Spring Barley drill date

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
Last photo in here.....
Finished our own barley this morning.
DSC_0141.JPG
 

Sonoftheheir

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
West Suffolk
Started drilling Irina this morning, a little wet in places but going in well. Would you roll Spring barley in? How long after drilling can you go? Might get a bit of rain before we can roll it.
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
OK....always drill into PH'd ground. A few years ago, the power harrow broke down, and I drilled the remaining 3 acres into roughly cultivated ( with a pigtail cultivator ) soil. Surprise , surprise, the barley didn't do so well. The tilth looked OK. I assume it's the variation in drilling depth that's the problem then ? Would some sort of levelling board help ?
Seriously thinking of a quick cultivation, and sowing, if the weather hasn't improved by the end of April.
 

Flat 10

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Fen Edge
OK....always drill into PH'd ground. A few years ago, the power harrow broke down, and I drilled the remaining 3 acres into roughly cultivated ( with a pigtail cultivator ) soil. Surprise , surprise, the barley didn't do so well. The tilth looked OK. I assume it's the variation in drilling depth that's the problem then ? Would some sort of levelling board help ?
Seriously thinking of a quick cultivation, and sowing, if the weather hasn't improved by the end of April.
Yes ideally you want a levelling board and a crumbler in that scenario. And to hope you can roll behind if you are very lucky.
 

stroller

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Somerset UK
This is a topic that I keep thinking about at the moment in relation to the Mid Tier extended overwinter stubble option. The rules, as you well know, are that you can spray off for black-grass from 15 May onwards but can only start doing what you want with the field after 1 August. Given these rules, what are the best ways of managing the fallow to reduce as far as possible the effects from a fallow that you describe?

I would hope to leave enough losses out the back of the combine so that there was a crop of whatever had been harvested growing in the field for the first part of the year. After 15 May, if the field had been sprayed with glyphosate for black-grass, there would be a bare period for a while. Would it really be worth planting a cover crop from 1 August to help dry the soil before direct drilling wheat in late September / early October? For OSR did you have problems drilling it into a fallowed field? Was the ground lacking in tilth?
I was talking to a FWAG person last week about this stupidity by defra of not allowing a cover crop to be planted with this option, he completely agreed and said if enough people complain about it there is a possibility it will change.
 
I was talking to a FWAG person last week about this stupidity by defra of not allowing a cover crop to be planted with this option, he completely agreed and said if enough people complain about it there is a possibility it will change.

It is stupid. I think it's the RSPB infulence becasue it's certainly no good for the soil. ELS option used to allow you to plant 10% into cover crop but that didn't help the other 90%. Even if they would let you plant to lower density cover crop that would be a help.
 
Could always broadcast a mix on at night in the spring and says it must be volunteers!

I think it's perfectly permissible to allow some losses out the back of the combine. They also encourage weedy crops the year before. I'm not quite sure whether a sown mix is really that much worse than a weedy stubble, but happy to be corrected on this.
 
Not yet! I'd rather fallow than grow linseed again! Shame because it's a great soil conditioner. I will continue planning for April drilling. Get to early May and I'll reconsider.
I can see it being May on my heavier warp it's very wet, the lighter stuff will hopefully go in at the end of this week. I'd rather not fallow as the cover crop has been sprayed off already and don't want the soil biology sitting hungry
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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

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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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