Farmer Focus: I might grow catch crop on purpose next time
© MAG/Colin Miller Autumn is that time of year when we spend more time talking to hauliers and merchants than is probably healthy.
Thankfully, everything has now been collected or delivered, although not without a few whispered expletives.
This year we had lorries arriving on farm while the haulier knew I was on holiday.
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Seed bags were stacked in such a way that extracting them from the lorry was like being on The Krypton Factor and there were last-minute schedule changes by a haulier that apparently required me to rearrange my entire day. It’s a part of the job that always amazes me.
Meanwhile, my autumn cropping plan has taken something of a detour.
The logic behind early cropping still stands: on our heavy clay, getting crops established before the weather turns is crucial.
But as Burns meant to say, “the best-laid plans of farmers and their agronomist often go awry”.
I knew there was likely to be a blackgrass hangover following last year’s awakening after spring harrowing. As we generally see bigger flushes in spring than autumn, I was banking on crop competition to keep it in check.
Unfortunately, just as the rain arrived and the oats and oilseed rape started moving, the rain stopped and growth slowed.
Blackgrass seized its opportunity and began catching up.
Every crop walk brought a change of heart. Should I trust the early-sown crops to suppress the blackgrass, or bite the bullet and start again? In the end, I bottled it.
After a couple of hiccups sourcing seed, everything was sprayed off and redrilled by 14 October – the latest I’ve ever drilled a winter crop on our heavy clay.
Not everything was a disaster. One field of oilseed rape established brilliantly, with no flea beetle damage, so it received a dose of clethodim to tackle the blackgrass, meadow grass and oat companions.
Fortunately, home-saved seed and keeping establishment costs low meant little was invested in the original crops.
Their growth provided excellent soil cover, while the roots created a superb tilth for redrilling into.
The original plan was about soil health, lower establishment costs and reducing reliance on pesticides.
What I hadn’t budgeted for was the flexibility it offered. I’d never considered growing a catch crop before, but I may well try it on purpose next time.
