FARMERFOCUS

5 November 1999

FARMERFOCUS

Mike Cumming

Mike Cumming is manager at

Lour Farms, Ladenford,

Forfar, Angus, where spring

malting barley and seed

potatoes occupy about half

the 749ha (1850 acres).

Other crops include winter

wheat, barley, oilseed rape,

swedes and grass

GRAIN cheques are arriving and the true picture of malting barley prices is emerging. Overall we have made just short of £78/t for an average of 1.53% nitrogen.

Our best price, a Glencore Grain feed base price plus set quality premiums, returned £97/t. The other deals, of the lucky-dip, wait-and-see-what-you-get-type, all came in around £76-78/t. The Bairds contract, our biggest, delivered a spread from £80.50 for our best samples to £71/t for the lowest quality accepted as malting. No premium was paid on grain below 1.55% N due to the abundance of quality available this autumn.

In other seasons such grain has the highest value. For the trade the beauty of setting premiums once grain is delivered is that the quality of the crop is known before the pricing bands are neatly set. Next year we growers must think twice before committing to such deals.

In reaction to the malting barley market we have increased our wheat area by 65% on last year, and 34% on our normal area. Some 134ha (330 acres) have gone in. Again, Riband dominates with three-quarters of the area, Consort taking the balance. It feels boring sticking with Riband but it has few proven rivals in this neck of the woods. Most was drilled at 200-225kg/ha (1.6-1.8 cwt/acre) with two fields at 180kg/ha (1.5cwt/acre) as a reduced-rate comparison.

Open weather during the back end saw drilling complete on Oct 8. Oats have been dropped as yet again they lived up to their reputation to disappoint. The crop looked thick and full of promise but lodged badly in July and was all straw and no grain when cut. We will struggle to achieve 5t/ha (2t/acre) and after five years of trying with the crop we have had enough.

Pastoral winter barley has been sprayed with 1.25 litres/ha of Javelin Gold (ipu + diflufenican) plus 10g/ha of Quantum (tribenuron-methyl) where oilseed rape was present. Wheat is relatively weed free so hopefully a 1 litre/ha dose of Javelin will suffice. &#42

An open back-end allowed autumn work to race ahead at Lour Farms. Manager Mike Cumming has increased winter wheat and cut back on malting barley. Oats have been dropped completely.

Bill Harbour

Bill Harbour is manager for

GosmereFarm Partners at

448ha (1107 acre) Gosmere

Farm, Sheldwich, Faversham,

Kent. Crops include wheat,

barley, oilseed rape, peas

and beans plus cherries

under the Countryside

Stewardship scheme

THE fine spell of weather has enabled us to finish drilling wheat, with second wheat Hereward the last to go in.

The final variety profile for first wheat is: Consort 70ha (173 acres), Claire 25ha (62 acres), Mallacca 71ha (175 acres), and Hereward 80ha (198 acres). Our limited area of second wheat is mostly Chaucer, a little Hereward on seed contract, and a 2.5ha (6t/acre) trial area of Ardvark. Winter beans have been dropped this year due to the rotation.

Slugs have been a pest despite keeping the roll close behind the drill. Some patches have needed two treatments of pellets.

Apex oilseed rape suffered some flea beetle shot-holing so 0.25 litres/ha of cypermethrin went on with 1.5 litres/ha of Katmaran (metazachlor + quinmerac) early post-emergence.

The new Lemken plough has performed well. Factory fitted hard-faced points covered 240ha (590 acres) before needing changing, which is good on our land. I was a little shocked at the replacement price of £30 each, but with only one change required during the season the saving in down-time justifies them over cheaper alternatives.

The MX135 pulled the six-furrow with ease, especially now it has a new fuel injection pump. Agwood have had to change three pumps on it now. As a fifth birthday treat my "Old Deere" has had a tweak on its pump – it now thinks it is a 6900.

Despite being left through all the wet at harvest, peas eventually yielded 5t/ha (2t/acre) and the first 150t have gone at £150/t at a waste level of 5-6%. Unfortunately, beans were not so good, yielding 4.4t/ha (1.8t/acre) and only one load has gone for seed.

This is my last Farmer Focus article. I have had two enjoyable years writing about Gosmere, and now I look forward to reading about someone elses farm. However, hanging up the pen will not leave me short of winter work. We have four old 50t silos to dismantle and a new 900t grain store to put up. &#42

Hanging up the pen after two years of Farmer Focus writing, Kent grower Bill Harbour is battling with slugs despite rolling behind the drill.

