Ronan sowing first wheat (Thorpe) after winter oilseed rape behind Dublin airport.
Swords
Co Dublin
A late spring bean harvest, delayed potato harvesting and sticky sowing conditions are just some of the consequences of the 137mm of rain which fell on Ronan’s farm over the past month.
His harvest came to an end two weeks ago. The last of his Lynx spring bean crop yielded around 2t/ac. Ronan said the pods appeared to have cracked due to the late harvest. As a result, there was a high amount of bean shedding which led to losses. He also recently harvested a late planted crop of spring barley for a neighbour. Despite being white in colour, the grain had a specific weight of 57-60 KPH at 21% moisture content. The crop was standing surprising well.
Ronan notes that some growers in the area have said they will not sow winter barley beyond this week
Ronan started sowing his winter cereals this week, a gap of around five weeks since sowing his oilseed rape. The oilseed rape ground had been ploughed and rolled for a number of weeks in preparation for winter wheat, but conditions weren’t good enough for sowing until recently. He’s sowing the variety Thorp treated with Radiate at 180kg/ha. The seed had a TGW of 54g.
Ronan notes that some growers in the area have said they will not sow winter barley beyond this week. Ronan is hopeful however, that he will still get his planned area of winter barley sown. He’s aiming on sowing Cassia and Tower, but would be open to trying Valerie or Casting.
Ronan isn’t under significant pressure to get the rest of his winter wheat sown, as he sowed wheat before in December.
Crop harvested so far has performed well however, averaging around 19t/ac with an excellent skin finish
He’s aiming to sow Bennington and Graham. If conditions are good, he will apply a pre-emerge herbicide, but doubts the field will be rolled.
His PT275 winter oilseed rape is developing well, although around 1ac of the crop failed due to wet conditions.
The potato harvest has been staggered, and Ronan has only manage to dig enough to supply orders. Crop harvested so far has performed well however, averaging around 19t/ac with an excellent skin finish. He has around 60ac out of 115ac left to dig. If conditions deteriorate further, he will be under significant pressure to get the crop lifted.
David sowing the last of his winter wheat crop on freshly harvested potato ground.
St Johnstown,
Co Donegal
The 157mm of rainfall which fell on David’s farm over the past month has left its mark. David started sowing in the first week of October and admits that crops were sown in less than ideal conditions. He explained that he pushed to get some area of winter crop sown in order to prevent a large spring area in 2020. Spring crops have proven increasingly challenging to harvest in the northwest.
However, a respite in the weather over the past week has given ground a chance to seep and while still not perfect, it has allowed David to make good progress with field work.
David managed to apply all of his slurry at between 2,000-3,000 gallons/ac ahead of winter crops before the deadline
After a number of long days, he is now down to his final few acres of winter wheat and should be finished sowing this week.
David ploughs ahead with his Amazone one-pass seed drill with two five furrow Kverneland ploughs, one on no.28 boards, the other on no.8. He explains that this combo is well matched, and the ploughs can just about keep ahead of the drill.
David managed to apply all of his slurry at between 2,000-3,000 gallons/ac ahead of winter crops before the deadline.
He has a small amount of spring wheat straw he wasn’t able to bale, so instead had to spread with a tedder. The spread straw ploughed down with ease once the skimmers were removed from the plough.
David has stuck to his original cropping plans this autumn. He sowed the varieties Valerie (203 kg/ha), Bazooka (105kg/ha) and Belfry (98kg/ha). Next, he moved onto oats and sowed the variety Isabel at 175kg/ha. He’s sowing winter wheat this week, opting for Graham and Costello at 205kg/ha.
Conditions were good enough to sow winter wheat after
He has an amount of ground rented to a potato farmer who is harvesting this week. Conditions were good enough to sow winter wheat after.
The focus is moving to herbicide sprays. David aims to apply Hurricane (0.25l/ha) and DFF (0.1l/ha) to his winter barley once the tramlines are visible. So far, slug and crow pressure is low. Listen to a podcast with David online at farmersjournal.ie.
Rob's Millstreet New Holland T7.185 with 6.3m Vaderstad Cultus covering broadcast Isabel winter oats.
