Getting concerned

[bobk]

Well I’ve been here just 6 years and don’t grow rape but do rotate grass. Anyway, I have never had an issue at all with slugs and didn’t even have anything to throw pellets (other than a 6 cu trailed fert spreader), but now, bloody hell, had to go out and buy a quad, spreader and am non stop spreading. Fields where I’ve never seen a slug. Where do they all come from? Eggs must fall with the rain

Sunflowers .just like osr , slug country

 

[Martin Holden]

I don’t think I can remember an Autumn with so little drilled nationwide. With so much land full up of water I guess keeping the gate closed is frustrating but is it not better to stay off the ground and not make a mess? How many would be able to drill if we get some dry weather between now and Christmas? I’ve seen winter crops drilled ok in Jan and Feb, so I guess there’s a chance of some recovery?? For the DD fans what would be the pros and cons of ploughing shallow to get a seed bed just to try to get something established, or is this a no no?

 

[MrNoo]

Reckon the brash would go but would need a good couple of weeks to dry out, it is sodden, never seen it so wet. Have drilled in Jan before, if I get a chance and think it wont make a mess then I will be going.
The BG is growing well in min till fields so there is some saving grace to be had. Tempting to bugger off on holiday!

 

[APJ]

I don’t think I can remember an Autumn with so little drilled nationwide. With so much land full up of water I guess keeping the gate closed is frustrating but is it not better to stay off the ground and not make a mess? How many would be able to drill if we get some dry weather between now and Christmas? I’ve seen winter crops drilled ok in Jan and Feb, so I guess there’s a chance of some recovery?? For the DD fans what would be the pros and cons of ploughing shallow to get a seed bed just to try to get something established, or is this a no no?

Keep the gates closed till we can travel without making any damage to soil structure now is our main aim, doubt anything will be sown till mid March onwards here unless a miracle happens! What has been attempted with ploughs and combis is far from pretty most fields around us have bare patches ours included.

 

[marcot]

I don’t think I can remember an Autumn with so little drilled nationwide. With so much land full up of water I guess keeping the gate closed is frustrating but is it not better to stay off the ground and not make a mess? How many would be able to drill if we get some dry weather between now and Christmas? I’ve seen winter crops drilled ok in Jan and Feb, so I guess there’s a chance of some recovery?? For the DD fans what would be the pros and cons of ploughing shallow to get a seed bed just to try to get something established, or is this a no no?

Holy sh!t !!! Are you insane? Run for your life !!! As we speak they are pulling on their white hoods and sharpening their pitch forks ...I cant believe you dared mention the P word ...lunatic

 

[Martin Holden]

Holy sh!t !!! Are you insane? Run for your life !!! As we speak they are pulling on their white hoods and sharpening their pitch forks ...I cant believe you dared mention the P word ...lunatic

Needs must when the devil drives or something like that. On the other hand DD soild are meant to have a better structure so should self drain faster? Nothing wrong with the plough in moderation.

 

[bobk]

Reckon the brash would go but would need a good couple of weeks to dry out, it is sodden, never seen it so wet. Have drilled in Jan before, if I get a chance and think it wont make a mess then I will be going.
The BG is growing well in min till fields so there is some saving grace to be had. Tempting to bugger off on holiday!

I'm on number 4 next week , no point looking at it .

 

[yellow belly]

Yesterday hgca planting intentions survey Put the intended area of wheat to be 1.64 million ha surveyed first half of November

we all tended to plant then
but with 5 inches of rain in November the intention now is to plant in the spring or fallow
if the uk has over 1million ha of winter wheat for next harvest then it will need to be no rain for 5 weeks
most of what I see planted will be at the bottom of the yield spectrum with most heavy land headlands standing in water for weeks

 

[DrWazzock]

I don’t think I can remember an Autumn with so little drilled nationwide. With so much land full up of water I guess keeping the gate closed is frustrating but is it not better to stay off the ground and not make a mess? How many would be able to drill if we get some dry weather between now and Christmas? I’ve seen winter crops drilled ok in Jan and Feb, so I guess there’s a chance of some recovery?? For the DD fans what would be the pros and cons of ploughing shallow to get a seed bed just to try to get something established, or is this a no no?

All this would do here is create a shallow smeared pan at plough depth, then blancmange if you try to combi drill which would drown the seed with further rain. I'd sooner go straight on to stubbles with the unidrill if it dries up a bit.

But when its this wet as it is here, doing nothing is the best option if things stay as wet as they are. Harvesting the beet is prioritaire numero uno at the moment. That's enough to be getting on with.

 

[Cowcorn]

Yesterday hgca planting intentions survey Put the intended area of wheat to be 1.64 million ha surveyed first half of November

we all tended to plant then
but with 5 inches of rain in November the intention now is to plant in the spring or fallow
if the uk has over 1million ha of winter wheat for next harvest then it will need to be no rain for 5 weeks
most of what I see planted will be at the bottom of the yield spectrum with most heavy land headlands standing in water for weeks

Would you care to look into your crystal ball yellowbelly and predict when this will start to cause upward pressure on the wheat price ? The price only started to take off in 2012 when the planting season was over.

 

[BredRedHfd]

Yesterday hgca planting intentions survey Put the intended area of wheat to be 1.64 million ha surveyed first half of November

we all tended to plant then
but with 5 inches of rain in November the intention now is to plant in the spring or fallow
if the uk has over 1million ha of winter wheat for next harvest then it will need to be no rain for 5 weeks
most of what I see planted will be at the bottom of the yield spectrum with most heavy land headlands standing in water for weeks

We're at 9 inches of rain this month alone...26 inches since mid July. Unreal .. ?

