how much wheat still to plant

[Wombat]

Yes - cutting spring beans on 23rd October doesn't leave a lot of time if it's too wet for drilling after the 10th.

I know of two fields of spring beans still to cut

 

[4course]

I've got 2 x 4m combinations as well, but they normally have the drills off and are working land down ahead of the Rapid in September. If we can get out of the cycle of not getting drilled up in the autumn then having more late maturing spring crops which repeats the bottleneck if the following autumn is catchy then a few tweaks to our existing system would be sufficient IMO. Being short on labour and a key land working tractor for 5 weeks last autumn didn't help at all.

My agronomist said that it was only the bigger clients who didn't get drilled up in good time last autumn. The smaller guys who could do it all in 7-10 days were ahead of those of us needing 3 weeks+ to get it all done.

yellow belly "s post earlier about sowing in a week though ive taken it to mean 7 days over a period is spot on

 

[Brisel]

ive got a field destined for sp beans ,havnt grown beans for years and they were winter , so with this in mind roughly what date would you decide not to bother sowing and put sp barley in as dont want to be combining past september

I know that this wasn't meant for me, but don't forget the quirks of 2020. We had 2 crops up here - the first one didn't die in the drought and ripened roughly when it normally should. When the drought broke in June we had a secondary crop spring up that was much later to mature in all our crops. The best time for drilling beans is late Feb/early March for a mid September harvest. Quite when we can actually sow them well is another matter, never mind the growing season after sowing.... 2020's were sown late March which was never going to mean an early harvest.

 

[Banana Bar]

I know of two fields of spring beans still to cut

Really?

 

[Wombat]

Really?

Yes

 

[4course]

I know that this wasn't meant for me, but don't forget the quirks of 2020. We had 2 crops up here - the first one didn't die in the drought and ripened roughly when it normally should. When the drought broke in June we had a secondary crop spring up that was much later to mature in all our crops. The best time for drilling beans is late Feb/early March for a mid September harvest. Quite when we can actually sow them well is another matter, never mind the growing season after sowing.... 2020's were sown late March which was never going to mean an early harvest.

thanks my concern albeit hopefully unjustified is with the thick end of 200mm of rain since the 1st of december 90mm of it since boxing day I doubt we will be in a position to sow thisside of april as our long 5yr av rainfall is below 100mm dec/jan

 

[Hindsight]

. The best time for drilling beans is late Feb/early March for a mid September harvest..

Hi, soz, but cannot resist butting in where not appropriate.

But now you have moved to somewhere near to the Arctic circle can you actually plan to harvest Spring sown beans in Mid September reliably (no diquat now iether to help cheat). I know here we are early September. But the coastal area is later and I thought similar to 'oop north'

Best wishes,

 

[JCfarmer]

Brisel when you moved I said to you 'out of the frying pan and into fire'. Perhaps more appropriate is 'out of the frying pan and into the sink !'
You need a
6m Claydon or 6m sabre tine perhaps
6m LDS topsoiler
6m folding combi with vad type disc coulters on the back like Bobs
Sounds like that heavy land up north aint never going to direct drill or no till with that rainfall.
All in jest as I really have no idea on your situation but..................... not?

 

[JCfarmer]

100% winter crops in though had to alter rotation slightly (spring break crop instead of winter), one 30 acre field headlands crap as they were moved before drilling and it pessed down while drilling them with tine drill. Some deep wobbly tramlines in wheat after maize in places but wheat looks ok .The rest generally in good fettle with oats looking well. Winter beans drilled with the Claydon in early Nov coming through ok, 4 leaf stage.
No osr this year
Spring beans, spring barley maize to go in and spuds(not mine)

 

[ajd132]

ive got a field destined for sp beans ,havnt grown beans for years and they were winter , so with this in mind roughly what date would you decide not to bother sowing and put sp barley in as dont want to be combining past september

Mid March

 

[Andrew K]

Brisel,

How about double shifting the Vaddy and starting a week earlier? I appreciate things are difficult after a delayed harvest , and I know little about your situation but anything is better than late harvested spring sown crops if Bg is not a major issue?

 

[Brisel]

Brisel,

How about double shifting the Vaddy and starting a week earlier? I appreciat things are difficult after a delayed harvest , and I know little about your situation but anything is better than late harvested spring sown crops if Bg is not a major issue?

