John Galvin, Croom, Co Limerick

Water is now lying in fields after weeks of rain in Croom, amounting to around 147mm. Recent field work has been limited, as ground conditions are poor.

Using a spade, John dug down into the soil profile at the start of the week and was surprised how dry the ground was underneath. If the rain would ease for a while, he thinks land would likely plough up relatively dry.

He still intends on sowing his originally planned area

John hasn’t started ploughing or sowing yet, but he is hopeful that he’ll make a start by the end of the week. As things stand, he’s around 12 days behind with field work. However, he still intends on sowing his originally planned area.

Water is now lying on some of John's ground, preventing autumn drilling.

John explains that nights are getting colder and the days are getting shorter, making it even more important that crops are sown in reasonable conditions.

Plough ahead of the drill

He doesn’t think he’ll be able to min-till any winter crops this year, instead opting to plough ahead of the drill. He sprayed off some green cover a number of weeks ago, in preparation for sowing.

He aims to sow Tower winter barley and Costello and Conros winter wheat. He decided to grow these wheat varieties again as they have good sprout resistance. John’s maize crops will be ready for harvest by the end of the week. He plans to sow winter wheat in some of this ground immediately after harvesting.

John wholecropped some of his spring wheat crop on September 14 and harvested the rest. The crop was sown very late but still managed 3t/ac at 21%mc. The wholecrop was mixed with grass silage and ensiled in a pit.

He had planned on sowing a cover crop mix in ground destined for maize in 2020 but that will most likely be scrapped due to the poor weather.

Spreading slurry before the October 15 deadline has been a challenge for John’s farm. However, due to efforts to reduce slurry volumes in tanks earlier in the year, he thinks he should be OK for slurry storage this winter.

Donal O’Keeffe, Delvin, Co Westmeath

Weeks of broken weather and heavy rain in Westmeath prevented any field work taking place on Donal’s farm until recently.

A temporary reprieve in the weather at the weekend meant he was able to start autumn sowing.

While ground conditions have been a challenge, he was surprised when he started ploughing, as soil was relatively dry beneath the surface. He managed to sow around 30% his planned area of winter barley, drilling behind the plough.

Ground conditions on Donal's farm have been particularly challenging for harvesting his maize crops this year.

This ground received 3,000g/ac of cattle slurry a few weeks ago. He sowed white label Cassia seed at 200kg/ha, which had a TGW of 57.5g. The crop is destined for seed.

He may consider altering his rotation and reducing the area of this crop

Donal explains that if he doesn’t get the remaining area of winter barley sown by the weekend, he may consider altering his rotation and reducing the area of this crop.

He’ll move onto winter wheat next, sowing Costello and Graham for seed. He still intends on min-tilling and direct drilling part of this crop. A certain amount of this ground was disced a number of weeks ago and remains very wet.

He then intends to sow winter oats but has yet to decide which crop to prioritise. He plans on sowing both gluten free oats and seed oats.

Donal managed to harvest his spring beans just before the weather broke. The crop yielded 2.1t/ac at 22%mc, below expectations. He believes the crop was too thick and tall, preventing the development of pods.

Good condition

The bean stalk was either chopped with the combine chopper or spread with a tedder. The soil is in good condition following beans and he aims to direct drill winter wheat in this ground.

He managed to sow a small amount of catch crops for GLAS, but isn’t convinced that they will add any significant benefit to the soil. He sowed a mix of forage rape, phacelia and vetch at 6.5kg/ha using his one-pass drill. The crop struck surprisingly well and Donal plans on using a one-pass to establish cover crops more in the future.

Simon Best, Poyntzpass, Co Down

Despite 120mm of rainfall over the past month, reasonable progress has been made in Poyntzpass. It hasn’t been without its challenges, however.

When reflecting on the long, drawn out harvest which eventually finished on 7 October, Simon explains how heavy showers significantly slowed progress.

Spring oats

A settled spell from September 16 to 19 allowed him to finish his spring oats. His Elyann crop received only 50 kg N/ha and yielded 3.3t/ac at 15.3% moisture and eight 4x4s round bales/ac. The last of the badly lodged winter oat crop was cut on 23 September, helped in part by a second combine.

Simon's Infinity winter barley, which was sown on September 28, has emerged well.

Rain at the end of September meant that the spring bean harvest finished on October 7, despite being ready in mid-September. Poor drying meant moistures were high at 25%, however yields off the combine came in at 3.2t/ac.

Simon started sowing winter barley on September 24. He sowed both Infinity and Valerie at 140kg/ha. Barley sowing was complete by September 30, but he wasn’t able to roll the ground after. However, he did manage to apply a pre-emerge herbicide of Shooter (4l/ha) on 28ha before the ground got too wet.

He feels that it’s too risky to leave sowing wheat any later in his area

Simon moved on to winter wheat at the start of October. He feels that it’s too risky to leave sowing wheat any later in his area, particularly due to slugs and crows.

The drill is keeping tight behind the plough due to the conditions.

Sowing Graham at 164kg/ha, he is nearly half way through. Lower rainfall this week allowed him to roll and spray (Shooter at 4l/h) the freshly sown ground.

He is planning to start sowing winter oats next week (Mascani at 150 kg/ha) before going back to wheat later this month. He is aiming to finish as much sowing as possible by the end of October.

Simon’s earliest sown Clearfield enabled winter oilseed rape crop was sprayed with the herbicide Cleranda (2l/ha) and Dash (1l/ha). Some weeds are still emerging in his later sown crops, so he will hold off spraying for a week or so. In general, his oilseed crops have established well and slug control measures seem to have worked (ESP3 pellets at 7.5kg/ha).

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