Stewardship establishment costs

[westwood]

Have been asked to manage and establish a mid tier scheme.
Would involve spraying, cultivating, rolling, drilling etc for AB9 wild bird cover plots and AB8 wild flower areas and margins.
Topping later in the year.
All small bits in corners of fields up to about 1 ha.
Would like to charge by the hour for all operations.
What should the average cost per hour be?

 

[jack6480]

£60 an hour

 

[Two Tone]

I have successfully Direct drilled AB9 crops, which saved a lot of time and money, especially on small awkward bits. And you can get some which will last for 2 years, instead of having to replace them Annually.

But I'd agree £60/ hour is about right.

 

[Brisel]

It would depend on when you start and stop the clock, but £60/hr sounds fair. Have you got to buy any more equipment for doing this? You might only be actually doing the job for 20-30% of the time spent hitching up, calibrating, cleaning out and getting to & from the plots. What is involved in managing the plots? Just the operations or are you helping draw up the agreement application too?

AB9 can be quite low input, but needs to be sown well. AB8 will need topping regularly in the first year, though less after that. Both have expensive seed, so make sure materials are separate.

 

[D14]

Have been asked to manage and establish a mid tier scheme.
Would involve spraying, cultivating, rolling, drilling etc for AB9 wild bird cover plots and AB8 wild flower areas and margins.
Topping later in the year.
All small bits in corners of fields up to about 1 ha.
Would like to charge by the hour for all operations.
What should the average cost per hour be?

Don't read to much into it if I was you. We've been in various schemes for 30 years and it looks far more complicated on paper than in practise. Literally all we do is glyphosate with a quad bike and 3m boom. Direct drill the new seed. Roll it. Then depending on option you mow it either twice per year or once per year.
In my experience 2 year seed mixes do not work as the plants aren't hardy enough to survive topping and over winter weather.

There isn't any 'management' involved as such other than the job you are doing at that time such as topping or drilling. We have 30 acres of AB9 and AB8 and looking at last years diary I spent a grand total of 5 days to glyphosate, drill and roll and 2 days topping.

If you over work the soil like many do, you'll get poor establishment because when all these crops are planted water availability is the issue as its generally dry. Direct drilling it retains the moisture and gets the crop going quickly. I'll be spraying ours in the next 2 weeks, then direct drilling it pretty much straight away to get the seeds into moisture so they'll then survive a dry June - Sept if it occurs.

Don't bother applying fertiliser to them, even if the rules say you can and certainly don't start applying herbicides either.

 

[Brisel]

You can either establish and meet the criteria as a minimum of time and cost, or you can gold plate the job so it really looks good and delivers the benefits the scheme hopes for. The latter takes twice as much time and effort as the former.

 

[jack6480]

You can either establish and meet the criteria as a minimum of time and cost, or you can gold plate the job so it really looks good and delivers the benefits the scheme hopes for. The latter takes twice as much time and effort as the former.

Give over, what are you on about

 

[westwood]

It would depend on when you start and stop the clock, but £60/hr sounds fair. Have you got to buy any more equipment for doing this? You might only be actually doing the job for 20-30% of the time spent hitching up, calibrating, cleaning out and getting to & from the plots. What is involved in managing the plots? Just the operations or are you helping draw up the agreement application too?

AB9 can be quite low input, but needs to be sown well. AB8 will need topping regularly in the first year, though less after that. Both have expensive seed, so make sure materials are separate.

Have got all the kit and experience.

Will be keeping records of all operations and photos etc. % of agreement payment to me for management time etc.
Agreement all done by agent.
Time will start when leaving our farm which is 2 miles away.

Thanks for your advice

 

[Brisel]

Give over, what are you on about

My former employer wanted a deluxe seed mixture for his game covers wild bird mixtures and wild flower field margins. We spent a lot of time & effort making sure they worked well for him. Just doing the minimum to get the payment was out of the question. The cost was 3x what it could have been for 75% of the same effect. These people do exist!

