- Location
- South Yorkshire
At the risk of starting a cyber war here but non the less worth asking and starting a discussion.
As a contractor I go over many fields and acres and thus you remember certain fields or patches/ places that hold water, are heavy, badly compacted and so on. You also remember what work you have done to the fields we work and what you see the neighbors doing and others on the rounds. I have noticed that on farms that direct drill / min till or or run no plough systems. Water logging is becoming more of an issue in places I've never seen water stand before. The same goes for when looking over hedges, fields that are usually dry or cope well are now looking very wet and like you would soon sink in and the crops look to show this as they look to be struggling.
There could be many factors affecting this such as the heavily mined area we are in. The pits are no longer pumped out so naturally the water returns and then the water table rises. It's as likely to come up through the soil as go down through the soil as it's a predominantly fractured limestone and sandstone bed rock area.
Really we haven't had that much rain this winter so far here but the first bit that came it sat in many places.
Now there are many large farms round here and small ones that run min till, direct drilling systems and other practices assosiated.
So my question and query is; as well as other influencing factors and local to this area as well as natioanally. Could it be that these min till systems are starting to cause the problem as the subsoiling and deep cultivation of a whole field has now become as 1 in 5 year job or a even greater? I'm on the fence as to which systems work best as we contract out to our customers requirements. But starting to see a declining quality of soil and field quality in places makes me think about what's going on. I'm not saying anyone is farming badly I'm curious to other people's thoughts and experiences.
Many of the fields don't seem to have the nice soil texture and tilth however, this could be down to lack of organic matter as there is little stock in the area for fym.
As a contractor I go over many fields and acres and thus you remember certain fields or patches/ places that hold water, are heavy, badly compacted and so on. You also remember what work you have done to the fields we work and what you see the neighbors doing and others on the rounds. I have noticed that on farms that direct drill / min till or or run no plough systems. Water logging is becoming more of an issue in places I've never seen water stand before. The same goes for when looking over hedges, fields that are usually dry or cope well are now looking very wet and like you would soon sink in and the crops look to show this as they look to be struggling.
There could be many factors affecting this such as the heavily mined area we are in. The pits are no longer pumped out so naturally the water returns and then the water table rises. It's as likely to come up through the soil as go down through the soil as it's a predominantly fractured limestone and sandstone bed rock area.
Really we haven't had that much rain this winter so far here but the first bit that came it sat in many places.
Now there are many large farms round here and small ones that run min till, direct drilling systems and other practices assosiated.
So my question and query is; as well as other influencing factors and local to this area as well as natioanally. Could it be that these min till systems are starting to cause the problem as the subsoiling and deep cultivation of a whole field has now become as 1 in 5 year job or a even greater? I'm on the fence as to which systems work best as we contract out to our customers requirements. But starting to see a declining quality of soil and field quality in places makes me think about what's going on. I'm not saying anyone is farming badly I'm curious to other people's thoughts and experiences.
Many of the fields don't seem to have the nice soil texture and tilth however, this could be down to lack of organic matter as there is little stock in the area for fym.
