Farmer Focus: Establishing wheat on a field-by-field basis
© Hugh Nutt Autumn drilling was comfortably wrapped up on the 14 October and luckily, the rain seemed to stay away.
This year’s arable cropping remains predominantly winter wheat, but with more second wheats to simplify our rotation and maximise output.
I have varied our cultivation strategy, trying to be more flexible and working on a field-by-field basis and spread risk if the weather changes.
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The main challenge was establishing wheat after a grass ley on heavier soils. We direct drilled with a tine drill on some, subsoiled, disced, and drilled another parcel, and ploughed and cultivated the last.
We have not reached for the plough for a few years now (almost out of principle), but I was interested to challenge this and truly decide if it has a place in our system.
I had been too quick to dismiss the tool without understanding its true capabilities.
By ploughing, we could bury the grass seed from the grass which did not die off in the summer drought.
The initial results show this was largely achieved and we have managed to reduce what would have been a heavy and costly weed burden.
The wheat established well, and neat rows of crop are certainly pleasing on the eye. That all said, it was a time-consuming process and I was glad the whole farm wasn’t done in this way.
In comparison to the wheat direct drilled into the grass ley, it is far less pretty but has also established well, with good tilth around the seed.
However, a rather open seed-bed meant a pass of slug pellets was necessary, as well as a higher seed rate.
Overall, in what has been a very wet field where I have once bogged the drill, I am pleased how it travels and seems to have retained the good soil structure from the grass ley.
I think the real test will be how these fields perform in future years and if we have made long-lasting improvements.