 

[ajd132]

I don’t think I can remember an Autumn with so little drilled nationwide. With so much land full up of water I guess keeping the gate closed is frustrating but is it not better to stay off the ground and not make a mess? How many would be able to drill if we get some dry weather between now and Christmas? I’ve seen winter crops drilled ok in Jan and Feb, so I guess there’s a chance of some recovery?? For the DD fans what would be the pros and cons of ploughing shallow to get a seed bed just to try to get something established, or is this a no no?

Pointless

 

[Mr Charisma]

Having walked some fields yesterday just to see how they are fairing,,,,,,,, land which has been triod only looks good,,,,, yes totally saturated but looks to still have a good structure and with time I think will drain and plant well. Then we have triod / cultipressed land, not so good but all cultivation were done in the dry so only time will tell, it is at least level so will be able to drill straight into it, I have linseed planned for these fields so at least plenty of time for these to dry out and maybe who knows might even get a frost to drill what was intended on them. Failed rape land will probably have linseed drilled straight in. The ground that concerns me most is my stubble tho, this was due to be triod the week the rains came, its red marl and was due to have winter beans / linseed planted in there, it didn't fair to well at harvest and took a fair caning from harvest traffic, it represents 20 % of my arable acreage. I do not fancy putting a plough in as it will not be pretty, so will wait and see. If it comes fair. In the spring then I might scratch a shallow seedbed and plant some more,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, linseed ?


So 101 pages since I started thus thread, the title was slightly tongue in cheek, but on the red marl we do struggle with 2 inch rainfall events . But have to say that although the 2 inches of rain that came on the 25th Sept concerned me little did I think we would be on the receiving end of nearer 16 inches of precipitation by the end of November
This time next year Rodney we will be millionaire's ?

 

[teslacoils]

Scampton weather station apparently recorded 300+mm since start of autumn is September. I can say that almost all of that fell since 22nd September. Officially our wettest autumn.

Everything looks a mess but touch wood it could be worse as nothing has yet been lost. It's a long time to April though.

 

[Renaultman]

Having walked some fields yesterday just to see how they are fairing,,,,,,,, land which has been triod only looks good,,,,, yes totally saturated but looks to still have a good structure and with time I think will drain and plant well. Then we have triod / cultipressed land, not so good but all cultivation were done in the dry so only time will tell, it is at least level so will be able to drill straight into it, I have linseed planned for these fields so at least plenty of time for these to dry out and maybe who knows might even get a frost to drill what was intended on them. Failed rape land will probably have linseed drilled straight in. The ground that concerns me most is my stubble tho, this was due to be triod the week the rains came, its red marl and was due to have winter beans / linseed planted in there, it didn't fair to well at harvest and took a fair caning from harvest traffic, it represents 20 % of my arable acreage. I do not fancy putting a plough in as it will not be pretty, so will wait and see. If it comes fair. In the spring then I might scratch a shallow seedbed and plant some more,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, linseed ?


So 101 pages since I started thus thread, the title was slightly tongue in cheek, but on the red marl we do struggle with 2 inch rainfall events . But have to say that although the 2 inches of rain that came on the 25th Sept concerned me little did I think we would be on the receiving end of nearer 16 inches of precipitation by the end of November
This time next year Rodney we will be millionaire's ?

Personally I think the land is that saturated through that ploughing would just turn slop on top up slop. It will all depend on how land dries. If we get a warm windy spell and it dries from the top down I would be looking at minimum disturbance. If it just stops raining and the drains get a chance to work it may well dry from the bottom up.

 

[Mr Charisma]

Scampton weather station apparently recorded 300+mm since start of autumn is September. I can say that almost all of that fell since 22nd September. Officially our wettest autumn.

Everything looks a mess but touch wood it could be worse as nothing has yet been lost. It's a long time to April though.

I've learnt a lot from 2012/13 , damage to strong land can take years to remedy , thankfully I have not done any damage yet and will try not to , if I have to have a higher % of fallow so be it , yes losses will entail (rent albeit affordable and not stupid ) but I think trying to grow crops with high inputs on damaged land is a trip to oblivion , with what might be higher grain prices this next year one thing I will guarantee is that the chem companies will try a make good there tough times this year

 

[teslacoils]

Yes.

What I also learnt in 2012 was that buying dear seed in spring to keep my land in order was not profitable and produced a late harvest. Current plan is to leave it be, and not make any plans. Worst case it will get a tenner an acre if mustard spun on, slathered in digestate and ploughed in.

I'd be happier to take this as a one off, but it seems to be happening quite a bit now. The move to grass, and to mentally understanding grassland cashflow and drawings compared to the straightforward arable cashflow, is quite a challenge.

 

[Renaultman]

Yes.

What I also learnt in 2012 was that buying dear seed in spring to keep my land in order was not profitable and produced a late harvest. Current plan is to leave it be, and not make any plans. Worst case it will get a tenner an acre if mustard spun on, slathered in digestate and ploughed in.

I'd be happier to take this as a one off, but it seems to be happening quite a bit now. The move to grass, and to mentally understanding grassland cashflow and drawings compared to the straightforward arable cashflow, is quite a challenge.

grass is the ultimate boom or bust crop commercially, unless you have your own stock, a Digestate plant contract or are set up to feed the domestic market. IMHO

 

[teslacoils]

grass is the ultimate boom or bust crop commercially, unless you have your own stock, a Digestate plant contract or are set up to feed the domestic market. IMHO

Oh no! I haven't got any of these things. Better get my thinking cap on. Sure I'll think of something at some point.

 

[Agrinoc]

Would you care to look into your crystal ball yellowbelly and predict when this will start to cause upward pressure on the wheat price ? The price only started to take off in 2012 when the planting season was over.

It is already, problem is there is still so much wheat around from 16.28Mt harvest that needs somewhere to go so price has to remain competitive for exports