Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
The importance of checking the thousand grain weight (TGW) of seed was really driven home to James this season. The TGW of his Graham and Costello winter wheat seed this year ranged from 54g to 60g.
James was working through the night to get winter crops sown.
This resulted in seed rates varying from 140kg/ha to 150kg/ha in order to achieve the establishment rate of 260 plants/m2.
Despite rain holding up planting this week, he has had a good run so far
James is around 60% through with planting having started sowing cereals on 20 September. He explains that his minimum tillage establishment system on his farm in north Kilkenny allows him to drill winter cereals early, as emergence is generally slower. For example, it takes 14 days for his winter barley and wheat to emerge.
Despite rain holding up planting this week, he has had a good run so far. Rainfall amounts have generally been small so ground is still in good condition.
James is over halfway through with winter barley planting. He would be further ahead with barley planting but he wanted to give some of his stale seedbeds more time to allow weeds to germinate.
All ground has been rolled after sowing and has now received a pre-emerge herbicide of Naceto
This year he is growing the hybrid variety Belfry. Aiming for 180 plants/m2, he is drilling at a rate of 92kg/ha. Similarly, he is over halfway through with drilling Graham winter wheat.
All ground has been rolled after sowing and has now received a pre-emerge herbicide of Naceto, which contains flufenacet and diflufenican (DFF) at 0.45l/ha as well as straight DFF at 0.15l/ha. He explains that by adding in 0.15l/ha of DFF, this will equate to a total active rate of 160g/ha. He finds that this rate of DFF means he rarely has to follow up with a broadleaved weed spray in the spring.
He has yet to start sowing Husky winter oats but will aim to have these completed by the third week of October.
Lime
As well as drainage and other land maintenance works, James spread around 1,900t of lime this autumn. Fields with a reasonable soil pH received an application of 1.5t/ac while soils with a lower pH received a rate of 3t/ac. He aims to apply lime every year and sees it as the best return of any input on his farm.
Naas, Kildare
The 77mm of rain which has fallen on Tim’s farm since last Tuesday has made a mark on ground and put a halt to planting. Until the weather broke last week, Tim had been making good progress with planting, finishing his winter barley and starting winter wheat.
Tim sowing Graham winter wheat with his Kuhn before the weather broke.
Unfortunately, the poor weather has meant he missed the window to plant the new winter barley variety Joyau, as the ground is now too wet. Instead he has planted Belfry with a TGW of 46g at 100kg/ha and LG Castings with a TGW of 52g at 190kg/ha.
Sowing conditions at the time were good. He established some of his winter barley using a Claydon drill while the rest was established using a plough and one-pass system. He was unable to apply the planned pre-emerge spray of Naceto (0.5l/ha) due to heavy rain.
Tim still intends to apply Naceto as a post-emerge but will have to adjust rates accordingly.
“In years like these, this is where the self-propelled sprayer really comes into play,” explains Tim when commenting on his Bateman sprayer’s ability to travel on soft ground.
He rolled all of the ground which was established with the Claydon. He rolled one of the fields which were established with his one-pass and notes that a lot of water is lying on the surface, despite it being sandy soil.
Winter wheat
Tim was able to sow an amount of Graham winter wheat before the weather broke. He noted a big variation in seed TGW this year, ranging from 52-61g. This had a big impact on his seeding rate, which had to be adjusted several times to achieve 230 plants/m2. “I had to group the bags of seed together based on the seed size this year when planting,” explains Tim.
He still has around 60% of his intended winter area to plant, much of which was due to be established with his Claydon drill. He has yet to start sowing winter oats.
Tim finished his spring bean harvest two weeks ago. The crop averaged 1.5t/ac at 16% moisture. He puts the low yield down to moisture stress earlier in the year.
Lifford, Donegal
Hugh finished harvesting the last of his spring barley last week. The Prospect crop was grown for malting and had a protein content of 9.1% but didn’t make the grade due to sprouting issues.
Hugh's ploughed ground needs a few days drying before he can sow winter barley.
He noted there was a big difference in yield between his earlier and later harvested spring barley crops, varying by as much as 0.5t/ac. With no head loss and little brackling, he put this down to a reduction in specific weights. The crop produced a good straw yield of seven 4x4 round bales/ac.
The crop was saved just before the weather broke and it hasn’t improved since. Over 44mm of rain fell on Saturday and Sunday. Ground is quickly getting wet again and with cooler autumnal weather setting in, it will take longer to dry out.
Autumn sowing
He ploughed all of his ground before the weather broke. The ploughed ground is holding up OK and Hugh thinks he could be sowing again next week if the weather settles.
This year he is planning to sow Valarie winter barley. He grew the variety before and was reasonably happy with its performance.
Hugh normally rolls the crop after drilling
He was also impressed with how it looked in Goldcrop’s cereal trials last year. Hugh said he was tempted to try a hybrid variety this year as its higher number of tillers may mean it could survive a wet winter better. He will use a contractor to sow the crop at 203kg/ha. Hugh normally rolls the crop after drilling. He intends to apply the herbicide Firebird as a pre-emerge. The main weeds which he is targeting are annual meadow-grass and fumitory.
He wanted to grow Graham as, based on experience, the variety was able to withstand poor weather
Hugh was unable to secure Graham winter wheat seed so he had to settle on his second choice of Costello. He wanted to grow Graham as, based on experience, the variety was able to withstand poor weather and had a reasonable profile for disease control. However, he notes that he also grew Costello before which yielded reasonably well.
He will grow Isabel winter oats again this year as he was happy with how the variety preforms on his farm.
