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Over the Farm Gate is kindly supplied by - David White - Farmer Director
Where did the last 6 weeks go? I was recently reminded by Director J. Jefferies of the remark I made in a board meeting last autumn. We were discussing the difficult autumn drilling season and trying to maintain my glass half full outlook on life I said I’m not too worried yet as I have until next April to drill my farm. Little did I bank on us having the spring from hell, and now approaching mid April I still have a few acres left to sow!!!
Please be aware as members deliver their commitment next harvest that every load over the weighbridge will have been very hard fought for. Growing crops is not an easy way to make a living. The spring wheat, oats and barley that was been snatched in earlier between the showers is now showing nice green rows and they have all had some nitrogen to get them up and running as quickly as possible. Usually this would have been applied as either liquid or granular product but due to the relentless strong winds this spring throwing granules with any accuracy would have been difficult, so all my bags remain in the shed and the liquid tank is now empty! The usual merry-go-round of fungicide and growth regulator spraying has also only just got going.
The beet harvest of 23/4 finished for my neighbour on March 31st. It was a very long campaign this year having started when the factories opened last September. The season’s record rainfall has meant it’s been a real slog for lifting contractors. The beet harvester got bogged in wet holes on more than one occasion on the neighbour’s field. It’s a 6 wheeled machine that weighs 34 tons before you liberally add any mud to it or fill its 30 ton capacity holding tank with beet. It took 3 tractors and a telehandler to extract it from the mire. I’ll spare the blushes of all by not posting a picture that popped up on a WhatsApp group. It’s now doubtful that the field will be suitable to establish a cereal crop for harvest 24 meaning any beet crop profit will need to be spread across two years. The damaged soil could take longer to recover.
We still have 120 sheep grazing the winter wheat and nutrient strip field. As they merrily go around they are eating the older diseased wheat leaves recycling them into nutrition for the crop to live on in its next growing phase. Sheep poo combined with the bi-crop bean element should mean we can produce milling wheat on 80kgs (against a standard of ~230kgs) of applied synthetic nitrogen. Leaf samples from this crop are sent to a laboratory in Holland for sap analysis to help plan the application timing strategy for maximum NUE (nitrogen use efficiency).
Outside of attempted field work, as the newest planted hedge springs into life the laborious task of removing old hare guards from “one we planted earlier” is taking place. It’s an important job to do as otherwise the guards become plastic waste in the countryside. What a shame they are the wrong type of plastic to be recycled, and instead must go into landfill! Hedgerows form an important element of the farm landscape, a nature link-road between other natural features such as woods or ponds. To establish a record of what we have living on the farm the first of several visits was made this week by our local Wildlife Trusts East person. Even though it was a wet and windy morning she was excited by what she recorded. Her visit was arranged through our local newly formed farm cluster group, something I would encourage other farms to get involved with if they have the chance.
