Tom Sewell's Nufield report

[Tom Sewell]

The one next to your name here, with the Union Jack on your face

Ha ha! Went to a masquerade ball in Christchurch with NZ Nuffield scholar and Jake Freestone so thought Union Jack appropriate! Shame it was the day Mitchell Johnson bowled us Brits out in about half an hour!

 

[Fred]

Why what? I already said his reasoning...?

why, are you still doing it? i presume you mean min till

i used min till to put 200 acres of cover crops in ,however , 100 acres failed miserably , the other black oats and vetch are coming but slowly, i rolled and slug pelleted them .

first valuable lesson , treat covers properly ,

 

[dontknowanything]

why, are you still doing it? i presume you mean min till

i used min till to put 200 acres of cover crops in ,however , 100 acres failed miserably , the other black oats and vetch are coming but slowly, i rolled and slug pelleted them .

first valuable lesson , treat covers properly ,

Because it works fine for us at the moment, but I'm working towards a better system.

 

[Fred]

what warm season crops could we grow in the UK?

 

[Fred]

i watched a video of Dwayne Beck on you tube the other day, and thought he spoke a lot of sense , however we need to translate into UK conditions,

 

[dontknowanything]

what warm season crops could we grow in the UK?

This is the problem with the "ideal" rotation.

 

[Fred]

surely North Dakota is lees condusive to warm season crops than we are.

 

[britt]

Tom

Put the pheasant cover in with you cross slot. A good rate of glyphosate in April, a low rate before drilling. You will get less problems with weeds and moisture loss, less passes. Our covers have been much more reliable since we've notilled them.
Can't undestand why I kept ploughing them when we had gone to min or notill on cash crops.

 

[Tom Sewell]

Tom

Put the pheasant cover in with you cross slot. A good rate of glyphosate in April, a low rate before drilling. You will get less problems with weeds and moisture loss, less passes. Our covers have been much more reliable since we've notilled them.
Can't undestand why I kept ploughing them when we had gone to min or notill on cash crops.

Agree! But prob not much more game covers here now. Some pony paddocks so small you won't turn cross slot round in! P/H drill will sit in the corner to remind us how far we have come! And to educate my kids and theirs kids what not to do!

 

[Baling Hay]

He told me my "wheat,osr,wheat,sp bn" rotation was "not a rotation"!

According to Dwayne you need..,
Warm season grass, warm season broadleaf, cool season grass and cool season broadleaf.

As of today I'm really struggling to find more than 2 reasons to carry on growing osr!! Maybe should go wheat then spring break with cover crop in between? Imagine no osr (slugs flea-beetle pigeons rabbits) plus no mychorrizial activity and the slug carry over problems!

Thoughts?

What would your rotation look like if you dropped OSR?

 

[Tom Sewell]

Half the farm first wheat with as many spring break crops as practically possible? Could mean half the farm in over wintered cover crops so poss spring wheat, certainly spring beans, plus ??? As I said only starting to think about it and osr just such a headache to grow and very little benefit to soil biology.

 

[Clive]

Half the farm first wheat with as many spring break crops as practically possible? Could mean half the farm in over wintered cover crops so poss spring wheat, certainly spring beans, plus ??? As I said only starting to think about it and osr just such a headache to grow and very little benefit to soil biology.

Think your on the right lines Tom, I'm roughly 40% spring cropped all breaks 10% osr and 50% first wheat or barley

I'm growing some barley as a second cereal this year to see how it goes - if successful I may cut to 30% spring crops

The spring cropping is a great opportunity to build soils with covers, compost etc and essential to keep on top of grass weeds imo

 

[SilliamWhale]

My thoughts are:

This is a typical Dr Beck statement which unfortunately doesn't take into account the fact that not everyone lives within 100 miles of Pierre SD.

I think he's well aware of the conditions in the rest of the world. He probably says it to challenge/rile etc.

Anyway your obvious warm season grass would be maize,a warm season broadleaf is less easy as a cash crop.

I think it crop type is important but just as important would be herbicide type.

 

[Feldspar]

Enjoyed reading the report. I thought the decision to mention character type was an interesting one. I think this is highly relevant to the whole no-till thing - that is, some people are much better suited to no-till than others. Some people naturally enjoy trying different things to the crowd. Some people like to reduce workload all other things being equal. Some people get a kick out of owning smaller tractors rather than bigger ones. Some people are much less risk averse and so on.

Personally I think back to my school report days. There was a number for attainment (1* to 4) and a letter for effort (A-E). Some people were only happy with 1*A (i.e. only felt good if seen to be working super hard whilst doing well - think of recreational tillage). On the other hand I was always most happy with a 1*E - i.e. he appeared to do bugger all work, turned up late a lot but somehow still managed to ace his exams. I think people who are well suited to no-till are the 1*E people. A lot of farmers feel the need to get an A when actually only an E is required.

 

[Baling Hay]

Enjoyed reading the report. I thought the decision to mention character type was an interesting one. I think this is highly relevant to the whole no-till thing - that is, some people are much better suited to no-till than others. Some people naturally enjoy trying different things to the crowd. Some people like to reduce workload all other things being equal. Some people get a kick out of owning smaller tractors rather than bigger ones. Some people are much less risk averse and so on.

Personally I think back to my school report days. There was a number for attainment (1* to 4) and a letter for effort (A-E). Some people were only happy with 1*A (i.e. only felt good if seen to be working super hard whilst doing well - think of recreational tillage). On the other hand I was always most happy with a 1*E - i.e. he appeared to do bugger all work, turned up late a lot but somehow still managed to ace his exams. I think people who are well suited to no-till are the 1*E people. A lot of farmers feel the need to get an A when actually only an E is required.

Very good example there!!

 

[dontknowanything]

surely North Dakota is lees condusive to warm season crops than we are.

He's in South Dakota and it gets HOT there in the summer.

 

[dontknowanything]

I think he's well aware of the conditions in the rest of the world. He probably says it to challenge/rile etc.

Anyway your obvious warm season grass would be maize,a warm season broadleaf is less easy as a cash crop.

I think it crop type is important but just as important would be herbicide type.

A Kenyan elephant farming expert could tell everyone around the world to farm elephants, but it doesn't actually add anything to the debate.

 

[Gregory Mac]

This is some of the best stuff I have read particularly the Nuffield report from you Poms since Churchill

 

[Clive]

Enjoyed reading the report. I thought the decision to mention character type was an interesting one. I think this is highly relevant to the whole no-till thing - that is, some people are much better suited to no-till than others. Some people naturally enjoy trying different things to the crowd. Some people like to reduce workload all other things being equal. Some people get a kick out of owning smaller tractors rather than bigger ones. Some people are much less risk averse and so on.

Personally I think back to my school report days. There was a number for attainment (1* to 4) and a letter for effort (A-E). Some people were only happy with 1*A (i.e. only felt good if seen to be working super hard whilst doing well - think of recreational tillage). On the other hand I was always most happy with a 1*E - i.e. he appeared to do bugger all work, turned up late a lot but somehow still managed to ace his exams. I think people who are well suited to no-till are the 1*E people. A lot of farmers feel the need to get an A when actually only an E is required.

If I posted a photocopy if my old school reports you wouldn't believe how accurate that is !

I think how I ever passed anything was a constant amazement and annoyance to my teachers !

 

[Feldspar]

If I posted a photocopy if my old school reports you wouldn't believe how accurate that is !

I think how I ever passed anything was a constant amazement and annoyance to my teachers !

Give us a quote then!