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

[Kiwi Pete]

We're part of a (now two!) projects with the Rural Business School and Rothamstead research - one is a full carbon audit of field work and all accounts (takes a trained person about 2 days!) where everything is measured in and out - even down to car business milage. This is also linked to a project where they are actually annually measuring the soil to a depth of 60cm using GPS grids and any increases, decreases and minerals - I think this may also link into being able to benchmark different plants and ability to capture carbon later. It should also give us a map of any nutrient migration over the next few years. In the last few years we have has some nerds do some sampling at field scale and we have been steadily building carbon - particularly noticeable in fields that were previously in an arable rotation. We are now at a steady 11% average with some fields recording at 20%, but I'm somewhat sceptical of these measurements.

Hopefully over the next couple of years they will be able to correlate the account side with the actual soil measurements. Its all a bit quiet at the moment, but I strongly suspect the reason for them doing this is in preparation to be able to accurately estimate carbon capture for a BPS type replacement. Suits me!

Sounds really interesting Agrispeed

We undertaken have similar trials here, quite surprising when you take into account a quite small amount of vehicle usage can have such a dramatic effect on the footprint of a business, and can undo so much of the good work our soils are doing for us; it's part of our plan to eliminate as much fuel consumption as possible as a result of these findings.

Certainly the idea of putting a machine between the plant and the mouth is a very questionable method of producing meat and milk from an environmental and economic point of view.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

What's everyone up to today?

Nothing to read on here of any relevance, so I feel bound to ask this question

I am in the throes of fencing my paddocks into breaks for the hoggets coming tomorrow nice and still, can hear the sea thumping but a bit dirty to go for a dive

 

[CornishTone]

Trying to find a new canola trial site, as I’ve been dicked around twice now by my esteemed colleagues. The joys of doing trials!

 

[CornishTone]

Nothing to read on here of any relevance, so I feel bound to ask this question

Hmm, that might explain the sudden and prolific postings from Boss Farmer in the last couple of days?! Is anyone else beginning to see through the scam?!

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Trying to find a new canola trial site, as I’ve been dicked around twice now by my esteemed colleagues. The joys of doing trials!

Canola - is that simply rape by another name?

(I am seriously losing my sense of what is real and what is fact, now )

Hmm, that might explain the sudden and prolific postings from Boss Farmer in the last couple of days?! Is anyone else beginning to see through the scam?!

Glad to know I'm not the only one who sees through that

 

[CornishTone]

Canola = oil seed rape, yes. It’s known as canola here. Is it an Australian thing then?

You are not alone.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I think Blaithin calls it canola too.

Maybe it's just me who still calls it rape?

Hence my quiet snickering at you being "dicked around" over a rape trial!
I know, you left yourself wide open...

Naughty Pete....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

When's your ideal planting window @CornishTone

I'm being serious now. I have thought about growing it here as a fast cover crop.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Canola = oil seed rape, yes. It’s known as canola here. Is it an Australian thing then?

You are not alone.

I think Blaithin calls it canola too.

Maybe it's just me who still calls it rape?

Hence my quiet snickering at you being "dicked around" over a rape trial!
I know, you left yourself wide open...

Naughty Pete....

Canola

the EU / UK call it Rape, or Oil Seed Rape

Australia / Canada / US & most enlightened, modern progressive producers call it Canola

with more enlightened times in the 1970's or thereabouts, the Canadians ( who were or are the biggest producers ) decided that RAPE wasn't a particularly nice or friendly term, from a marketing point of view or trying to break into new markets

So, the very clever, enlightened Canadians decided to rebrand it, make it their own & give it a better name ( Kiwi Fruit anyone ? )

CAN ( Canadian ) OLA ( Oil )

It would be the Canadians ( such nice, independent people ) who would do something like that, certainly cant see the UK being that proactive on a marketing concept, theyd be more likely to say its always been called sexual assault & the public just have to except it & be thankful for it.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

What's everyone up to today?

Nothing to read on here of any relevance, so I feel bound to ask this question

I am in the throes of fencing my paddocks into breaks for the hoggets coming tomorrow nice and still, can hear the sea thumping but a bit dirty to go for a dive

Looking at the remains of yesterdays rain, wondering if one can get the tractor out of the paddock and if any cattle swam into the next paddock.....

 

[Farmer Roy]

When's your ideal planting window @CornishTone

I'm being serious now. I have thought about growing it here as a fast cover crop.

canola has a very wide planting window, depending on your end use or what you are trying to achieve
here, for pure oil seed production, early autumn seems most common. However, I have heard of it being planted in spring as a grazing / cover crop, then following year allowed to flower & develop seed to be harvested
There seems to more interest in dual purpose graze / grain varieties lately in some areas

 

[Farmer Roy]

Sympathy like

naah, goes with the territory
hard land & harder people

we're nowhere near f^ucked yet

 

[CornishTone]

When's your ideal planting window @CornishTone

I'm being serious now. I have thought about growing it here as a fast cover crop.

Ideally April/May, but we’ve had a fairly protracted sowing and germination due to the weather. There’s spring varieties as well, which we don’t see here, but you might be able to utilise with different seasonal rainfall to here.

