Reseed brings past memories to life

This year’s reseeding plan was to plough an eight-acre field that was sown down approximately 35 years ago.

As well as turning over soil that hadn’t seen the light of day for almost four decades, a lot of unpleasant memories also got dragged up.

In the middle of the operation, nuggets of information from many moons ago began to resurface. I now recall a sort of silent promise that I would avoid labouring this field if at all possible, and my father’s description of it as ‘‘a bit thin’’ proved to be something of a haunting understatement.

I knew things weren’t going well when I called in to see how the ploughman was progressing, and he muttered something about locking himself in a dark room if he ever got finished. It’s one of those catchy types to plough, with a lack of topsoil everywhere except the bosom of the hill.

In addition, one side rig was marched by a sheugh, which had a row of healthy ashes running along the edge. It may be great for wildlife, but it’s a disaster for anyone trying to plough. Again, my father’s assertion that ash bushes have the same amount of roots below ground, as branches above, proved uncannily accurate. One area in particular was completely unploughable, with roots as thick as your finger fully 22m from the hedge.

Retribution

Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold, and my contractor’s retribution came disguised as advice. He announced that the thousands of stones were too small for the stone fork, yet just on the big side for hammering down with the power harrow’s packer roller, and I should bring a tractor and link box to the field.

I’ve no idea how he kept a straight face while volunteering this opinion, but for the next few hours I wound the clock back and trudged up and down the field, clunking stones into the power scoop, until an impressive pile formed in a disused corner.

In the end we did make a decent seedbed, courtesy of alternate runs of the power harrow and Cambridge roller.

Soil analysis showed good index figures for phosphorus and potassium, so a bag and a half per acre of 27/6/6 was incorporated. A pH of 6.0 meant no additional lime was required, a further chance to save a few quid. As usual, I drilled it with a one-pass outfit, and screwed the coulters almost out of the ground to prevent overly deep placement of the seeds.

Seed

The decision to opt for an identical mixture as used last year was not taken lightly. In 2015, I reseeded a three-acre field using an unusual blend of grasses, aimed at lower inputs while hopefully retaining a high-quality, persistent sward.

I’m not completely satisfied that modern grass seed blends are aimed at lower input beef and sheep farms. If you are farming intensively, then they definitely are the way forward, with the ability to produce phenomenal yields of quality grass.

But, too often, I have seen young swards getting away from grazing stock, then turning as hard as nails, with absolutely no leafy bottom left. The only option is then to top them, and sow nitrogen to get them going again.

Even reading Recommended Varieties for Northern Ireland does nothing to allay my fears, with simulated grazing management revolving around the annual use of around 300kg of nitrogen per hectare. For anyone still working in old money, that’s near enough nine bags per acre of 27%N. How relevant is that for the average NI beef or sheep farmer?

Glyphosate was applied at 3.5 litres per hectare on 18 August, and the dry ewes removed for a few days. The sheep were put back in, and then taken off again for ploughing on Friday 26 August.

Excellent drying conditions meant that cultivating and sowing took place four days later, and the seedlings were visible in rows after about nine days. Since then, progress has been steady and the biggest bonus has been small amounts of rain, without any deluges to ruin my efforts.

I’m guessing that lambs will get a run over this new grass sometime before the middle of October, but I’ve been at this game long enough to know that you don’t ever count your chickens.

This was an over-the-counter mix, with a bit of extra clover added. Slug pellets were also included, and this may have been money well spent, judging by the numbers hiding below grassy sods after germination.