Keith Challen buys retro machinery for elder replanting
What a difference 20mm of rain can make. All wheat has finally emerged now and looking respectable; good job, I don’t think I could manage another sleepless night.
Blackgrass levels in wheat seem to be manageable, with nowhere showing high populations as yet and stacking pre-emergent herbicides seems to have worked well. I’m glad we delayed their application until just before it rained. I anticipate we will be applying Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) by mid-November to tidy up what’s left.
Puppy training is going well. Millie has a new hobby of picking up snails and de-shelling them. In fact, she’s got it down to a fine art, all over the office carpet. I haven’t quite decided whether this will be a useful part of training her to the gun.
Our elder replanting campaign has started with the purchase of a trio of 1980s machines – a Bomford Superflow cultivator/chisel plough, a Kidd Flymax 4t muck spreader and a Dowdeswell 40in Rotovator. Once we have removed the old elders, RTK GPS will be used to mark out new rows with the Superflow modified to 40in width. Manure will be applied with the Flymax and finally worked in with the Rotovator, all prior to planting new stock. Hopefully, the inclusion of muck will help get the plants off to a flying start next spring.
The workshop has been cleaned out and readied for this year’s projects. Firstly, the Simba Solo rape drill will be widened and coulters will be slightly modified. The Horsch Terrano needs its rear low disturbance legs swapping from sprung break backs to shear bolts to prevent breaking out on our heavy land. Finally, I want to fit a liquid fertiliser kit to our Simba Freeflow drill, so we can apply phosphate and trace elements at drilling.
Farmer Focus Arable: Keith Challen