There are specific forage varieties (which are still called “forage rape” here, regardless of amusing double entendres or how much you dislike the British) which has a place in that situation alongside other forage brassicas, giving you a good feed option along with cover.

Mustards are an option if it’s just a simple cover crop you’re after. Fast growing, lots of biomass, OM and even a bio-fumigant effect. Dad has sown mustard cover crop for the last 2 or 3 years and noticed a significant reduction in weeds where he’s used it. It’s now a permanent feature in his rotation before spring crops.

As an aside, he planted one field of barley with a zero- till strip tillage machine this year as a look see. In their dry spring/summer that field has stayed noticeably greener for noticeably longer. The barley planted conventionally only 2 days before has already been harvested. The strip till barley won’t be fit for another week yet. Light bulb moment! Cover crops and strip tillage will be the norm going forward. Am waiting with baited breath for the yield comparison.

 

[Farmer Roy]

 

[CornishTone]

Maybe it's just me who still calls it rape?

Hence my quiet snickering at you being "dicked around" over a rape trial!
I know, you left yourself wide open...

Naughty Pete....

How childish!

In fairness, I’ve never even heard the whole “rape or canola” thing being raised as an issue in the UK. Surprising given the PC/terminally offended times we live in! Only a matter of time I’m sure as those who make a living out of finding offence where there is none work their way towards it. Offence is subjective, so perhaps the British just aren’t as easily offended?!?!?! It’s all marketed as vegetable oil anyway so rape is really just an industry term. “Rape Oil” May be a tricky sell?!

 

[Farmer Roy]

As an aside, he planted one field of barley with a zero- till strip tillage machine this year as a look see. In their dry spring/summer that field has stayed noticeably greener for noticeably longer. The barley planted conventionally only 2 days before has already been harvested. The strip till barley won’t be fit for another week yet. Light bulb moment! Cover crops and strip tillage will be the norm going forward. Am waiting with baited breath for the yield comparison.

out of interest, what is the UK concept of strip tillage ?
I only know it as the US system of tillage & maybe fertiliser application in the plant row maybe months prior to planting, on warm season row crops on wide row spacings, say corn & cotton. It is stating to gain some traction here in the cotton industry especially


however, barley, Im assuming you are talking narrow rows of 200 mm or less ? How does that work ? Or is it like DBS or ConservaPak type machines here with a deep shank in front ( generally deep banding fert ) followed by a shallower closing / planting tyne ?



the concept appears to work quite well on harder, lighter soil types. They seem more popular on the west than here

 

[Farmer Roy]

How childish!

In fairness, I’ve never even heard the whole “rape or canola” thing being raised as an issue in the UK. Surprising given the PC/terminally offended times we live in! Only a matter of time I’m sure as those who make a living out of finding offence where there is none work their way towards it. Offence is subjective, so perhaps the British just aren’t as easily offended?!?!?! It’s all marketed as vegetable oil anyway so rape is really just an industry term. “Rape Oil” May be a tricky sell?!

I think that was the issue for the Canadians & presumably Australia as well. They didn't want canola to be lumped in with all the other veg oils, but wanted to differentiate it
Most if not all oils here on supermarket shelves here are branded according to their origin - olive, sunflower, canola, grapeseed, rice bran etc etc
Canola as a term here is very obvious on the supermarket shelves, from oils to margarines to even what potato crisps are cooked in . . ., so it is VERY much a marketing term
from a technical view point, different oils do have different characteristics with varying temperatures & end uses as well, so " oils aint oils "

 

[CornishTone]

I think that was the issue for the Canadians & presumably Australia as well. They didn't want canola to be lumped in with all the other veg oils, but wanted to differentiate it
Most if not all oils here on supermarket shelves here are branded according to their origin - olive, sunflower, canola, grapeseed, rice bran etc etc
Canola as a term here is very obvious on the supermarket shelves, from oils to margarines to even what potato crisps are cooked in . . ., so it is VERY much a marketing term
from a technical view point, different oils do have different characteristics with varying temperatures & end uses as well, so " oils aint oils "

Olive and sun flower oil are marketed as such but veg oil is rape seed. Don’t get grape seed or rice.

 

[CornishTone]

out of interest, what is the UK concept of strip tillage ?
I only know it as the US system of tillage & maybe fertiliser application in the plant row maybe months prior to planting, on warm season row crops on wide row spacings, say corn & cotton. It is stating to gain some traction here in the cotton industry especially


however, barley, Im assuming you are talking narrow rows of 200 mm or less ? How does that work ? Or is it like DBS or ConservaPak type machines here with a deep shank in front ( generally deep banding fert ) followed by a shallower closing / planting tyne ?



the concept appears to work quite well on harder, lighter soil types. They seem more popular on the west than here

I think this is the machine they are using, or one very much like it...
https://www.sumo1.com/products/dts/

 

[Farmer Roy]

Olive and sun flower oil are marketed as such but veg oil is rape seed. Don’t get grape seed or rice.

aah, there is the cultural difference between countries / continents / hemispheres . . .

plain generic unbranded veg oil was always sunflower yrs ago
when canola did start becoming popular 20 - 30 yrs ago, it was already differentiated from ' veg ' oil & always branded as canola oil