Keith Challen reviews his machinery policy

High winds and warm temperatures have dried the heavy land out to near desert conditions again, and newly emerged rape plants are desperate for a rain. I’m thrilled with the establishment from our new Simba Solo rape drill with near perfect emergence. My only concern is a relatively high number of rape volunteers and a distinct lack of moisture.

Our trusty 10-year-old Quadtrac has had a troublesome harvest with at least 10 days downtime over the past month, which has highlighted our reliance on this tractor, as only it can pull most of our machinery.

We’ve had both a Challenger and a Quadtrac on demonstration, but I’m struggling to justify such a huge capital cost on our acreage. Therefore, I’m instigating a review of our machinery policy – especially as our highest yielding wheat crop came from Oakley direct drilled with a Vaderstad Seed Hawk with phosphate placed strategically close to the seed, which I believe is probably the reason for the huge yield.

While our stale seed-beds have created the perfect environment for volunteer rape to grow, I’m disappointed that so little blackgrass has germinated. This is probably because of the weather when the blackgrass was flowering, enforcing dormancy and late germination. I suspect stacking or sequencing of pre emergent herbicides will be the order of the day.

Earlier in the year, I commented on getting another black Labrador. Well, Millie landed last week aged just eight weeks and she is just about as cute as puppies get. I’m astounded by the level of female attention she’s attracted – any single guys out there get yourself a puppy and watch the girls form a queue.

Congratulations to number one daughter after achieving 14 GCSE’s with 11 at A/A* level to add to the ones achieved last year. She’s definitely got her mother’s brains.