Will we be ploughing for re seeding in the future?

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
I shall mention that to the moles and rabbits , but I hope the chickweed is now dead
They are further up the food chain.

I am talking about the livestock in the biggest asset you have the soil.

Why did you have to reseed it? Must have been a failure on your behalf to get to that stage? Seen other pictures of you ripping trees out and making huge ruts in wet land.
It's not just the soil life you like to upset?
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
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.
No slug problem either.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
They are further up the food chain.

I am talking about the livestock in the biggest asset you have the soil.

Why did you have to reseed it? Must have been a failure on your behalf to get to that stage? Seen other pictures of you ripping trees out and making huge ruts in wet land.
It's not just the soil life you like to upset?
I took time out . PH dropped to low and the productive grasses gave up died . I'm back in the driving seat now . Reseeding again . I could not stand the thought of all that expensive ploughing . Ploughing all that goodness from the top layer underground, all that surface cultivating all that stone to pick , all those weeds seed bought up from the deep to spring back into life
Then it came to me. Deal with the weeds in the top layer then just drill into that . Its a miracle
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
So ploughing uses 8 times more diesel then and emits 8 times more co2 then?
My plough + Combi system used 8 times more diesel to establish a crop compared with my DD system.
As regards CO2, this may be the case with regard the fuel used.
Some will tell you that the CO2 I saved in the fuel usage “pales into insignificance” compared to the CO2 I didn’t release by not ploughing it.
I’m not so sure. My thoughts are that by burying the previous crop’s stubble with a plough, its CO2 remained in the soil and wasn’t released to the atmospheres.

Cutting to the chase, there is nobody who knows our land better than we individually do.
There will be all sorts of people who will tell you how good or bad each system is.
Listen to them by all means. But do not let them convince you that DD will work everywhere.
We each have a gut feeling and it is almost certainly far more right than anybody else’s opinion.
Do what you think is best for your farm, or even each part of your farm.
NEVER, EVER be made to feel stupid or inferior by ANYBODY else’s opinion, who isn’t actually paying for what you do!
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
I took time out . PH dropped to low and the productive grasses gave up died . I'm back in the driving seat now . Reseeding again . I could not stand the thought of all that expensive ploughing . Ploughing all that goodness from the top layer underground, all that surface cultivating all that stone to pick , all those weeds seed bought up from the deep to spring back into life
Then it came to me. Deal with the weeds in the top layer then just drill into that . Its a miracle
You let someone raped the ground and now think by DD you won't get done for aiding and abetting? 😉
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
To compare like with like, surely you need to compare with an ageing Moore Unidrill, which could be easily handled by 100hp...
How much are they ? I don't see much under £10k ( and I mean refurbished, ready to go ).
I'm using 4M ATM, so to pull a 4M DD, I'd have to upgrade my tractor. I wouldn't mind, as a high HP classic would hold it's value I'm sure.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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