Starting earlier is part of the plan. First wheat is the banker crop but it requires break crops that don’t give an early entry. There is only so much oilseed rape that can sensibly be grown in a rotation and flea beetle will hit us hard one of these days. The double shifting of the drill requires a rethink of cultivations ahead of it. To run the drill 24 hours means the ploughs, Topdown and power harrows need to do so too.

 

[Will 1594]

9 rx on 12 furr wagon plough , 6 on a smaller hoss for headlands and small fields , 9 rx on a 6 m keeble progessive or big terminatorontop of ploughing ,8 m power harrow on the 8400 , if needed
8 m vaddy on another 9 rx , with the RIGHT pilot on it ,and loader man to keep it fed ,and 6 m combi on rx when vaddy gives up late on ,
local out fit run similar tomthis and cover a big acreage and look to do a good job
cap on backwards brisel and keep her lit

 

[nonemouse]

The problem is @Brisel has moved north during 2 of the worst autumnsfor sowing in living memory, personally I don’t believe his agronomist, lots of small farmers on heavy land not drilled up. Autumn 2020 not quite as bad the previous year, but in 2019 harvest wasn’t as late ( or had so many late sown crops)

 

[teslacoils]

Best time to sow spring beans is never.

 

[Fish]

The problem is @Brisel has moved north during 2 of the worst autumnsfor sowing in living memory, personally I don’t believe his agronomist, lots of small farmers on heavy land not drilled up. Autumn 2020 not quite as bad the previous year, but in 2019 harvest wasn’t as late ( or had so many late sown crops)

Exactly this ^, farming 20 miles south of Brisel, we finish harvest on the 22nd sept, we then had 8 days to drill the next crops before the rain returned and effective shut us out of the fields.

 

[nonemouse]

Exactly this ^, farming 20 miles south of Brisel, we finish harvest on the 22nd sept, we then had 8 days to drill the next crops before the rain returned and effective shut us out of the fields.

Im probably only5 miles south of him, this last year most of what we got sown was actually in the ground before we finished combining (one neighbour still has wheat un harvested yet)
2019 we didnt drill any thing after 23rd of sept.
would you really gear up machinery to be drilled up by 23rd of september?

 

[yellow belly]

Im probably only5 miles south of him, this last year most of what we got sown was actually in the ground before we finished combining (one neighbour still has wheat un harvested yet)
2019 we didnt drill any thing after 23rd of sept.
would you really gear up machinery to be drilled up by 23rd of september?

that was the 1 in 30 year exception
round here on heavy land planted by 1 october 29 out of 30 years gives descent yields
in some years planting later can be fine but in many years 1 wet week end delays planting that compromises yield

if we get 2019 autumn weather where it rains every 3 days no winter crops is the best option if they are not planted 3 days before the rain starts

when the land takes 6 days to be dry enough to drill once it is well wetted in october delaying till october is not an option
different freeer draining soil is a lot easier to delay or have less capacity

finished combineing beans 20 september

drilling started 22 september

the farm drilled by the 28 septemeber would not have drilled after the 29

finished 2 october this farm missed rains till 3rd october

in 2019 could not drill between 23 setember and 18 march

2018 added extra second wheat to the cropping in late october which yielded more than any 2019 planted wheat field

getting out of unplanned late cropping takes a lot of planning and investment as well as being reactive when machinery fails

 

[bankrupt]

being reactive when machinery fails

The essential thing is, for any machine failure on the critical path of autumn planting, to be proactive and get it replaced pdq.

And if this means having to bite the bullet of the double whammy of expensive repair costs and expensive hire charges to fill the gap, so be it.

Average it out.

 

[yellow belly]

The essential thing is, for any machine failure on the critical path of autumn planting, to be proactive and get it replaced pdq.

And if this means having to bite the bullet of the double whammy of expensive repair costs and expensive hire charges to fill the gap, so be it.

Average it out.

agree but when the weather gets tricky and every one is in the same boat there is no machine available
especially if you have a machine that is imported or is made from unique parts
when the part fails waiting for a new one can take weeks
i had that this year when an electrical fire damaged the drill
the manufacturer delivered a replacement next day we lost one day
all covered by business interruption and fire insurance