Will we be ploughing for re seeding in the future?

[Derrick Hughes]

View attachment 956578

Thats nice my, my horse and carts outside do you want a lift home [emoji537] [emoji3]

 

[hoff135]

So do people think we will see a ploughing ban on established grassland or paid not to plough? Or is it anyones guess right now

 

[neilo]

Always makes me wonder how many tonnes an outfit like that is. I will stick to the light touch as compaction to me is the devil that needs defeating not plough v DD.

The 300hp tractor you need to have on a plough these days would weigh a bit too.

 

[Kevtherev]

There is a place for the plough and direct drill
The end.

 

[Hilly]

There is a place for the plough and direct drill
The end.

Exactly.

 

[Chae1]

Any successful direct drilled grass seed I have seen has been a grass seed mixture specifically for direct drilling with large seeds.

This was only viable for 3 years. Then you had to do it again.

 

[Chae1]

surely only a lunatic would continue to damage their own environment ?

You going to sell your range rover and start travelling on a push bike?

 

[Kevtherev]

Some clover direct drilled into some existing silage leys after cut last june

 

[Scholsey]

You going to sell your range rover and start travelling on a push bike?

Made of bamboo

 

[delilah]

So do people think we will see a ploughing ban on established grassland or paid not to plough? Or is it anyones guess right now

So far as ELMS is concerned, there is no proposal to 'ban' anything, and rightly so.
(Don't know if there is anything other than ELMS on the horizon ?)
A different question would be"what will ELMS encourage ?". Which is a different debate from the question you ask.

 

[Two Tone]

I have my feet in both plough based and DD at the moment.
On the light and medium land DD works well. Heavier land can be a different story.
It isn’t the conditions at drilling with DD that are as important as what happens with the weather afterwards that makes all the difference as to how Heavy land will perform.
I’d so like it to work, but seriously wonder just how reliable it is on Heavy land. The present drought isn’t doing the Spring drilled crop any favours whatsoever. There is plenty of moisture down there, but not enough where the seed is to get it growing well enough to find it. Had it of rained in the last week or two, things would have been so different.

I’m happy to continue with DD where i know it will work. But even though I wish I could, I ain’t selling my plough and Combi just yet.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Can someone explain how the carbon is released by ploughing? Is it in gas form?
The carbon held in OM is going nowhere

Sorry, stupid question, how does ploughing release co2?

The disturbance and exposure to the atmosphere boosts aerobic biological activity and the carbon from all the extra activity is lost as Co2 in the process.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Yes, I've often wondered about the carbon footprint of producing a 9 ton Fendt and no till drill..
Not against it BTW, it's just the cost of change. In the present climate I would need to be given a drill FOC for it to stack up.

I thought direct drilling used less diesel than ploughing and has a lower power requirement?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Any successful direct drilled grass seed I have seen has been a grass seed mixture specifically for direct drilling with large seeds.

This was only viable for 3 years. Then you had to do it again.

I burn off to make a seedbed when I'm happy with it I direct drill. Why you think seed won't last I don't understand. My worse leys last year are the ploughed ones as they got hit by drought early on . If I seed bed is not right for drilling I don't drill, I don't care if it takes two months to get it right

This is the last field I drilled last year , im quite happy with it but was drilled to late,it rained for two months after and hardly stopped , early September is late enough here

I used standard long term mixes ,unless its overseeding,

 

[AJ123]

The disturbance and exposure to the atmosphere boosts aerobic biological activity and the carbon from all the extra activity is lost as Co2 in the process.

Ok, so the rotting plant matter releases co2 when exposed to the atmosphere by ploughing out.
How is this different to rotting on top if it’s not ploughed in?
Is there an argument to say ploughing buries the carbon under the furrow? Since we’ve ploughed straw in every year, our soils work better, I’ve always considered this to be the organic matter within the soil, put there by ploughing? We are talking extremes- it was burned before so no organic material left anywhere.

 

[7610 super q]

I thought direct drilling used less diesel than ploughing and has a lower power requirement?

I doubt it, I use a 100hp tractor ( sometimes 2wd ) to do my ploughing. I've yet to see a DD er using a 100hp 2wd tractor. Diesel consumption should be a lot lower though, as it's one pass.

 

[Sid]

Plough what's that dinasor


Thats old fashion hand that is
Releasing all that carbon and burning all that fuel and picking all those stone



,View attachment 956535

Said he posting a picture of a barren lifeless desert.
I am sure all the soil life love a wash in chemical to brighten up their day!

surely only a lunatic would continue to damage their own environment ?

There are more than one way to damage an environment.

Ploughing may release carbon but the soil can repair the damage caused.
How can a car or plane ever do that?

We also need to eat we do not "need" to fly. Its a luxury that should be balance with an eco tax

 

[bobk]

Plough what's that dinasor


Thats old fashion hand that is
Releasing all that carbon and burning all that fuel and picking all those stone



,View attachment 956535

And you poison the land ...

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

I doubt it, I use a 100hp tractor ( sometimes 2wd ) to do my ploughing. I've yet to see a DD er using a 100hp 2wd tractor. Diesel consumption should be a lot lower though, as it's one pass.

How much diesel do you use per hectare for ploughing, levelling up and drilling, compared to 3 to 5 litres for my direct drill?

 

[bobk]

How much diesel do you use per hectare for ploughing, levelling up and drilling, compared to 3 to 5 litres for my direct drill?

Never seen a dd grass ley last long , couple of years and it's fo0ked .