Castlemagner,
Co Cork
Some 119 mm of rain has fallen in Castlemagner in the past month, considerably less than Dublin and Donegal. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Rob has had an easy run at sowing this autumn.
The challenging weather meant that he had to take the decision to harvest the last of his Lynx spring beans at high moistures. On 1 October, he harvested the crop at around 7% moisture content.
The crop yielded around 2.25t/ac, in line with earlier crop yields. He chopped the stalks and was able to sow winter wheat directly after. He sowed Graham at 180kg/ha, aiming for 350 seed/m2. Ground conditions were reasonable at the time of sowing.
Sowing progress has been relatively steady over the past couple of weeks, despite the tricky weather. By the end of the week he will have sown around 70% of his planned winter crop area, including winter wheat, barley, beans and oats.
He sowed these crops over a month ago and applied a herbicide of either Defy, Firebird or Vigon
The remaining area is now likely to be sown with spring crops.
Rob is running four establishment systems this autumn. Around 10% of his winter crop area (his earlier sown wheat and barley crops) was direct drilled using his John Deere 750a drill.
He sowed these crops over a month ago and applied a herbicide of either Defy, Firebird or Vigon. Some of these had glyphosate in the mix. Rob explains that there was no risk to the seedling as the crop hadn’t emerged yet.
Almost 15% of his area was sown with his Köckerling min-till drill and around 25% was established with his fertiliser spreader
Around 50% of the crops were sown using his John Deere drilling into a mix of tine cultivated, disced or shallow subsoiled ground.
Almost 15% of his area was sown with his Köckerling min-till drill and around 25% was established with his fertiliser spreader.
When using the latter, Rob first cultivates the ground before rolling. He then broadcasts the barley/wheat/oat seed with a fertiliser spreader, before shallow cultivating once again.
This method of establishment has been quite successful for him in the past. Rolling is important for this method, but it hasn’t been possible this year. Rob has increased the seed rates by around 15% on all of his crops this year, due to the conditions.
Read more
Watch: 10kg bag of potatoes sells for €1,050 at auction
Listen: progress made in the fields but still a lot to do
Ronan sowing first wheat (Thorpe) after winter oilseed rape behind Dublin airport.
Swords
Co Dublin
A late spring bean harvest, delayed potato harvesting and sticky sowing conditions are just some of the consequences of the 137mm of rain which fell on Ronan’s farm over the past month.
His harvest came to an end two weeks ago. The last of his Lynx spring bean crop yielded around 2t/ac. Ronan said the pods appeared to have cracked due to the late harvest. As a result, there was a high amount of bean shedding which led to losses. He also recently harvested a late planted crop of spring barley for a neighbour. Despite being white in colour, the grain had a specific weight of 57-60 KPH at 21% moisture content. The crop was standing surprising well.
Ronan notes that some growers in the area have said they will not sow winter barley beyond this week
Ronan started sowing his winter cereals this week, a gap of around five weeks since sowing his oilseed rape. The oilseed rape ground had been ploughed and rolled for a number of weeks in preparation for winter wheat, but conditions weren’t good enough for sowing until recently. He’s sowing the variety Thorp treated with Radiate at 180kg/ha. The seed had a TGW of 54g.
Ronan notes that some growers in the area have said they will not sow winter barley beyond this week. Ronan is hopeful however, that he will still get his planned area of winter barley sown. He’s aiming on sowing Cassia and Tower, but would be open to trying Valerie or Casting.
Ronan isn’t under significant pressure to get the rest of his winter wheat sown, as he sowed wheat before in December.
Crop harvested so far has performed well however, averaging around 19t/ac with an excellent skin finish
He’s aiming to sow Bennington and Graham. If conditions are good, he will apply a pre-emerge herbicide, but doubts the field will be rolled.
His PT275 winter oilseed rape is developing well, although around 1ac of the crop failed due to wet conditions.
The potato harvest has been staggered, and Ronan has only manage to dig enough to supply orders. Crop harvested so far has performed well however, averaging around 19t/ac with an excellent skin finish. He has around 60ac out of 115ac left to dig. If conditions deteriorate further, he will be under significant pressure to get the crop lifted.