 

[Overby]

You can either establish and meet the criteria as a minimum of time and cost, or you can gold plate the job so it really looks good and delivers the benefits the scheme hopes for. The latter takes twice as much time and effort as the former.

We've got 10ha of AB9, put in and looked after as recommended, no extra fuss at all and it has hit all the enviro boxes 10 fold. Birds, bees, butterflies, deer....you name it. it's there. Actually quite heartening to see as I was sceptical. We're looking at putting a load more in.

 

[TomO]

We've got 10ha of AB9, put in and looked after as recommended, no extra fuss at all and it has hit all the enviro boxes 10 fold. Birds, bees, butterflies, deer....you name it. it's there. Actually quite heartening to see as I was sceptical. We're looking at putting a load more in.

What mix did you use? We’ve some to put in this spring.

 

[Raynard]

Planning to put some AB8 in, but weary of dry spells hindering establishment. Was advised by seed company that autumn drilling could be favourable. Has anyone done this / got any thoughts or tips on this?
Thanks

 

[carpenter1]

What mix did you use? We’ve some to put in this spring.

I buy our ab9 from @Great In Grass

 

[Brisel]

Planning to put some AB8 in, but weary of dry spells hindering establishment. Was advised by seed company that autumn drilling could be favourable. Has anyone done this / got any thoughts or tips on this?
Thanks

I did mine at Cranborne in September and they all established perfectly.

 

[Overby]

I buy our ab9 from @Great In Grass

AB9 mix from local merchant, MSP, needs redone this year, i'll dig out the details

 

[Overby]

Planning to put some AB8 in, but weary of dry spells hindering establishment. Was advised by seed company that autumn drilling could be favourable. Has anyone done this / got any thoughts or tips on this?
Thanks

Looking at a big chunk of AB8 when renew next year, interested to see how you get on

 

[Raynard]

Will let you know. Just waiting for confirmation of css now!

 

[Overby]

Don't read to much into it if I was you. We've been in various schemes for 30 years and it looks far more complicated on paper than in practise. Literally all we do is glyphosate with a quad bike and 3m boom. Direct drill the new seed. Roll it. Then depending on option you mow it either twice per year or once per year.
In my experience 2 year seed mixes do not work as the plants aren't hardy enough to survive topping and over winter weather.

There isn't any 'management' involved as such other than the job you are doing at that time such as topping or drilling. We have 30 acres of AB9 and AB8 and looking at last years diary I spent a grand total of 5 days to glyphosate, drill and roll and 2 days topping.

If you over work the soil like many do, you'll get poor establishment because when all these crops are planted water availability is the issue as its generally dry. Direct drilling it retains the moisture and gets the crop going quickly. I'll be spraying ours in the next 2 weeks, then direct drilling it pretty much straight away to get the seeds into moisture so they'll then survive a dry June - Sept if it occurs.

Don't bother applying fertiliser to them, even if the rules say you can and certainly don't start applying herbicides either.

How long after spraying off do you DD?

We've got some AB9 in already and putting in a load more and some AB16, I'm looking into a sprayer for the Mule so glad to read that's how you successfully do it already.

 

[D14]

How long after spraying off do you DD?

We've got some AB9 in already and putting in a load more and some AB16, I'm looking into a sprayer for the Mule so glad to read that's how you successfully do it already.

Depends on weather conditions. If were a bit late doing anything I've done it on the same day. This year I topped them off 5 days ago and now have the sprayer ready to go when the wind drops, hopefully tomorrow. I'll then drill them this week when the seed arrives.

 

[haggard143]

Depends on weather conditions. If were a bit late doing anything I've done it on the same day. This year I topped them off 5 days ago and now have the sprayer ready to go when the wind drops, hopefully tomorrow. I'll then drill them this week when the seed arrives.

What sort of soil/ where are you? sorry if you don't want say, i was told not to put ab9 in before may, i'm on heavy clay S.Norfolk, 1st time growing ab9 myself so steep learning curve also ploughed everything last autumn were'nt sure getting in