It was all systems go in Westmeath over the weekend as Alex tried to get spring ploughing completed and some Rockway spring barley drilled at 190kg/ha.

Alex had one-third of his spring ploughing completed before he started again last week.

Farmyard manure was spread on most of the land to be ploughed in the past couple of weeks.

Alex also has organic spring oats to drill. This land was ploughed in February to allow weeds to germinate before planting.

He would have liked to have these oats sown by now, but this land is quite wet and it will take good drying before the land is workable.

Alex’s winter oilseed rape has been brought up to 130kg N/ha, having received 185kg/ha of ammonium sulphate nitrate (ASN) in late February.

Chicken litter

All the oilseed rape received chicken litter or compound fertiliser at sowing. The crop came through the winter with a large biomass, and this has allowed nitrogen rates to be cut.

Only 30% of Alex’s winter barley received a herbicide in the autumn, so the remainder received Stomp Aqua or Tower in January, with an aphicide also included.

Some backward crops received 30kg N/ha of compound at the end of February, and have now caught up with crops that were more forward. All barley has received 65 kg N/ha, with more CAN to be applied this week.

The winter wheat has received the same fertiliser as the barley so far, and a second split is planned this week. It received Alister Flex and Biopower in January.

Alex has been very impressed by the weed control of the Alister Flex, especially on grassweeds like wild oats, which he is trying hard to clamp down on but this can be difficult to do on conacre land.

The winter oats has had no chemicals applied yet, but still looks very good.

It has received 50kg N/ha of compound, with nitrogen to be applied in the next 10 days.

Patrick has been very busy over Easter between ploughing and drilling his spring crops and lambing his 150 pure-bred Romney ewes.

He has been able to get small bits and pieces of ploughing done over the past few weeks, but the weather has mostly left land very wet, with Patrick focusing on repairs, ordering seed, paperwork, and the sheep side of his farm.

Patrick did manage to plough, till, and sow his Lynx spring beans just before the dry weather ended in early March. Generally, Patrick uses a furrow press to consolidate his light land following ploughing before drilling with a one pass.

The beans were sowed at 190kg/ha, and they received 0-9-18 with calcium and sulphur before sowing. However, Patrick did not manage to get the beans rolled due to poor drying in the days after sowing.

He applied a pre-emergence herbicide of Nirvana at 4l/ha.

Spring oats and barley were sowed on Patrick’s farm over Easter.

Patrick is very happy with his beans so far and they have emerged well, despite receiving a lot of hardship since drilling.

He sowed gluten-free spring oats for Tirlán for the first time over the weekend, having enquired about contracts for the past few years. The variety is WPB Isabel and was drilled at 185kg/ha following spring beans.

Patrick hopes that the crop will have good potential and residual nitrogen will be available to the crop following the beans.

Spring feed barley will be the main crop on the farm this year, with Geraldine being the variety of choice for Patrick.

He managed to sow his first few fields of barley over the weekend at 185kg/ha.

Patrick has successfully applied to ACRES, with his main actions being the planting of cover crops and hedgerows.

As he already plants cover crops on his farm to feed his sheep overwinter, this action suits the farm system already in place.

Land has dried up well for Kevin, allowing him to catch up on fieldwork over the past week.

All of Kevin’s winter crops had very high establishment rates and came through the winter well.

The RGT Alizze winter oilseed rape received 250kg/ha of 10-10-20 at sowing on 15 August, before receiving 500kg/ha 12-4-24+S at the end of February and 340kg/ha of SulCAN last week.

A fungicide (Pecari at 0.4l/ha) and boron was applied on 20 February. It then received Caryx (0.75l/ha) and boron last week.

Spring barley being rolled on Kevin’s farm over the weekend.

The Belfry winter barley was sowed in early October. It didn’t receive a herbicide until 20 February (Tower at 1.9l/ha), and will receive a fungicide and growth regulator this week.

It received 500kg/ha of 12-4-24+S at the end of February and was finished with 450kg/ha SulCAN last week.

The Graham winter wheat and Husky winter oats received 0-7-30 in early March.

The plan was to come back with nitrogen two weeks later, however this got delayed due to the poor weather. The crops now look a bit hungry, but Kevin hopes the rain on Monday will have washed in the nitrogen that was spread last week.

Ploughing has also begun ahead of potatoes, which will be drilled when conditions improve

The oats received 250kg/ha of protected urea and will be finished off this week with 250kg/ha of SulCAN. Some 370kg/ha of SulCAN was applied to the wheat last week.

Both crops are due a fungicide and growth regulator as soon as conditions allow.

Kevin sowed his RGT Planet spring malting barley over the weekend at 175kg/ha into good conditions.

The ground was ploughed last week, drilled with a one-pass, and then rolled. Some 430kg/ha of 12-4-24+S was incorporated into the seedbed.

Ploughing has also begun ahead of potatoes, which will be drilled when conditions improve.

Kevin is not too concerned about getting them planted yet as he would typically only begin to sow them this week in any given year.