David sowing the last of his winter wheat crop on freshly harvested potato ground.
St Johnstown,
Co Donegal
The 157mm of rainfall which fell on David’s farm over the past month has left its mark. David started sowing in the first week of October and admits that crops were sown in less than ideal conditions. He explained that he pushed to get some area of winter crop sown in order to prevent a large spring area in 2020. Spring crops have proven increasingly challenging to harvest in the northwest.
However, a respite in the weather over the past week has given ground a chance to seep and while still not perfect, it has allowed David to make good progress with field work.
David managed to apply all of his slurry at between 2,000-3,000 gallons/ac ahead of winter crops before the deadline
After a number of long days, he is now down to his final few acres of winter wheat and should be finished sowing this week.
David ploughs ahead with his Amazone one-pass seed drill with two five furrow Kverneland ploughs, one on no.28 boards, the other on no.8. He explains that this combo is well matched, and the ploughs can just about keep ahead of the drill.
David managed to apply all of his slurry at between 2,000-3,000 gallons/ac ahead of winter crops before the deadline.
He has a small amount of spring wheat straw he wasn’t able to bale, so instead had to spread with a tedder. The spread straw ploughed down with ease once the skimmers were removed from the plough.
David has stuck to his original cropping plans this autumn. He sowed the varieties Valerie (203 kg/ha), Bazooka (105kg/ha) and Belfry (98kg/ha). Next, he moved onto oats and sowed the variety Isabel at 175kg/ha. He’s sowing winter wheat this week, opting for Graham and Costello at 205kg/ha.
Conditions were good enough to sow winter wheat after
He has an amount of ground rented to a potato farmer who is harvesting this week. Conditions were good enough to sow winter wheat after.
The focus is moving to herbicide sprays. David aims to apply Hurricane (0.25l/ha) and DFF (0.1l/ha) to his winter barley once the tramlines are visible. So far, slug and crow pressure is low. Listen to a podcast with David online at farmersjournal.ie.
Rob's Millstreet New Holland T7.185 with 6.3m Vaderstad Cultus covering broadcast Isabel winter oats.
Castlemagner,
Co Cork
Some 119 mm of rain has fallen in Castlemagner in the past month, considerably less than Dublin and Donegal. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Rob has had an easy run at sowing this autumn.
The challenging weather meant that he had to take the decision to harvest the last of his Lynx spring beans at high moistures. On 1 October, he harvested the crop at around 7% moisture content.
The crop yielded around 2.25t/ac, in line with earlier crop yields. He chopped the stalks and was able to sow winter wheat directly after. He sowed Graham at 180kg/ha, aiming for 350 seed/m2. Ground conditions were reasonable at the time of sowing.
Sowing progress has been relatively steady over the past couple of weeks, despite the tricky weather. By the end of the week he will have sown around 70% of his planned winter crop area, including winter wheat, barley, beans and oats.
He sowed these crops over a month ago and applied a herbicide of either Defy, Firebird or Vigon
The remaining area is now likely to be sown with spring crops.
Rob is running four establishment systems this autumn. Around 10% of his winter crop area (his earlier sown wheat and barley crops) was direct drilled using his John Deere 750a drill.
He sowed these crops over a month ago and applied a herbicide of either Defy, Firebird or Vigon. Some of these had glyphosate in the mix. Rob explains that there was no risk to the seedling as the crop hadn’t emerged yet.
Almost 15% of his area was sown with his Köckerling min-till drill and around 25% was established with his fertiliser spreader
Around 50% of the crops were sown using his John Deere drilling into a mix of tine cultivated, disced or shallow subsoiled ground.
Almost 15% of his area was sown with his Köckerling min-till drill and around 25% was established with his fertiliser spreader.
When using the latter, Rob first cultivates the ground before rolling. He then broadcasts the barley/wheat/oat seed with a fertiliser spreader, before shallow cultivating once again.
This method of establishment has been quite successful for him in the past. Rolling is important for this method, but it hasn’t been possible this year. Rob has increased the seed rates by around 15% on all of his crops this year, due to the conditions.
Read more
Watch: 10kg bag of potatoes sells for €1,050 at auction
Listen: progress made in the fields but still a lot to do
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