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
The importance of checking the thousand grain weight (TGW) of seed was really driven home to James this season. The TGW of his Graham and Costello winter wheat seed this year ranged from 54g to 60g.
James was working through the night to get winter crops sown.
This resulted in seed rates varying from 140kg/ha to 150kg/ha in order to achieve the establishment rate of 260 plants/m2.
Despite rain holding up planting this week, he has had a good run so far
James is around 60% through with planting having started sowing cereals on 20 September. He explains that his minimum tillage establishment system on his farm in north Kilkenny allows him to drill winter cereals early, as emergence is generally slower. For example, it takes 14 days for his winter barley and wheat to emerge.
Despite rain holding up planting this week, he has had a good run so far. Rainfall amounts have generally been small so ground is still in good condition.
James is over halfway through with winter barley planting. He would be further ahead with barley planting but he wanted to give some of his stale seedbeds more time to allow weeds to germinate.
All ground has been rolled after sowing and has now received a pre-emerge herbicide of Naceto
This year he is growing the hybrid variety Belfry. Aiming for 180 plants/m2, he is drilling at a rate of 92kg/ha. Similarly, he is over halfway through with drilling Graham winter wheat.
All ground has been rolled after sowing and has now received a pre-emerge herbicide of Naceto, which contains flufenacet and diflufenican (DFF) at 0.45l/ha as well as straight DFF at 0.15l/ha. He explains that by adding in 0.15l/ha of DFF, this will equate to a total active rate of 160g/ha. He finds that this rate of DFF means he rarely has to follow up with a broadleaved weed spray in the spring.
He has yet to start sowing Husky winter oats but will aim to have these completed by the third week of October.
Lime
As well as drainage and other land maintenance works, James spread around 1,900t of lime this autumn. Fields with a reasonable soil pH received an application of 1.5t/ac while soils with a lower pH received a rate of 3t/ac. He aims to apply lime every year and sees it as the best return of any input on his farm.
Naas, Kildare
The 77mm of rain which has fallen on Tim’s farm since last Tuesday has made a mark on ground and put a halt to planting. Until the weather broke last week, Tim had been making good progress with planting, finishing his winter barley and starting winter wheat.
Tim sowing Graham winter wheat with his Kuhn before the weather broke.
Unfortunately, the poor weather has meant he missed the window to plant the new winter barley variety Joyau, as the ground is now too wet. Instead he has planted Belfry with a TGW of 46g at 100kg/ha and LG Castings with a TGW of 52g at 190kg/ha.
Sowing conditions at the time were good. He established some of his winter barley using a Claydon drill while the rest was established using a plough and one-pass system. He was unable to apply the planned pre-emerge spray of Naceto (0.5l/ha) due to heavy rain.
Tim still intends to apply Naceto as a post-emerge but will have to adjust rates accordingly.
“In years like these, this is where the self-propelled sprayer really comes into play,” explains Tim when commenting on his Bateman sprayer’s ability to travel on soft ground.
He rolled all of the ground which was established with the Claydon. He rolled one of the fields which were established with his one-pass and notes that a lot of water is lying on the surface, despite it being sandy soil.
Winter wheat
Tim was able to sow an amount of Graham winter wheat before the weather broke. He noted a big variation in seed TGW this year, ranging from 52-61g. This had a big impact on his seeding rate, which had to be adjusted several times to achieve 230 plants/m2. “I had to group the bags of seed together based on the seed size this year when planting,” explains Tim.
He still has around 60% of his intended winter area to plant, much of which was due to be established with his Claydon drill. He has yet to start sowing winter oats.
Tim finished his spring bean harvest two weeks ago. The crop averaged 1.5t/ac at 16% moisture. He puts the low yield down to moisture stress earlier in the year.
Lifford, Donegal
Hugh finished harvesting the last of his spring barley last week. The Prospect crop was grown for malting and had a protein content of 9.1% but didn’t make the grade due to sprouting issues.
Hugh's ploughed ground needs a few days drying before he can sow winter barley.
He noted there was a big difference in yield between his earlier and later harvested spring barley crops, varying by as much as 0.5t/ac. With no head loss and little brackling, he put this down to a reduction in specific weights. The crop produced a good straw yield of seven 4x4 round bales/ac.
The crop was saved just before the weather broke and it hasn’t improved since. Over 44mm of rain fell on Saturday and Sunday. Ground is quickly getting wet again and with cooler autumnal weather setting in, it will take longer to dry out.
Autumn sowing
He ploughed all of his ground before the weather broke. The ploughed ground is holding up OK and Hugh thinks he could be sowing again next week if the weather settles.
This year he is planning to sow Valarie winter barley. He grew the variety before and was reasonably happy with its performance.
Hugh normally rolls the crop after drilling
He was also impressed with how it looked in Goldcrop’s cereal trials last year. Hugh said he was tempted to try a hybrid variety this year as its higher number of tillers may mean it could survive a wet winter better. He will use a contractor to sow the crop at 203kg/ha. Hugh normally rolls the crop after drilling. He intends to apply the herbicide Firebird as a pre-emerge. The main weeds which he is targeting are annual meadow-grass and fumitory.
He wanted to grow Graham as, based on experience, the variety was able to withstand poor weather
Hugh was unable to secure Graham winter wheat seed so he had to settle on his second choice of Costello. He wanted to grow Graham as, based on experience, the variety was able to withstand poor weather and had a reasonable profile for disease control. However, he notes that he also grew Costello before which yielded reasonably well.
He will grow Isabel winter oats again this year as he was happy with how the variety preforms on his farm.
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