This is a subscriber-only article
We are coming to the end of the first week in March, but any resemblance to normal spring conditions is coincidental. On the positive side, the land that received slurry during the dry period in early February has a great cover of grass, but we can get nowhere near it with the present ground conditions.
I was not that surprised when Met Éireann said that it was the wettest February since 1850 and given that the first 10 days were dry, the final three weeks were exceptional.
That said, the winds that were so vividly forecast have done no damage that I can see, apart from a few small branches and one weak ash tree.
The rain has been much more obvious, with brown flooded patches appearing in low-lying or compacted spots in the oilseed rape fields. So far, no fertiliser has been spread, though I have got all the quotes I need for the season.
This year I will again use CAN with sulphur, but will keep an eye out for reports on how the protected urea performs in cereals
As some of it is for bulk loads, I am putting off taking delivery until we are nearly in a position to use it from a land trafficability point of view. We have a shed cleaned out that can take a full artic load and still be under shelter.
This year I will again use CAN with sulphur, but will keep an eye out for reports on how the protected urea performs in cereals. Meanwhile, the seed for the beans are also on order.
We got a chance to properly look at the blockage I mentioned a fortnight ago
During the letup in the rain and having diverted the flow of a stream to by-pass a field bridge, we got a chance to properly look at the blockage I mentioned a fortnight ago.
In fact, there was no collapse – the heavy rain had washed in a collection of debris, made up of odd bits of plastic and straw, which formed a blockage that stopped all flow of water through it and caused the backup and flooding.
The stream is now running through it again, so we will leave well enough alone
We got it cleared comparatively easily with a length of timber and while the pipe is obviously a bit too narrow to cope with all conditions, it has functioned well for the 30 plus years since I put the bridge in place.
The stream is now running through it again, so we will leave well enough alone.
We have decided that we will keep the most forward of the stores and finish them out of the shed. We hope to have them gone before they are 30 months. We costed the intended ration and it’s at best a breakeven situation, but there aren’t that many of them.
The rest we will let out and try and graze the grass tightly for the first round to get a good clean regrowth. But at the end of the day, we are at the weather’s mercy.
SHARING OPTIONS: