Spring drilling

[britt]

Well, the spring drilling window has closed well and good today.

It has for most crops. I might to try one of the more "exotic" ones on the 35 acres that was too wet this week if it dries in time for millet, canary seed or something. But I suspect I'll end up leaving the wheat volunteers and grass to mow and bale for the expensive straw trade which then won't materialise.

 

[JCfarmer]

21ha of spring barley left, going in this week.
It will more than likely come out of the ground as quick as the stuff drilled last week with it being cold and miserable at the moment!

 

[teslacoils]

Ah there's no way we woudl be travelling for a week, if not ten days after this.

 

[Hindsight]

Well, the spring drilling window has closed well and good today.

Thursday evening about 8.15 pm at Thurlby Fen just south of Bourne I heard my first Cuckoo of the year. Salutary I thought.

 

[JCfarmer]

Thursday evening about 8.15 pm at Thurlby Fen just south of Bourne I heard my first Cuckoo of the year. Salutary I thought.

Calendar farming doesn't work.
Feck the cuckoo, hope he falls out the nest!

 

[Hindsight]

Calendar farming doesn't work.
Feck the cuckoo, hope he falls out the nest!

Yep. The Urea rules are a point in question. This past few days temperature barely into double figures with regular showers to keep soil damp followed by 10mm today. Hey ho The regulators no best.

 

[JCfarmer]

Yep. The Urea rules are a point in question. This past few days temperature barely into double figures with regular showers to keep soil damp followed by 10mm today. Hey ho The regulators no best.

Exactly, easily more favourable for urea than an.

 

[Andrew1983]

Finished Tuesday then.

Nah 1 customer still to get fert delivered, wet bit in 1 farm still to plough, lot of rain yesterday afternoon/evening has us parked up this morning. Hopefully done by end of week though

 

[Spencer]

Calendar farming doesn't work.
Feck the cuckoo, hope he falls out the nest!

Exactly, that saying was clearly coined by some smug git who’d got drilled up early..

 

[teslacoils]

Less due to some bird.
More due to the absolute shitshow that is our weather.

 

[Adeptandy]

Finished at home yesterday, 3 days on CS options now for a local farmer

 

[4course]

Well done for mentioning “the lads”, it’s all a team effort needing “a willing crew motivated by a good captain”.

The lads included the power harrow gal a sprightly beyond pensionable age mrs 4 course .

 

[4course]

Finished my own mid week. Onto contracting now, between 2 of us we have done 680 acres with roughly 300 to go. More than we have ever had left at this date by a long way, thank goodness we added an extra drill this spring!!

theres a lot to be said for going along with "grandads " saying, a donkey of your own is worth more than half an hoss ,ho ho

 

[Wombat]

Yep. The Urea rules are a point in question. This past few days temperature barely into double figures with regular showers to keep soil damp followed by 10mm today. Hey ho The regulators no best.

After 22mm so far i am not sure i would i have liked to have applied anyting this week.

And the redrilled barley after failed wheat is now stood in water again

 

[rob h]

22mm over night and still raining. It’s going to take some time drying out now

 

[T Hectares]

32mm last night and another 10mm in the previous two days

Had nearly caught up, onto WW T1’s and final N now

Wanted to roll the emerged SB that wasn’t rolled behind the drill but going to have wait a few days now !!

 

[4course]

After 22mm so far i am not sure i would i have liked to have applied anyting this week.

And the redrilled barley after failed wheat is now stood in water again

not going to look at ours!!! feck all we can do now reckon its almost too late to sow sp barley after 1st may here and the amount of rain weve had overnight 1.2 inch and still falling would put us back till at least next weekend so just have to hope weve worked it deep enough for it to soak away below seed depth ,seedbed was ok but on the rough side not rolled so might stand a chance plan was to put some more N on so will now have to wait . oh well we tried !! mindst the beans sown last weekend look ok from the lane at least no standing water yet.

 

[yellow belly]

Cold soil so crops not progressing very quickly so a week later is not as detrimental as in a year when soils are 6 c warmer

 

[4course]

Cold soil so crops not progressing very quickly so a week later is not as detrimental as in a year when soils are 6 c warmer

im not so sure thats really fair cos if the soils had been warmer and drier we would have been finished a month ago cant see that weve sown this last fortnight yielding as well as those crops sown a while back in a "normal" year but time will tell, though suppose it could be that if we sow in a fortnight after some sun then those crops could well do similar to those weve just sown I fear this cold is going to compound the lower total yield we expect from waterlogging regardless .( Im having a pessimmistic day hardly 24hrs after congratulating ourselves for getting sown up , ) its feezing here and weve had over an inch of rain and its still going

 

[Pilatus]

Cold soil so crops not progressing very quickly so a week later is not as detrimental as in a year when soils are 6 c warmer

Couldn’t agree more. I guess it’s the same across the whole of UK a cold spring on top of already wet soils .
It’s a shame the youngsters that keep popping up on Agricultural Matters who think they are going to improve a farmers profit/ minimise their loss,by inventing something to doing with “IT”, don’t realise that the “ WEATHER/NATURE” , is the main influence on the bottom line as long as one has done ones bit at the right time yet again influenced by the weather.