Hedge cutting in August.

[Steevo]

As I read it, if you have a derogation and cut the hedges in Aug, you have to plant in Aug. If you don't cut the hedges (derogation or no derogation) you don't need to plant in Aug and can plant anytime.

 

[Steevo]

What happens if you get a derogation to cut your rape land hedges accepted, you cut the hedges but don't actually plant rape due to bad weather or not getting it in in time?

Potential for fines if you get caught.

 

[ARW]

Potential for fines if you get caught.

So we have to drill rape regardless if the conditions arnt right?

 

[Steevo]

That's how I interpreted it from the FW article.

 

[ARW]

That's how I interpreted it from the FW article.

Oh dear! These rules are far from reality of a working farm business

 

[cvx175]

So we have to drill rape regardless if the conditions arnt right?

If conditions aren't right it might not germinate though and may need redrilled

 

[Brisel]

That's how I interpreted it from the FW article.

Now there's the problem. FW isn't the most reliable source of accurate information. If you are a NFU member maybe they can clarify the position.

 

[An Gof]

Now there's the problem. FW isn't the most reliable source of accurate information. If you are a NFU member maybe they can clarify the position.

@Steevo is correct I'm afraid. If you have a derogation, trim hedges in August and then fail to drill in Sugust because its rains continuously the last week if August you will be in default and subject to cross compliance penalty. It really is absurd and shows no understanding at Defra that agriculture had to deal with the weather. It would have been far more sensible to acknowledge good intent and that if the OSR or grass seed was subsequently drilled first opportunity in Septemberthen no penalty applied.

 

[Brisel]

I'd fight it if it came to that. With the seed & sprays on farm I don't see how they could argue against force majure. Still I won't be finding out this year! Still waiting for my derogation...

 

[rob1]

How much damage are you actually going to cause to a crop driving round on it in the first wk of Sept?

 

[Brisel]

Enough to kill the osr under the wheels.

 

[ProDrive]

Just cut them, if anybody says anything tell them they were causing an obstruction as the neighbour likes to see what your doing.......

 

[An Gof]

How much damage are you actually going to cause to a crop driving round on it in the first wk of Sept?

We have BIG hedges on this farm. Can take 5 cuts to complete so that's 5 times around a field which is a lot of wheel marks in a crop.
If you reseeded a grass ley and has it all nicely rolled down would you want to drive around on the new seeds shortly after to trim the hedges?
Problem is rule makers are under constant pressure from umpteen NGO's and have no practical sense at all.

 

[Princess Pooper]

We have BIG hedges on this farm. Can take 5 cuts to complete so that's 5 times around a field which is a lot of wheel marks in a crop.
If you reseeded a grass ley and has it all nicely rolled down would you want to drive around on the new seeds shortly after to trim the hedges?
Problem is rule makers are under constant pressure from umpteen NGO's and have no practical sense at all.

The best emergence in grass seed beds is usually in the wheelings as it's so hard to get a decent tilth and rolled enough and same often applies to OSR! Like @Nick we have margins round all our non pp fields so we can usually get on them after Christmas which means the birds actually get a chance to eat all the berries rather than them all being stripped off before they need them. I call the margins and late trimming 'carefully thought out ELS' rather than 'luck' though!

 

[rob1]

The best emergence in grass seed beds is usually in the wheelings as it's so hard to get a decent tilth and rolled enough and same often applies to OSR! Like @Nick we have margins round all our non pp fields so we can usually get on them after Christmas which means the birds actually get a chance to eat all the berries rather than them all being stripped off before they need them. I call the margins and late trimming 'carefully thought out ELS' rather than 'luck' though!

Easiest way out is putting margins in

 

[spikeislander]

How much damage are you actually going to cause to a crop driving round on it in the first wk of Sept?

More to the point how much damage will you do to nesting birds they are all gone now anyway

 

[Princess Pooper]

More to the point how much damage will you do to nesting birds they are all gone now anyway

No they're not! Seen a blackbird feeding a (no doubt second or third) brood in the nest this evening in the garden. Lots of swallows still on the nest too (yes I know swallows don't nest in hedges).

 

[spikeislander]

Sorry I stand corrected then.

 

[Manny]

I went past a local large farm today and there are two combines racing up and down the field, a couple of grain trailers and the hedge cutter making his way around the far hedge right next to the main road!

 

[neilo]

Easiest way out is putting margins in

I wouldn't have much crop area left I a lot of my fields if I put 6m margins all round! However, I do have lots of hedges that support lots of wee birdies and they grow well enough that they'd be huge if only cut every few years.

The trouble with such a broadbrush approach is that hedgerow habitats & farming practices are very different in this area, and lots of other predominantly livestock areas, than they are in the prairies of arable counties, where a hedgerow is only ever occasionally seen as a distant boundary.