Stabannon,
Louth
The finishing line is in sight for spring sowing on Gareth’s farm, thanks to the settled spell of weather. As well as working on his own crops, he has been busy bulk spreading fertiliser on hire for tillage and grassland farmers in the area.
Gareth started sowing on March 31, direct drilling his winter bean seed that he had from last autumn. The Wizard crop was sown at 220kg/ha.
Gareth sowing his Wizard bean crop. This was the only crop which he was able to direct drilled this spring.
His beans were sown into a companion crop of oats, which was broadcast at 125kg/ha prior to drilling. Gareth explains that the oats will act as a natural weed suppressant and a “living cover crop”. When the oats reach GS39, they’ll be killed with a selective herbicide, leaving a clean crop of beans.
In general, his cover crops didn’t establish well or survive the winter.
As a result, this meant he was unable to direct drill his spring cereals this year, as the ground was too hard for his Horsch CO4 drill.
Instead, he had to grub the stubble ground first before drilling a number of days after. He first sowed his Isabel spring oats (172kg/ha) followed by his spring barley Planet and Gangway mix (188kg/ha). He noted that willow herb is a particular challenge on direct-drilled ground, so he will apply a herbicide, likely a SU, to knock it out.
Gareth isn’t afraid to try combinations of crops and cover crops, but keeps a close eye on the costs of each
All spring crops have been brought to 175kg N/ha and 125kg S/ha.
He’s also trialling a peas, spring barley and oats mix this year. Gareth isn’t afraid to try combinations of crops and cover crops, but keeps a close eye on the costs of each. However, he believes the addition of this extra carbon into the soil will pay in the long run, in terms of soil health and productivity.
His winter wheat crops received an application of Phosphate (2l/ha), K2 (0.75l/ha) and seaweed extract before rolling two weeks ago and are looking healthier now. However, some crops are still quite patchy. Gareth mixes his winter wheat varieties to improve disease tolerance in his fields. More on this and his other winter crops next month.
Kinsale,
Cork
Martin expects to be finished the majority of his spring sowing by the end of the week, after a run of fantastic weather. Ground conditions have been ideal for sowing and the 18mm of rain that fell at the weekend was needed to help get crop established. Conditions have been very dusty when sowing this spring.
Martin is coming to the end of spring sowing. Conditions have been excellent.
Sowing began on March 25 with Talisker spring wheat at 160kg/ha. Martin explains that disease pressure in his area has become too high for him to grow winter wheat varieties, but he can still grow spring varieties.
When sowing, he runs a 6m Kuhn power harrow on ploughed ground, in front of a 6m Kuhn/Accord mounted one-pass with front-mounted hopper. This system leaves a great seedbed, explains Martin, and in the right fields, can cover up to 40ha per day (28ha on average). Martin uses a New Holland CentrePoint RTX GPS-assisted steering system, serviced through Vantage Ireland. This system uses satellites to give an accuracy of 4cm.
He then rolls with a 6m Vaderstad ring roller, but is considering upgrading to a 10m or 12m roller using TAMS.
He then moved on to sowing spring feed and malting barley. The TGW between his Gangway, Planet and Errigal varieties ranged from 42-52g, and his seed rates had to be adjusted accordingly. This is Martin’s second year growing malting barley for Southern Farm Fuels, who assemble on behalf of Boortmalt.
Next up were his Husky oats, which were sown at 150kg/ha under contract for Flahavans.
Sowing of sugar beet is underway and he hopes it will be completed before the rain on Friday
Martin incorporates 30% of his spring crops’ nitrogen requirement in the seedbed and the remainder when the tramlines are visible.
Sowing of sugar beet is underway and he hopes it will be completed before the rain on Friday. This year, Martin’s growing the varieties Alisha and a small amount of Conveso on trial. He also grows around 20ac of Enermax fodder beet.
He generally prepares his ploughed ground for beet by power harrowing once at a depth of 7.5cm at 3-4km/hr. He drills the crop on the flat using a 12-row Armer Salmon drill. His winter crops are coming along well, more on this next month.
