Arable Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Keeping out the hare coursers comes at a priceLike most we took full advantage of February’s beautiful weather getting some nitrogen on hybrid barley, oilseed rape and second wheats, as well as drilling our spring bean. Seed-beds were… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Wider tines deal with healthy winter weed cropViewing our spring work load from December looked like a pretty daunting task. Having only ploughed land ahead of winter beans, our min-tilled land due for spring sowing was looking… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Sticking with niche crops after BrexitMarch has hit us, as they say, like a lion, whether it will leave us like a lamb remains to be seen. We experienced an unusual February with frost by… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Problems with swans and frost heaveAn incredibly dry winter has allowed ploughing to continue most days, with land turning over in ideal conditions, which should easily be made into a seed-bed for the spring barley.… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: The secret to the perfect loaf of breadThis time of year is the best for skiing, training and meetings, and if you get a bit of drilling and fertiliser spreading in, that’s a bonus. We’ve fitted it… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Will a T0 spray be a good insurance policy?February is always a busy month for conferences and meetings on various topics – there’s plenty of choice for where to go to get the all-important Basis points and learn… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Two serious accidents focus the mind on safetyLast month in my column I reflected on a serious accident we had here at Valetta and how fortunate we were that the outcome was positive. I was quite deliberate… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Flea beetle low in direct drilled rapeseedWe have started spring drilling some beans into the remains of a cover crop grazed by sheep, about a month earlier than last year. This is obviously good news and… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: New lambing recruit shows power of social mediaIn my opinion the weather in the past 10 months has been near to perfect for farming here at Lower Hope, and this is continuing as we head out of… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Tractor price has increased 42% in eight yearsI have recently attended a number of meetings at our new Monitor Farm here in Northern Ireland. These meetings have been well worthwhile and attended by a small group of… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Has spring sprung or will winter return?I am very pleased to report that since my last column not only did the Rural Payments Agency find the missing 175ha from our 2016 BPS claim, they also managed… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Mollusc wizard lifts the lid on slugsIt’s been a pleasure to spread farmyard manure in dry conditions for once. Adding to the soil biology without damaging the structure has been a real win-win this year so… More articles
