Won't be long now to the iresposible use of liquid sunshine .

[shakerator]

Glyphosate certainly makes harvest easier, however we grow all HC crops and whatever the customer wants, the customer gets

GM ?

 

[shakerator]

Humidity.

Combination of humidity and temperature make dlgrain drying to contract spec difficult.

Now, if mills offered to take in grain that didn't have roundup on at 16 percent like they used to .. .

This is a key point
That last % most expensive in energy terms.

 

[teslacoils]

I can understand that, my question would be,considering all the hype against glyphosate and the fact that the nanny system called the E.u is so quick to ban all but breathing wouldn't it make sense to be proactively engaged in reducing chemical usage and staying a step ahead of the game? Just my 2 cents on the matter

No. Tried with metaldehyde. Farmer efforts make no difference Vs lawmakers.

 

[teslacoils]

This is a key point
That last % most expensive in energy terms.

I was too young to remember 16 percent being standard. But as we seemingly export nothing now, and mills work at sixteen percent, then it seems a fair swap and environmentally proactive.

Stopping us using a legal chemical legally while allowing imports that do just saddles those unable to pass on costs with more costs. While I realise this is the standard business model of UK supermarkets and government, it isn't going to be my problem.

 

[DrWazzock]

Just curious as I know very little about your climate, this probably sounds like an ignorant question, but what keeps you guys from swath drying slow drying crops to eliminate a glyphosate application?
Shouldn't we save herbicides for weed control?

Because if it rains heavily after swathing the swath is compacted down into the ground and rots. Not so likely with OSR as it sits on a very stiff stubble, but for cereals and beans the stubble isn't strong enough to support them. Some years we have even had problems with the OSR in swaths where we had to cut low to get under a laid crop.

 

[Northernlights]

A part from the residue issue which I have always thought was really serious. the fact that it ripens the crop to the point that it is very weak is more serious for me in our very exposed situation where if you are delayed by wet windy weather for a week or two after the barley is harvest interval ready there is serious brackling,head loss and the straw turns black faster than normal. Have never used roundup pre harvest and never will

 

[DrWazzock]

No. Tried with metaldehyde. Farmer efforts make no difference Vs lawmakers.

Correct. The agenda isn't water protection or public health, it's to drive us all towards purely organic farming and veganism, which is why unrealistic thresholds and targets are applied. We can never meet them. That's the whole idea, so we lose active after active, and even if we do meet targets Mr Gove will ban them anyway because his mate who runs a greeny restaurant thinks it's a good idea.

Why let science get in the way of sentiment?

 

[Douglasmn]

Try farming in Scotland without round up

It's very easy. To imply that you can't harvest cereals in Scotland without roundup is ridiculous. For those who say "try growing OSR in this area without it..." then maybe it's a sign that that particular crop just isn't suited to that particular part of the world.

 

[quattro]

A part from the residue issue which I have always thought was really serious. the fact that it ripens the crop to the point that it is very weak is more serious for me in our very exposed situation where if you are delayed by wet windy weather for a week or two after the barley is harvest interval ready there is serious brackling,head loss and the straw turns black faster than normal. Have never used roundup pre harvest and never will

I used to think you lost less heads to brackling until 2years ago cutting some WB for seed which hadn’t been sprayed and I didn’t see any difference

 

[tw15]

Here is a thought what would it save in carbon being emitted into the atmosphere if we were to revert back to the old standard of 16 % moisture content for cereals .
The reducing it from 16% to 15% was the great grain robbery.

Things like this is what the NFU should be doing and pushing for change . As with most things they do is they are just pussy footing along . Its about time they thump the table and start to be a voice for agriculture and stand up for us .

We have to use the argument of environmental benefits to our advantage in all topics. the anti farming tree huggers do against us .

 

[teslacoils]

Here is a thought what would it save in carbon being emitted into the atmosphere if we were to revert back to the old standard of 16 % moisture content for cereals .
The reducing it from 16% to 15% was the great grain robbery.

Things like this is what the NFU should be doing and pushing for change . As with most things they do is they are just pussy footing along . Its about time they thump the table and start to be a voice for agriculture and stand up for us .

We have to use the argument of environmental benefits to our advantage in all topics. the anti farming tree huggers do against us .

If I could deliver grain at sixteen percent I wouldn't use glypho on cereals. Easy as that.

 

[Vader]

I have never sprayed a crop off apart from rape.

 

[farmerm]

Plenty in the east live close enough to the coast for it to seldom get the last percent out.

Before last year I would have struggled to tell you the last time most of our cereals came in under fifteen percent.

Feed mills will take grain up to 16%... If we have to choose between a pre-harvest ban and a total ban on Glyphosate I know which I would prefer. Habitual pre-harvest glyphosate use will be the nail in the coffin. Not only will you routine desiccators not be able to use liquid sunshine to dry out crops but over time the weed burden and hence harvest moisture will be worst for all of us.

 

[farmerm]

If I could deliver grain at sixteen percent I wouldn't use glypho on cereals. Easy as that.

If you can not harvest grain in Lincolnshire below 16% you are starting harvest at least a week too early!

 

[milkloss]

Why don't farmers make a contact/deal with the British public: We'll elect to ban roundup provided you agree not to import and buy products that have had roundup used on them.

It's going to happen so why not lead the decision making process? I'm sure roundup ends up in livestock products too if you look hard enough so it may even help the livestock job a little and protect us from imports with a viable argument.

 

[Colin]

Pre harvest use didn't really get to be a routine thing until it for cheap. Before that we only used it for couch control really. Then strobs came along and we had to use it to sort out the green straw

 

[Vader]

I would think the whisky would be more detrimental to ones health than any glyphosate use on the barley

Given the maltsters prefer to buy it natural to dry themselves I find the biggest benefit of glyphosate use the drying up of any greens which are the main source of any hotspots prior to uplift which can be a fortnight after harvesting.

No glyphosate and it would all need to go through the dryer.

We done use glyphospate and only dry if it's a wet harvest.
We blow all grain or use grain spears to cool it anyway as grain cut on a hot sunny day still needs air through it even if bone dry.

 

[teslacoils]

If you can not harvest grain in Lincolnshire below 16% you are starting harvest at least a week too early!

I can harvest grain at under sixteen. Just not reliably most of it. I've got to cut a lot of crop to earn what the level of risk and capital equates to a fair wage. I'm not Adam Henson. I'm not interested in investing in a new big drier on rented land when a pound a ton of roundup does the job.

We all have our pet likes and dislikes, but I'm not going to volunteer to stop using a product in the legally acceptable manner I currently do.

 

[bumkin]

I'll be doing it for the first time ever on WB here. The Timothy grass that did fudge all for 4 years previously has suddenly decided to grow rampantly in my WB.
Me very bad farmer indeed.

the timothy will be well ripe by then just think how much more the straw will be worth with a bit of grass in it 5i cant see what the problem with a bit of grass is

 

[bumkin]

Try farming in Scotland without round up

they used to manage before i farm in west wales and we would have to be very desperate to resort to using roundup pre harvest