Tuam,
Galway
Little rain has fallen over the past three weeks in Tuam, allowing Gerry to catch up on winter crop husbandry and finish spring crop sowing. Gerry ploughs using a conventional four-furrow plough on no.8 boards. He ploughs at around 40cm in width.
Gerry's Cassia winter barley is approaching GS31 and is free from disease.
Once the ground was dry enough after ploughing, Gerry either drilled directly with his one-pass drill or cultivated the ploughed ground using a tined grubber. His one-pass drill consists of a Rabe power harrow and Fiona box drill. The outfit is over 20 years old, but Gerry explains that it is still very reliable.
This year, he’s sowing Mickle spring barley at 188 kg/ha, a variety he has been growing for a number of years and is happy with.
Before sowing his spring barley, Gerry applied 335 kg/ha of 18:2.5:14 with trace elements onto the seedbed.
He uses Waterford-based Cooney Agri services to clean and dress the seed each year
He plans on following up with the same when the crop is at the 2-3 leaf stage. He’ll then top the crop up to 155kg N/ha later in the season.
Gerry uses home-saved seed for all of his crops, saving on costs and decreasing the risk of importing weed seeds. He uses Waterford-based Cooney Agri services to clean and dress the seed each year. He’ll aim to apply a spring aphicide and herbicide in the coming weeks.
Winter crops
In general, he is happy with his winter crops. Both his winter barley and oat crops received a herbicide application of Ally Max (28g/ha) and Binder (0.7l/ha) last week. This year, he is growing Cassia and Infinity winter barley.
He notes that his Cassia crop is looking the stronger of the two. Both crops have been brought up to 160kg N/ha and are approaching GS 31. Little disease is evident.
Gerry will aim to apply Ceraide (1.25l/ha), Coyote (0.7l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) in the coming days.
His Husky oats have come through the winter in great condition and have been brought to 130kg N/ha. He will aim to apply Ceraide (1.25l/ha) and Talius (0.2l/ha) in the coming weeks.
Stabannon,
Louth
The finishing line is in sight for spring sowing on Gareth’s farm, thanks to the settled spell of weather. As well as working on his own crops, he has been busy bulk spreading fertiliser on hire for tillage and grassland farmers in the area.
Gareth started sowing on March 31, direct drilling his winter bean seed that he had from last autumn. The Wizard crop was sown at 220kg/ha.
Gareth sowing his Wizard bean crop. This was the only crop which he was able to direct drilled this spring.
His beans were sown into a companion crop of oats, which was broadcast at 125kg/ha prior to drilling. Gareth explains that the oats will act as a natural weed suppressant and a “living cover crop”. When the oats reach GS39, they’ll be killed with a selective herbicide, leaving a clean crop of beans.
In general, his cover crops didn’t establish well or survive the winter.
As a result, this meant he was unable to direct drill his spring cereals this year, as the ground was too hard for his Horsch CO4 drill.
Instead, he had to grub the stubble ground first before drilling a number of days after. He first sowed his Isabel spring oats (172kg/ha) followed by his spring barley Planet and Gangway mix (188kg/ha). He noted that willow herb is a particular challenge on direct-drilled ground, so he will apply a herbicide, likely a SU, to knock it out.
Gareth isn’t afraid to try combinations of crops and cover crops, but keeps a close eye on the costs of each
All spring crops have been brought to 175kg N/ha and 125kg S/ha.
He’s also trialling a peas, spring barley and oats mix this year. Gareth isn’t afraid to try combinations of crops and cover crops, but keeps a close eye on the costs of each. However, he believes the addition of this extra carbon into the soil will pay in the long run, in terms of soil health and productivity.
His winter wheat crops received an application of Phosphate (2l/ha), K2 (0.75l/ha) and seaweed extract before rolling two weeks ago and are looking healthier now. However, some crops are still quite patchy. Gareth mixes his winter wheat varieties to improve disease tolerance in his fields. More on this and his other winter crops next month.
