Tim Ronaldson,
Naas,
Co Kildare
Tim invested in a new weather station earlier in the year, which allows him to accurately record rainfall on his farm. In August, he had 121mm of rain, 52mm in September, 122mm in October and 20mm on 1 November.
This high level of rainfall over the past few months meant he had to make the most of every available window to work. This was certainly the case for autumn planting.
Tim sowing the last of his winter oats last month.
Despite the limited weather window, Tim was able to plant the majority of his planned winter crops. He still has around 35ac of winter wheat to plant, but if conditions don’t allow, he will plant spring wheat instead.
When talking to Tim last, he had around 60% of his wheat area left to plant. He had to use his plough and one-pass drill to sow the remainder of this area, as conditions weren’t good enough for the Claydon.
His Graham seed had a TGW of between 52-62g. As a result, he had to readjust seed rates four times, ranging from 150-175kg/ha. His Costello crop was sown at 154kg/ha. The last wheat crop to be sown was Conros at 154kg/ha.
Tim is hoping to apply winter herbicides this week, having missed the window for pre-emerges due to poor weather
He sowed the last of his Joyau and LG Castings winter barley on 16 October, much later than planned. The crops were sown at 200kg/ha and 222kg/ha respectively. Finally, Tim sowed his Isabel oats at 190kg/ha. This year, the Department of Agriculture are carrying out winter oat trials on his farm, with eight different varieties sown. He wasn’t able to roll the majority of his winter ground.
Tim is hoping to apply winter herbicides this week, having missed the window for pre-emerges due to poor weather. He intends to apply Naceto (0.5l/ha) and the insecticide Ravane (100ml/ha) on his winter barley and Roxy (2l/ha) and Most Micro (2l/ha) on his winter wheat crops.
He also noticed an amount of slug damage on his winter barley headlands and winter wheat crops. When ground conditions improve, he intends to apply an application of slug pellets.
A late start and poor weather hasn’t helped Tim’s winter cover crops, which are now looking quite poorly.
Hugh Kelly,
Lifford,
Co Donegal
October has been a wet month in Lifford. About 199mm of rain fell on Hugh’s farm throughout the month and as a result, field conditions are poor.
“There’s water lying everywhere. I think I’ll just have to consider spring cropping only in certain fields, as the autumn is becoming too wet,” he explains.
Despite the rain, Hugh's winter oats have emerged reasonably well.
Hugh completed his autumn sowing in mid-October. There has been little work done in the fields since then, however. He started with winter oats first, as that field was the driest. His Isabel winter oats were sown at 175kg/ha and have emerged well.
Next, Hugh moved onto Costello winter wheat, which was sown at 218kg/ha. The crop is now emerging. Finally, he sowed Valarie winter barley at a rate of 220kg/ha.
The field is very wet, with many puddles of water lying on the surface and Hugh fears this may result in a patchy crop. If the resulting plant count is too low, then he may have to replant the field next spring.
He thinks the structure of his soil, which has been in continuous tillage over the past 40 years, has deteriorated
Hugh had to replant that same field last spring. His winter oats received a pre-emerge herbicide of DFF (0.25l/ha), while his winter wheat received Navigate (0.3l/ha) and DFF (0.1l/ha).
He has so far been unable to apply any herbicide on his winter barley. He thinks the structure of his soil, which has been in continuous tillage over the past 40 years, has deteriorated and is now struggling to accommodate the higher volumes of rainfall. However, he did notice a dramatic improvement in soil structure in his fields sown to wild bird cover for the past 10 years.
Cross border crows
Each morning, Hugh races to the fields to ensure crows won’t land and damage emerging crops. He explains that at dawn each morning, some 1,200 crows can be seen approaching from the Strabane area looking for their next landing spot. Bangers, scarecrows and other deterrents do not work anymore and Hugh says that someone has to be there in person to ensure they pass by.
James O’Reilly,
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
With around 103mm of rain falling in Kilkenny in October, there has also been limited opportunities for field work. This meant James had to make the most of the month’s six dry days, working day and night to get winter planting completed.
He is down to his last 100ac of winter wheat, which will follow beet. He admits he’ll have to plough the field, something that hasn’t been part of his crop establishment strategy for 20 years.
James had a Claas Axion 950 on tracs on demo last month
James finished up sowing his hybrid barley crops at 98kg/ha and LG Castings at 190kg/ha in October. His later-sown winter wheat crops were drilled at 165kg/ha, an increase of 30kg/ha from his earlier-sown crops. He also sowed his Husky winter oats at a rate of 130-145kg/ha. The seed had a TGW of 36g.
Around 80% of his winter crops received a pre-emerge herbicide. His winter wheat and barley received Naceto at 0.45l/ha, as well as straight DFF at 0.15l/ha. His oats received DFF at 0.25l/ha.
In general, he is happy with the condition of crops, but they have emerged somewhat slower than normal.
James is looking at forward selling options for his 2021 crop
However, he mistakenly planted one winter wheat headland with old 2018 seed. Vigour was poor and will likely need to be replanted.
Elsewhere, James is looking at forward selling options for his 2021 crop and thinks that there may be opportunities for other growers to lock in prices for next year’s grain. He is also pricing inputs for the coming season.
James gave credit to Syngenta’s new BYDV Assist app, which has allowed him to improve the accuracy of his aphicide timings. He would normally apply an aphicide 15-20 days post-emergence, which, according to the app, may have been too early.
Instead, he is holding off until 140-150 degree days post-emergence, which would be later than normal for him.
James uses this information from the app, which uses forecasted weather, along with historical data from his Sencrop weather station, to help fine tune the application timing.
