At last, after almost a month since sowing, the tips of green winter wheat shoots are clearly visible. I was afraid they had rotted in the incessant rain but while the tramlines are not yet visible, the plants look healthy with a reasonable plant population though the later the season went, the more we increased the seeding rate.

The seed wheat itself went in after beans and there are no pools of water in the field unlike where the winter barley went in after wheat.

While part of this may be due to travelling on land that was undesirably wet, I think some of it is due to the opening up of the soil by the beans and rape break crops. This is the first year we failed to roll any of the winter cereals but we did get to roll the oilseed rape.

This year, I am again going to use the biological additive in the cattle tanks.

After last year, I am convinced that the smell is reduced and there is less agitation required to break up the crust in the tanks but the main advantage claimed by the manufacturers is the significant reduction in ammonical nitrogen in the spread slurry and it should have beneficial effects on the earthworms and soil microflora.

Recovery

We seem to have had excellent grass growth and good recovery on the slurry-treated grassland but that may have been partly due to the rain.

‘Planting in unsuitable conditions exacerbates tillage issues’ – IFA

Low winter planting could pressure spring seed availability

Home Farm: tips of green winter wheat shoots visible

This is the first year we failed to roll any of the winter cereals, though we did get to roll the oilseed rape and I am now noticing water pools in the field.