Mark Ireland

Mark Ireland farms with

his father and brother at

Grange Farm, North

Rauceby, Lincs. Sugar beet

and barley are the core

crops on the 1004ha (2481

acres) heathland unit

OCTOBER is always a busy month for us, but it is also one of my favourites. There is no more satisfying sight on a crisp, autumn morning than the sun shining on a newly emerging cereal crop.

Winter drilling is complete, bar some wheat after sugar beet and 10ha (25 acres) of land that was due to be drained in August. Unfortunately this has only just been done, badly delaying drilling. The problem seems to be that so little drainage is undertaken these days only a handful of companies are left to do the work. Then, after harvest, the few who are left try to fit in more work than they can manage.

In the first week of October we had 42mm (1.7in) of rain, reinvigorating every slug in the locality. Our ATV was again indispensable spreading mini slug pellets (metaldehyde) at 7.5kg/ha. We have only had it two years and already I cannot imagine how we would manage without it.

Our own sugar beet harvest started on Oct 7. Initial results from the first two fields lifted are encouraging, with 18.5% sugar giving an adjusted yield of 58.3t/ha (23.6t/acre) and total tares at 11%. Budget yield is 40.1t/ha (16.2t/acre) with a total tare of 10%.

Newark factory has been concerned about the excess top and loose trash being received from many growers this year. So I was very pleased when our field manager, David Smith, brought the factory intake manager out to the field to see just what we are having to contend with. All our beet is put over a cleaner-loader and hand picked for stone, if necessary, before delivery, so we do all we can there. And our harvester driver was able to explain to him the problems that deep rutted tramlines and weedy fields cause to lifting operations. He left an enlightened man!

On top of the frantic farm workload this month, my wife, Paula, produced our third child. Maybe with her help in 20 years time October will be a little less hectic! &#42

Cereal drilling is on schedule, and sugar beet yields well above budget for Lincs grower and new Farmer Focus writer Mark Ireland.

James Moldon

James Moldon manages the

220ha (550 acres) heavy

land Stanaway Farm, Otley,

Suffolk, for the Felix Thornley

Cobbold Agricultural Trust.

Crops include winter wheat,

barley, OSR, beans, linseed

and sugar beet

DRILLING has finally resumed after a very long and frustrating wait. Soil conditions were solid on top with a mixture of plasticine and pudding underneath, but a pass with the double-press followed by the combination drill made an adequate seed-bed.

Seed-rates remain about 200kg/ha (1.6cwt/acre) aiming for 350 seeds/sq m. But recent wet weather has stopped us again with only 8ha (20 acres) of second wheat to drill and the remaining sugar beet to be lifted.

Slugs continue to be a problem, especially following set-aside and oilseed rape, so we have applied 5kg/ha of mini-pellets (metaldehyde) before and directly after drilling. Mini pellets seem to give adequate control and a saving of up to £6/ha (£2.40/acre) over alternative products.

All our oilseed rape has now received 30kg/ha (24 units/acre) of nitrogen. Hopefully, this will assist establishment and enable the smaller plants to survive further slug and pigeon damage. Phoma is present in about 10% of the plants and a programme of 0.25 litres/ha of Sanction (flusilazole), 0.5 litres/ha carbendazim, 0.25 litres/ha cypermethrin and Liquid Manganese at 2 litres/ha will be applied on all fields when conditions are suitable.

Feed wheats have mostly been sold, making between £70/t and £80/t, and Class 1 milling wheat has gone too with premiums of £12-£20/t depending on quality. Oilseed rape remains unsold but it is anyones guess whether prices will improve next year.

If grain sales were dependant on how much effort goes into growing a crop, then most farmers would be very wealthy. However, they do not, and it seems unfair to be selling into a world market where the playing field is far from level.

But there is no point being negative, and sloping playing fields are even more reason to cut costs dramatically, and market grain more effectively. More emphasis must be given to crop performance rather than cosmetic appeal, and once the crop is in the shed one has to remember the job is still only half done. &#42

No more following the Simba for Suffolk farm manager James Moldon. With drilling trials set-up, it was back to the combination drill to tackle some tricky seed-beds.