Jon Parker looks to upgrade his grain storage
Rain has finally got the last of our second wheat to germinate and emerge and for once, fingers crossed, there doesn’t appear to be any slug pressure.
All the first wheat’s have now received Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron), as there was a significant two-leaved blackgrass population that would not wait until the spring to be controlled. As the second wheat’s have only just emerged, it is unlikely that they will be sprayed this autumn.
About a third of our rape will receive Kerb (propyzamide) very shortly. Most of the crop is way too big for the chemical to hit the ground until the frost knock it back, but as the soil temperature has finally got down to 8C, we need to make a start somewhere. We are also adding Laser (cycloxydim) to help performance on some of the bigger grassweeds.
After a summer of demonstrations and quotes, we have now decided on our machinery changes for the coming season. Our New Holland CR9080 is being replaced with one of the new generation John Deere S680 combines on tracks. A New Holland T9.560 articulated tractor is replacing our tracked JD 9520T and our eight year old Simba Solo is being swapped for a new SLD. Let’s hope the grain markets don’t dive.
Our major project for the winter is to look towards replacing our antiquated grain stores and centralise operations at our main yard. Initially we will get plans drawn up and try to get planning permission and go from there.
As winter starts to draw in, it is now time for the annual training sessions to keep my BASIS points up to date. My main thought though this month is when will the Single Farm Payment arrive? For once I’m glad it’s the RPA dealing with this rather than the dinosaur that is the RFU.
