Farming woes see dreams of a career change
A high street fashion shop is running a competition to win a day as a farmer. After the awful harvest and diabolical drilling season I wonder if maybe a work-wear company might like to run a competition to win a day not to be a farmer.
At the time of writing there is still no let up in the endless cycle of Atlantic lows. I made the decision to press on with drilling rather than wait for a longer break in the weather. Whichever choice I made was probably going to be the wrong one. We are, however, much better off than many and can just about keep moving in these conditions, albeit, with numerous interruptions for yet more rain. My reasoning is that a crop sown in less than ideal conditions in October stands a much better chance than one muddled in during the winter.
We just have some of the maize ground left to cultivate and drill. The maize was cut on 28 September. I was running out of patience and our customer had run out of silage. The drier fields were sown with wheat the following day. The good areas yielded over 40t/ha, the poor areas were no higher than my knees, but with over 1,000t in the clamp we are not too disappointed. We grew the early variety Picker which we would normally have harvested a week earlier, with a higher dry matter than this season.
The Henley Show ploughing match was a huge success, with 56 ploughmen and more than 2,000 visitors. The extra attractions this year proved to be really popular: the steam driven thrashing machine and working demonstrations of vintage machinery had a constant stream of spectators. The log splitting competition, also new this year, was well received. So thanks to everyone who put in so much hard work to make it happen. The sun even came out eventually.
Simon Beddows manages 1,000ha of arable land at Dunsden Green, south Oxfordshire. Cropping is cereals, oilseed rape, beans and forage maize