Tim Ronaldson,
Naas,
Co Kildare
Tim invested in a new weather station earlier in the year, which allows him to accurately record rainfall on his farm. In August, he had 121mm of rain, 52mm in September, 122mm in October and 20mm on 1 November.
This high level of rainfall over the past few months meant he had to make the most of every available window to work. This was certainly the case for autumn planting.
Tim sowing the last of his winter oats last month.
Despite the limited weather window, Tim was able to plant the majority of his planned winter crops. He still has around 35ac of winter wheat to plant, but if conditions don’t allow, he will plant spring wheat instead.
When talking to Tim last, he had around 60% of his wheat area left to plant. He had to use his plough and one-pass drill to sow the remainder of this area, as conditions weren’t good enough for the Claydon.
His Graham seed had a TGW of between 52-62g. As a result, he had to readjust seed rates four times, ranging from 150-175kg/ha. His Costello crop was sown at 154kg/ha. The last wheat crop to be sown was Conros at 154kg/ha.
Tim is hoping to apply winter herbicides this week, having missed the window for pre-emerges due to poor weather
He sowed the last of his Joyau and LG Castings winter barley on 16 October, much later than planned. The crops were sown at 200kg/ha and 222kg/ha respectively. Finally, Tim sowed his Isabel oats at 190kg/ha. This year, the Department of Agriculture are carrying out winter oat trials on his farm, with eight different varieties sown. He wasn’t able to roll the majority of his winter ground.
Tim is hoping to apply winter herbicides this week, having missed the window for pre-emerges due to poor weather. He intends to apply Naceto (0.5l/ha) and the insecticide Ravane (100ml/ha) on his winter barley and Roxy (2l/ha) and Most Micro (2l/ha) on his winter wheat crops.
He also noticed an amount of slug damage on his winter barley headlands and winter wheat crops. When ground conditions improve, he intends to apply an application of slug pellets.
A late start and poor weather hasn’t helped Tim’s winter cover crops, which are now looking quite poorly.
Hugh Kelly,
Lifford,
Co Donegal
October has been a wet month in Lifford. About 199mm of rain fell on Hugh’s farm throughout the month and as a result, field conditions are poor.
“There’s water lying everywhere. I think I’ll just have to consider spring cropping only in certain fields, as the autumn is becoming too wet,” he explains.
Despite the rain, Hugh's winter oats have emerged reasonably well.
Hugh completed his autumn sowing in mid-October. There has been little work done in the fields since then, however. He started with winter oats first, as that field was the driest. His Isabel winter oats were sown at 175kg/ha and have emerged well.
Next, Hugh moved onto Costello winter wheat, which was sown at 218kg/ha. The crop is now emerging. Finally, he sowed Valarie winter barley at a rate of 220kg/ha.
The field is very wet, with many puddles of water lying on the surface and Hugh fears this may result in a patchy crop. If the resulting plant count is too low, then he may have to replant the field next spring.
He thinks the structure of his soil, which has been in continuous tillage over the past 40 years, has deteriorated
Hugh had to replant that same field last spring. His winter oats received a pre-emerge herbicide of DFF (0.25l/ha), while his winter wheat received Navigate (0.3l/ha) and DFF (0.1l/ha).
He has so far been unable to apply any herbicide on his winter barley. He thinks the structure of his soil, which has been in continuous tillage over the past 40 years, has deteriorated and is now struggling to accommodate the higher volumes of rainfall. However, he did notice a dramatic improvement in soil structure in his fields sown to wild bird cover for the past 10 years.
Cross border crows
Each morning, Hugh races to the fields to ensure crows won’t land and damage emerging crops. He explains that at dawn each morning, some 1,200 crows can be seen approaching from the Strabane area looking for their next landing spot. Bangers, scarecrows and other deterrents do not work anymore and Hugh says that someone has to be there in person to ensure they pass by.
James O’Reilly,
Ballyragget,
Co Kilkenny
With around 103mm of rain falling in Kilkenny in October, there has also been limited opportunities for field work. This meant James had to make the most of the month’s six dry days, working day and night to get winter planting completed.
He is down to his last 100ac of winter wheat, which will follow beet. He admits he’ll have to plough the field, something that hasn’t been part of his crop establishment strategy for 20 years.
James had a Claas Axion 950 on tracs on demo last month
James finished up sowing his hybrid barley crops at 98kg/ha and LG Castings at 190kg/ha in October. His later-sown winter wheat crops were drilled at 165kg/ha, an increase of 30kg/ha from his earlier-sown crops. He also sowed his Husky winter oats at a rate of 130-145kg/ha. The seed had a TGW of 36g.
Around 80% of his winter crops received a pre-emerge herbicide. His winter wheat and barley received Naceto at 0.45l/ha, as well as straight DFF at 0.15l/ha. His oats received DFF at 0.25l/ha.
In general, he is happy with the condition of crops, but they have emerged somewhat slower than normal.
James is looking at forward selling options for his 2021 crop
However, he mistakenly planted one winter wheat headland with old 2018 seed. Vigour was poor and will likely need to be replanted.
Elsewhere, James is looking at forward selling options for his 2021 crop and thinks that there may be opportunities for other growers to lock in prices for next year’s grain. He is also pricing inputs for the coming season.
James gave credit to Syngenta’s new BYDV Assist app, which has allowed him to improve the accuracy of his aphicide timings. He would normally apply an aphicide 15-20 days post-emergence, which, according to the app, may have been too early.
Instead, he is holding off until 140-150 degree days post-emergence, which would be later than normal for him.
James uses this information from the app, which uses forecasted weather, along with historical data from his Sencrop weather station, to help fine tune the application timing.
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