to buy some cattle.
He would usually just graze it until there was nothing left

 

[Steel]

Quite common here to silage barley. Bit different context to you over there though it's usually sown for silage not that there is any difference. I've done it a few times try not to let it get too dry as the heads will go through cattle if it's too dry. Sheep tend to sort it a bit too much if there are heads in it and refuse to eat the straw as it tends to be quite mature by then. Rats love it Not sure if that's any help to you.

No heads yet, hoping cutting it now we can stop it heading until August.

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

I'll run the cows around and clean it up for you

 

[hendrebc]

No heads yet, hoping cutting it now we can stop it heading until August.

That should make some nice silage for anything then.
Usually here it's arable silage of its cut before it heads and wholecrop if it has headed. A bit of pointless information for you

 

[Farmer Roy]

Planting the Crop 2024 | 2020 chickpeas finally seeing some sunlight. | Facebook

2020 chickpeas finally seeing some sunlight.

www.facebook.com

 

[cows sh#t me to tears]

Planting the Crop 2024 | 2020 chickpeas finally seeing some sunlight. | Facebook

2020 chickpeas finally seeing some sunlight.

www.facebook.com

Did he plant them with a backhoe ? that's a bloody long shoot

 

[Farmer Roy]

Did he plant them with a backhoe ? that's a bloody long shoot

ive seen blokes planting faba beans down to 8” chasing moisture with a Boss tyne planter . . .

 

[Farmer Roy]

After they've grazed it will they terminate it, or continue to grow it as a cereal crop?

well, at this stage he doesn’t have any cattle ( having sold them all due to lack of feed / dry conditions last year ), & this really light hard country won’t produce much of a grain crop unless it’s a particularly wet season . . . His priority was just to get something planted as groundcover, & hopefully be able to buy some cattle.
He would usually just graze it until there was nothing left

Which is bizarre really, when you think about it. He has spent money spraying it & paying me to plant it, but he could have achieved the same result ( ground cover & potentially cattle feed ) by doing nothing & just letting all the wild oats, brassicas, milk thistle, ryegrass etc grow. But they are all “weeds” & thus undesirable ?

 

[Steel]

I'll run the cows around and clean it up for you

Stuart has offered his cows too.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Err, Karl & John - I’m not quite sure who you are but I’m guessing you are TFF people . . .
Anyway - if you are here - thank you so much for your donations to my push up challenge.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Baling and wrapping silage yesterday I listened to this excellent ABC "Conversations" series podcast about the origins and development of vaccination

How a milkmaid with cowpox changed history - ABC listen

David Isaacs on the surprising history of human vaccination

www.abc.net.au

Thanks for pointing me to these Roy, they are deeply engaging and enlightening.

This one from the "Down to earth" series from the Quivira Coalition about the desperate overuse of water in the Colorado River catchment was also a fascinating insight into how dysfunctional US environmental regulation is (and just how much US agriculture relies on irrigation)

Down to Earth Podcast Episode 68

Water expert Brian Richter walks us through the history of these great man-made lakes, and how we can ensure that they will continue to provide water through man-made crises like climate change.

quiviracoalition.org

 

[Karliboy]

No problem Roy.
I have a few friends doing various push up challenges on fb but yours was a lot closer to my heart

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Sunnie update for @Farmer Roy, yes the frosts do bugger them, was only -5.2 yesterday and I see them drooping this morning. -3.2 today but thawed fast and just threatening rain now - hope so!

 

[Farmer Roy]

https://services.rabobank.com/publicationservice/download/publication/token/80kZj8xdYuiN3ZMnhwfk

 

[Farmer Roy]

Haven’t seen this before, thought I’d try it

really good if you like an IPA

never seen cans like this before, the whole top comes off with the pull.

nearly came to grief as I pulled the ring with a can sitting in my lap as I was driving home

 

[Kidds]

I believe the main reason ring pulls were changed so they did not come off was they were just discarded all over the place littering everywhere. 30 years later and you will still find them on beaches.
I like the idea of turning your can into a glass but I can guess where the tops will end up.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

At least you can't get too p!ssed on the way home, because you'll just wear it when ya hit the flubbety-dubbety bits

 

[Kidds]

This farming lark is like trying to push water uphill.
No sales due to virus lockdown since mid Feb,
No rain since about the same time. Not Oz drought but it is bloody serious here now.
Frost wiped out nearly all my crop.
Yesterday discovered a bad case of sawfly munching through what little crop I do have while I wait for chem on back order.
This morning get up to find 10 of my 16 geese have been killed in the night. Probably fox but not ruled out neighbours dogs. This includes the gosling my missus hand reared, not only that it was on his first birthday. Happy birthday George. FFS!

I don't get down in the dumps usually but this morning is a bit glum.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Planting the Crop 2024 | The ABC managed to track me down after posting that drone video in here that 600+ of you liked and shared | Facebook

The ABC managed to track me down after posting that drone video in here that 600+ of you liked and shared! here’s the full video - https://youtu.be/gaTmE2Pwstw here’s the written article -...

www.facebook.com

 

[Farmer Roy]

At least you can't get too p!ssed on the way home, because you'll just wear it when ya hit the flubbety-dubbety bits

spilling grog is a cardinal sin . . .