It has finally rained. We’ve had 30mm in the past week, with the same forecast for this week. Hopefully, this gets the weeds and cover crops chitting.

We finished combining the spring wheat on 15 August which yielded 3.25 t/ha.

Across all the cereals we were 40% down on yield which is not surprising considering the rain shadow that we have been in for the past six months.

See also: Farmer aims to cut wheat inputs with home-brewed inoculant

About the author

Robin Aird

Arable Farmer Focus writer Robin Aird manages 1,500ha on the north Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border, with a further 160ha on a contract farming agreement. Soils vary from gravel to clay with the majority silty clay loams. The diverse estate has Residential, commercial and events enterprises. He is Basis qualified and advises on other farming businesses.

Contact:

Email: robin.aird@charltonpark.estate

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Maize harvest started on 19 August with it all cut in five days, apart from two fields that we drilled in May after grass. Yields were on budget and dry matter averaged 35%.

The speed with which it matured was astonishing and it is not very often that you can say the trailers did a decent job of cultivating the ground by fissuring the rock-solid ground.

Cultivations for this autumn have been decided by the ground conditions.

The winter wheat land going into winter barley has had the cross-cutter over it at the beginning of August and we are going back across it again today. Hopefully, with the forecast, we will get a good chit before drilling.

Maize stubbles we are going to direct drill as we still have 100mm of tilth from creating the maize seed-beds.

With the ongoing trend of the crop’s disease profiles reducing and in some cases breaking down to new races, we have decided to go away from growing two varieties of winter wheat and winter barley and instead moving to four varieties.

I was hoping to move away from Extase this year, but as it was our highest yielding wheat I am loath to change it. So, our winter wheats will be Extase, Palladium, Arnie and Cheer.

This will give us the ability to utilise a premium market if they become available.

Winter rye has been dropped in favour of winter barley, and these will be Inys, Quantock and Kestrel.

It will be interesting to see how the barley yellow dwarf virus tolerance stands out in the mix.

On a positive note, we have been successful with two capital grants, so I must read the small print, get them signed and returned, and get the digger fired up.