The Drought

[snarling bee]

We have been doing some trenching for a new water main. The soil is surprisingly moist below 6". That is with late Oct drilled WW and mid April drilled SW crops growing.
We only had 2mm in May, and 3mm so far this month.

 

[som farmer]

while grass growth is slow, there is moisture below, not to deep either, perhaps the slow growth, is a symptom of the cold, and then the heat, hope it is anyway !!!!!

 

[Poorbuthappy]

while grass growth is slow, there is moisture below, not to deep either, perhaps the slow growth, is a symptom of the cold, and then the heat, hope it is anyway !!!!!

Dont think its the cold that's causing it to burn off and shrivell up here.

 

[som farmer]

Dont think its the cold that's causing it to burn off and shrivell up here.

ours has been 'caught' on the leaf tips, that shows cold, and wind, has effected the grass, then the scorching sun, might be the reason, for slow growth, lets hope it grows now ! But we have bought 120 ton of hay, as an insurance !

 

[ajcc]

It’s really starting to bite badly here on the coast. Sell stock or buy in food.About to start strip grazing undersown cereal crop that was intended as whole crop winter feed. Grass underneath looks v.poor and brown, barley coming into ear but only foot tall what’s there is likely to shrink and dessicate over the next month.
Fodderbeet is about 3 inches high and unlikely to survive the next month of constant wind and no rain expected. Hopefully it’ll rain late summer and stubble turnips and rape will save the day?

 

[APJ]

Anybody been lucky to catch any rain today? we’ve had an odd spot and that’s it!

 

[Ivorbiggun]

Had 11 mill here since 7 yesterday morning

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Been mostly afew heavy showers here since Tuesday, helped freshen things up abit and gave my grass seed a good drink, better forecast again for next week in Central Scotland.

 

[Farma Parma]

21mm over last 5days here & 11mm on day1 its making such a difference now. Thank goodness
it was badly needed.
yes its colder but doing no harm atm.
More rain due later again & through next 9days then it looks to be more settled again

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Grass growing like stink now

 

[Greythundercloudys]

Dairys have all there first cut in, but very light, so will need a bigger cut in 6 weeks time, l only cut the once for a few hundred bales, so should be a good crop in 3 weeks time, weather permits.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Grass growing like stink now

You cant have had much of a drought then. Gonna take a while to turn round what's burnt off here.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You cant have had much of a drought then. Gonna take a while to turn round what's burnt off here.

My lands always last to burn , the 60 acres of grass seed was suffering , think that will be ok now . But it's nothing like two years ago around here, some fields I can see starting to burn across the way
Be a glutt of fodder now if it stays wettish

 

[Renaultman]

I realise if I changed farming techniques my field wouldn't look like a beach and wouldn't be blowing away.

Animals! They are part of problem. Over 100 suckler cows have lived on that 18 acre field from October to end of January. It was sown with a catch crop of forage rape after spring barley. A tractor with feed cart was hauling out silage bales every 2nd day which made some deep ruts as winter was quite wet.

So in my wisdom or lack of, I ploughed it to get it level again. This levelled it and removed a lot of compaction. The cows didn't have flotations. Weigh 7-800kg each.

I could get rid of cows, sow a cover crop after harvest and wait till next spring and go in with a direct drill.

It looks to me like you are well aware of the different options available to you. IMHO there is no true right or wrong, the only thing that is wrong is a blinkered attitude, we all make mistakes it's having the balls to face up to them and try to learn from them.

 

[britt]

It looks to me like you are well aware of the different options available to you. IMHO there is no true right or wrong, the only thing that is wrong is a blinkered attitude, we all make mistakes it's having the balls to face up to them and try to learn from them.

We all make decisions on a best guess of what will happen. We will get it wrong sometimes.

 

[som farmer]

You cant have had much of a drought then. Gonna take a while to turn round what's burnt off here.

crops here, have been very slow, looks like a desert in places, but, on a lot of ground, moisture is there 5/6 ins down, beginning to think the cold winds hit it, followed by a heat wave, cooked it, lets hope it grows now. Knew when we bought 120 ton of hay, the effing weather would change ! But its still a cold wind.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

crops here, have been very slow, looks like a desert in places, but, on a lot of ground, moisture is there 5/6 ins down, beginning to think the cold winds hit it, followed by a heat wave, cooked it, lets hope it grows now. Knew when we bought 120 ton of hay, the effing weather would change ! But its still a cold wind.

You had the hay cheap .I wont frighten you with the prices I heard last week . Demand will fall now I expect

 

[glasshouse]

W

You had the hay cheap .I wont frighten you with the prices I heard last week . Demand will fall now I expect

what prices did u hear last week?
My hay is burnt off and will now regrow?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

W

what prices did u hear last week?
My hay is burnt off and will now regrow[emoji30]

That was last week
After all "Tomorrow is another day "
It's gone with the wind !

 

[britt]

Got really excited this afternoon as a thunderstorm approached ...…………...…….3mm☹
That's 7mm over the last 3 days.
17mm late April, 0mm May.
Spring wheat drilled late March now has ears emerging, barely wellie high. Oh well, I suppose it solves the grazing problem !
Where's the bottle opener ?