For the first time in months we’re up to date with the crop work. All the fertiliser is now on the winter crops and the spring barley and the gate is closed on the winter oilseed rape.

The final oilseed rape fungicide went on at dazzling full flower to protect against the dreaded disease sclerotinia.

We used to include an insecticide for pollen beetle at this stage but haven’t done so in recent years which is good from an environmental point of view.

I particularly don’t like using insecticides unless there is a proven need that will not be dealt with by natural predators. Aphids in ripening wheat are a case in point.

More often than not, there are sufficient natural predators like black beetles and ladybirds to do the job. Again, I haven’t included an insecticide with the head spray on the wheat in recent years.

But the risk of aphid-carried BYDV in the late-sown spring barley is high and an insecticide will be required. It is with typical Brussels irony that the safer and much more targeted seed dressing (Redigo Deter) for this disease is being withdrawn after this year.

Anyhow, back to the oilseed rape. Due to a missed application of Toprex growth regulator, the rape crops are very tall – too tall for my liking. And yes, oilseed rape can go down; I recall having a crop so flat in July 2012 that a startled fox ran off on top of the crop. But at least if it does go down, we’re better equipped now to handle flat rape; the Zurn attachment on the Claas header would make harvesting easier. But, like most worries, it may not happen.

The spring beans are nicely established and the single field of winter beans are flowering. On the grassland side of the farm, the cattle are thriving – after a very late turnout – and we’ll have a couple of meadows ready for silage in a week or so.

The countryside looks lovely in all the verdant beauty of early summer and the trauma of the spring that never was is gently eased from our minds. It will take longer, however, to remove the effects from our bank accounts.

But in case you think I’ve been losing the run of myself, there is, of course, an odd fly in the ointment. Our tramlines are a bit of a mess in the wet areas and especially so in the ploughed fields. The risk of boom damage is high every time you go out.

The tramlines in min-tilled crops are hugely better and this is the main reason why I favour min-till over ploughing; the trafficability is so much better.

New technology

The Bogballe fertiliser spreader was due for replacement with the same again and the decision to do this was made easier by the availability of a TAMS grant.

Of course, to qualify for the grant, the new spreader must be equipped with section control, which for the uninitiated, means handing over control of spreading on and off to a GPS system. This is difficult for someone like me who is extremely competent (oh yeah?) and who can’t let anyone else do the job, let alone hand it over to a bloody satellite.

Though, on reflection, maybe I’m now missing the point. A GPS-controlled machine can probably be operated by any four by two. Even a fellow fresh out of UCD would be able to competently operate machinery now. I’ve become expendable. But I’d like to see a GPS-controlled computer try to write this column.

Read more

Farmer Writes: there’s a risk Ireland will become unfarmable

Farmer Writes: fake news and a JCB yellow spud