Recreational Cultivating?

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
You’ll usually find that people use the term “recreational cultivation” because they’re trying to validate their own ‘faddy’ farming practices. The reality of the situation being that they fail to see that they’re coming across to other farmers as ‘a bit of a pr;ck’.

It’s not dissimilar to the Soil Associations former practice of needing to denigrate ‘conventional’ farming to promote their own brand, or Vegans having to denigrate omnivores and evolution to worship their onanistic cult. Just because the ‘tough’ kids at school grow up it doesn’t mean they stop trying to bully others all through life, farmers included.
 
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DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I have just paraplowed hard overwintered stubbles ready to drill some kale. Frankly it looks a bigger mess now than before I started so will have to roll it before drilling, and will have lost more moisture but it was so hard I couldn’t think direct drilling would have worked .... but it might have done so I have left a bit undisturbed as an expwriment.
I also have ploughed harrowed and rolled land to drill the kale into which has lost most of its moisture but might be some rain coming so drilling it today. The drill will do a much neater job on the intensively cultivated land but not sure the end result will be any better than direct drilling. We shall see though.
I have got my spring crops reasonably well established by various means but I feel at a crossroads and in a muddle about the best approach long term.
Conventional cultivation’s always seems a neater job with a more even stand of plants with less roundup used. But it does come at a price in terms of time, diesel and moisture loss.
Direct drilling can possibly work but needs much more careful management , has much smaller drilling windows of opportunity, can’t cope with chopped straw despite what anybody says, and can lead to drowned plants much more readily than the plough system.
I am going to produce some decision making flowcharts when I get time in advance of summer. Lie in a darkened room and think it through carefully so it isn’t another cluster deck next autumn and spring.
 
For those who have got notill sorted cultivations are unnecessary
the management level is similar which ever you use
either done with poor timing is a disaster

with either doing when it is too wet leads to similar problems
when it is dry like now notill works well with good timing
for cultivations another time over to get it finer is always better but cost is higher and if it rains at the right time no better
 

rob h

Member
Location
east yorkshire
actually pretty much ALL cultivation is recreational

many are able to mentally convince themselves otherwise however
Next door bought a new jd direct drill this year .it wouldn’t dig in and where it dir the slot wasn’t closed propperly.so they sub soiled disked then drilled.
 
I have just paraplowed hard overwintered stubbles ready to drill some kale. Frankly it looks a bigger mess now than before I started so will have to roll it before drilling, and will have lost more moisture but it was so hard I couldn’t think direct drilling would have worked .... but it might have done so I have left a bit undisturbed as an expwriment.
I also have ploughed harrowed and rolled land to drill the kale into which has lost most of its moisture but might be some rain coming so drilling it today. The drill will do a much neater job on the intensively cultivated land but not sure the end result will be any better than direct drilling. We shall see though.
I have got my spring crops reasonably well established by various means but I feel at a crossroads and in a muddle about the best approach long term.
Conventional cultivation’s always seems a neater job with a more even stand of plants with less roundup used. But it does come at a price in terms of time, diesel and moisture loss.
Direct drilling can possibly work but needs much more careful management , has much smaller drilling windows of opportunity, can’t cope with chopped straw despite what anybody says, and can lead to drowned plants much more readily than the plough system.
I am going to produce some decision making flowcharts when I get time in advance of summer. Lie in a darkened room and think it through carefully so it isn’t another cluster deck next autumn and spring.

I love subsoiling.
 

Will7

Member
The
7CECF4D1-836E-4645-86DA-31D8E7B4B5BA.jpeg
B174BE50-A976-4E7E-8B1E-B72EB5A17497.jpeg
The left hand side of this field was subsoiler, the right was not
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Frankly, I think most Subsoiling is recreational,

This needs fixing with steel, unless you're prepared to play the long game & do it with aggressively rooting plants. That will atke a few years & not all can afford to take land out of the main source of production in that time. In a high rainfall area, repeated waterlogging will foul up your soil life so it won't fix itself.
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Subsoiling heavy land is often recreational. I see it done as routine on fields that are not dry at depth.

Perhaps I read your post wrongly, but if you subsoil to let surface water away you're doing more harm than good if the tine and wings are in wet plastic soil at the time.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 43.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.4%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.4%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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