Kinsale,
Cork
Martin expects to be finished the majority of his spring sowing by the end of the week, after a run of fantastic weather. Ground conditions have been ideal for sowing and the 18mm of rain that fell at the weekend was needed to help get crop established. Conditions have been very dusty when sowing this spring.
Martin is coming to the end of spring sowing. Conditions have been excellent.
Sowing began on March 25 with Talisker spring wheat at 160kg/ha. Martin explains that disease pressure in his area has become too high for him to grow winter wheat varieties, but he can still grow spring varieties.
When sowing, he runs a 6m Kuhn power harrow on ploughed ground, in front of a 6m Kuhn/Accord mounted one-pass with front-mounted hopper. This system leaves a great seedbed, explains Martin, and in the right fields, can cover up to 40ha per day (28ha on average). Martin uses a New Holland CentrePoint RTX GPS-assisted steering system, serviced through Vantage Ireland. This system uses satellites to give an accuracy of 4cm.
He then rolls with a 6m Vaderstad ring roller, but is considering upgrading to a 10m or 12m roller using TAMS.
He then moved on to sowing spring feed and malting barley. The TGW between his Gangway, Planet and Errigal varieties ranged from 42-52g, and his seed rates had to be adjusted accordingly. This is Martin’s second year growing malting barley for Southern Farm Fuels, who assemble on behalf of Boortmalt.
Next up were his Husky oats, which were sown at 150kg/ha under contract for Flahavans.
Sowing of sugar beet is underway and he hopes it will be completed before the rain on Friday
Martin incorporates 30% of his spring crops’ nitrogen requirement in the seedbed and the remainder when the tramlines are visible.
Sowing of sugar beet is underway and he hopes it will be completed before the rain on Friday. This year, Martin’s growing the varieties Alisha and a small amount of Conveso on trial. He also grows around 20ac of Enermax fodder beet.
He generally prepares his ploughed ground for beet by power harrowing once at a depth of 7.5cm at 3-4km/hr. He drills the crop on the flat using a 12-row Armer Salmon drill. His winter crops are coming along well, more on this next month.
Tuam,
Galway
Little rain has fallen over the past three weeks in Tuam, allowing Gerry to catch up on winter crop husbandry and finish spring crop sowing. Gerry ploughs using a conventional four-furrow plough on no.8 boards. He ploughs at around 40cm in width.
Gerry's Cassia winter barley is approaching GS31 and is free from disease.
Once the ground was dry enough after ploughing, Gerry either drilled directly with his one-pass drill or cultivated the ploughed ground using a tined grubber. His one-pass drill consists of a Rabe power harrow and Fiona box drill. The outfit is over 20 years old, but Gerry explains that it is still very reliable.
This year, he’s sowing Mickle spring barley at 188 kg/ha, a variety he has been growing for a number of years and is happy with.
Before sowing his spring barley, Gerry applied 335 kg/ha of 18:2.5:14 with trace elements onto the seedbed.
He uses Waterford-based Cooney Agri services to clean and dress the seed each year
He plans on following up with the same when the crop is at the 2-3 leaf stage. He’ll then top the crop up to 155kg N/ha later in the season.
Gerry uses home-saved seed for all of his crops, saving on costs and decreasing the risk of importing weed seeds. He uses Waterford-based Cooney Agri services to clean and dress the seed each year. He’ll aim to apply a spring aphicide and herbicide in the coming weeks.
Winter crops
In general, he is happy with his winter crops. Both his winter barley and oat crops received a herbicide application of Ally Max (28g/ha) and Binder (0.7l/ha) last week. This year, he is growing Cassia and Infinity winter barley.
He notes that his Cassia crop is looking the stronger of the two. Both crops have been brought up to 160kg N/ha and are approaching GS 31. Little disease is evident.
Gerry will aim to apply Ceraide (1.25l/ha), Coyote (0.7l/ha) and Bravo (1l/ha) in the coming days.
His Husky oats have come through the winter in great condition and have been brought to 130kg N/ha. He will aim to apply Ceraide (1.25l/ha) and Talius (0.2l/ha) in the coming weeks.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: