Will's No Till Diary

Thought Id try this as something different throughout the growing season and put some pictures up but by doing it this way maybe will get a bit of continuity as crops develop as always snapping pics on the phone anyway.

Got 6 or 7 crops on this small farm. So winter barley and wheat are in. Spring barley, beans and wheat to go in soon. And some swedes probably.

Will try to show everything with honesty. Would be good if others did their own threads too like this I reckon would be a good resource if others did it too.
 
Good idea. Do you want us to start our own no till diaries or stick the photos on here? Are you concerned that it's not just the rugby we can thrash you at??

No you keep off my bloody diary and do your own!

At least Wales know the rules of the game. "smash Italy" said Eddie Jones. yeah right..
 
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First three pictures. This was spring barley last year and I chucked on some oats as a bit of cover and sheep had a couple of weeks on them. Plan is to go to spring barley again and undersow it on the same day with 5kg italian ryegrass as a bit of bite for next years sheep and lieback for swedes next door. Will see how the grass looks and if I can get some more growth out of it and sell as silage I will and that can be my break crop. badger Sett on the way - they will find a new home soon, in the sky.
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Another field. This was Kale for sheep last year. I did a bad job of growing this to be honest and haven't got as much feed as I wanted from it - sown too thick as well. Anyway 300 sheep have hammered this since January and it looks pretty crappy but underneath the top inch it seems ok. I will move the sheep this week and will no till Kilburn Spring Wheat into it when the weather is right. I plane to chuck FYM on top of this in early May. Will try to go back to no till swedes next year if this is disappointing I'm wondering about stopping sheep on roots. I need to get more bulk out of a smaller area to make it pay. This is my longest pure no till field - total no till for 12 years. I need to subsoil a top headland a bit this year though
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Winter wheat. Not had a herbicide yet since planting. After beans sown 10th October ish. Looking pretty good - lots of moss but the pH is above 6.5 tested by me with test tube and soil test. I would put FYM on this if we get the weather but not sure its gonna happen this year. Next job is get some broadway star on to kill the beans and knock the brome/wild oats that may be about or on their way..
 
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Winter barley which as it happens is a 3rd winter cereal. This field was grass for about 70 years. 4 years ago was beans, then wheat x 2 and now winter barley. I know I'm pushing it from the grassweed point of view but its still ok and was interested to see how it can keep going as a cereal field. Few poor patches where the regrowth stubble was thick. Looks pretty good generally. Had a big hit of Liberator in the Autumn. Want to get some N + S on here asap but not getting the weather. Bit more disease on the barley than the wheat.
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This field is oat cover crop broadcast after Wheat. Plan is to move the sheep to here on Friday and get two weeks grazing out of it for 300 odd sheep (30 acres). The upside down picture is to my shame Brome. i get the odd very thick patch of it here and there and it scares the hell out of me! Plan here is to graze the oats down, get rid of the sheep and see then about when to roundup. If there is not too much residue I may leave to get a bit of regrowth before spraying off. Trying to get the balance between spraying off, the two simons and making sure I kick the arse off the brome. Will then spread Mt Shitamanjaro on top
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And then drill barley into the spread muck in this case because I want to drill the field at the same time. Will repair the mucked area with a Sumo GLS
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Picture of a field which was grazed off by sheep (winter barley stubble was meant to be fodder rape too but it failed - still not sure why probably slugs but I sometimes suspect SU carryover). This soil is ok and will be fine but needs some FYM as its been robbed a bit too much and not had any FYM for a good few years. So it'll be beans - a wonderful soil conditioner i think - then wheat and hopefully muck on top of the wheat in the spring.

Main issues for me are rosebay willowherb, brome, establishing brassicas well enough (I don't do it as well as I'd like) and late harvests means cover crops are tricky. So changing things around a bit - putting a brome killer on all wheat regardless of whether I can see any or not, experiment with upping SU rates to kill rosebay willowherb early enough and adding 24D to roundup as a mix etc.

Strengths for my system - plenty of demand for straw and plenty of free muck makes things easier. No blackgrass. Land very free draining.
 
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Simon Chiles

DD Moderator
View attachment 478466
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Winter barley which as it happens is a 3rd winter cereal. This field was grass for about 70 years. 4 years ago was beans, then wheat x 2 and now winter barley. I know I'm pushing it from the grassweed point of view but its still ok and was interested to see how it can keep going as a cereal field. Few poor patches where the regrowth stubble was thick. Looks pretty good generally. Had a big hit of Liberator in the Autumn. Want to get some N + S on here asap but not getting the weather. Bit more disease on the barley than the wheat.
View attachment 478470View attachment 478472
This field is oat cover crop broadcast after Wheat. Plan is to move the sheep to here on Friday and get two weeks grazing out of it for 300 odd sheep (30 acres). The upside down picture is to my shame Brome. i get the odd very thick patch of it here and there and it scares the hell out of me! Plan here is to graze the oats down, get rid of the sheep and see then about when to roundup. If there is not too much residue I may leave to get a bit of regrowth before spraying off. Trying to get the balance between spraying off, the two simons and making sure I kick the arse off the brome. Will then spread Mt Shitamanjaro on topView attachment 478474


And then drill barley into the spread muck in this case because I want to drill the field at the same time. Will repair the mucked area with a Sumo GLSView attachment 478476

Picture of a field which was grazed off by sheep (winter barley stubble was meant to be fodder rape too but it failed - still not sure why probably slugs but I sometimes suspect SU carryover). This soil is ok and will be fine but needs some FYM as its been robbed a bit too much and not had any FYM for a good few years. So it'll be beans - a wonderful soil conditioner i think - then wheat and hopefully muck on top of the wheat in the spring.

Main issues for me are rosebay willowherb, brome, establishing brassicas well enough (I don't do it as well as I'd like) and late harvests means cover crops are tricky. So changing things around a bit - putting a brome killer on all wheat regardless of whether I can see any or not, experiment with upping SU rates to kill rosebay willowherb early enough and adding 24D to roundup as a mix etc.

Strengths for my system - plenty of demand for straw and plenty of free muck makes things easier. No blackgrass. Land very free draining.

Are you going to spread that mountain pre or post drilling? Personally I'd drill a little shallower and then spread it, GLS where the lump was and drill that bit last. I have an inclination that Broadway Star is more effective when followed by 1/2 rate Ally which will probably help with the RBWH.
 
Are you going to spread that mountain pre or post drilling? Personally I'd drill a little shallower and then spread it, GLS where the lump was and drill that bit last. I have an inclination that Broadway Star is more effective when followed by 1/2 rate Ally which will probably help with the RBWH.

This particular mountain will be post drilling simply because I didnt really want to come back and drill a patch of barley where the spreaders have made a mess. I may change my mind though because the best thing to do is usually drill first. Ive done both ways.

Good point on Ally generally i think ive let the rbwh issue develop by not getting my su on early enough and robustly enough. I think I can get it sorted this year.
 
Will, how much of your cereal straw do you bale and remove?

Every blade. But chop bean and rape. To be honest I cant not sell it. It can be worth
£100-150 acre some years in round bale form if stored for a bit. I can get 12t free cattle muck back to the farm in 15-20 mins so it pretty much only costs my time to get it up. I am slightly robbing my farm of Potash though and have bought extra potash this year which needs to go into the "straw is not cost free" calculation
 
By the way any comments on the soil structure? Do you think the last picture soil looks a bit hungrier and less friable? Thats my feeling that it needs a shot of tlc.

I dont think there is anything tillage would solve in any fields particularly. Even the one hammered with sheep my.gut feeling is that the structure is there to get a decent wheat establishment. Im always looking for compaction but never that convinced I find it.
 

Dan Powell

Member
Location
Shropshire
By the way any comments on the soil structure? Do you think the last picture soil looks a bit hungrier and less friable? Thats my feeling that it needs a shot of tlc.

I dont think there is anything tillage would solve in any fields particularly. Even the one hammered with sheep my.gut feeling is that the structure is there to get a decent wheat establishment. Im always looking for compaction but never that convinced I find it.
My thoughts were that the structure didn't have that "cottage cheese" type crumb structure that your ex permanent pasture field had when I saw it. But if it's growing good crops maybe it doesn't matter so much. I admit to not being too sure what "good" structure should look like and my best guess is to always compare it to pasture as a reference point.
 

The_Swede

Member
Arable Farmer
We have some land with a very similar looking soil type and structure - I'd agree with the above re balancing how it looks and how it is actually working for you. Possibly a little tight in the top inch or two - hard to scale though and maybe just looks worse as a bit damp? Clear evidence of worms and roots going down to depth though.
 
We have some land with a very similar looking soil type and structure - I'd agree with the above re balancing how it looks and how it is actually working for you. Possibly a little tight in the top inch or two - hard to scale though and maybe just looks worse as a bit damp? Clear evidence of worms and roots going down to depth though.

Yes it is a bit tight at the top inch thats probably because of winter and hooves. Id expect fresh growth and heat to make a bit of a difference. Its easy to dig though
 
My thoughts were that the structure didn't have that "cottage cheese" type crumb structure that your ex permanent pasture field had when I saw it. But if it's growing good crops maybe it doesn't matter so much. I admit to not being too sure what "good" structure should look like and my best guess is to always compare it to pasture as a reference point.

I dont think the crop fields will ever get as good as the PP fields though it does demonstrate what it should be like.

I suppose if I kept the sheep off and didnt bale then i could probably get a better structure developing but may lose other aspects
 

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