Pea drilling under way
EASTON LODGE
Pea drilling under way
GOOD drying conditions eventually allowed us to start drilling peas on Mar 23. This year we have 32.7ha (78 acres) of vining peas, code named SG1000, committed to Advanta Seeds, Sleaford, Lincs, for seed production.
They will be grown in three fields and sown at 215kg per ha using our power harrow/coulter drill combination unit. All the land has received muriate of potash applied by a pneumatic spreader at 95kg/ha and about 25% has been sprayed with glyphosate on the ploughing to control the flush of spring germinating broad-leaved weeds.
Having ploughed and pressed the land last autumn in good conditions only the sprayer/spreader wheelings were cultivated in advance of the combination drill. The seed-beds were ideal and within three days all had been sown and rolled in using Cambridge rolls towed by a 41-year-old Track Marshall 55. Sandwich year student Marcus Crookes, who is half the age of the Track Marshall, could barely disguise his excitement at the prospect of driving the "old girl." (Im sure it is no longer politically correct to refer to engines, ships and other classic vehicles by the female gender but who cares?)
More appreciation
After three dusty, bone-shattering and chilling days I feel sure he will now treat with more appreciation the environmentally controlled, stereophonic, sprung-seated conditions within the Ford 7740 SLE cab which is his more normal tractor.
The seed-beds have subsequently been sprayed with a pre-emergence herbicide using a mixture of terbuthylazine and terbutryn (Opogard). Emergence took place the week beginning Apr 8.
With the end of March drawing near we pulled through the sugar beet fields using a 6.8m Wilder pressure harrows before Easter. That allowed the few germinated seedlings to die on the surface in the cool, bright and windy conditions.
Back on the case on the Tuesday, having had two of the four Easter weekend days off, the 19.1ha (47 acres) was harrowed again leaving a fine, level seed-bed for our ageing Becker 6-row precision drill.
Our chosen sugar beet varieties this year are Jessica and Latoya. Both varieties boast a high growers income with low measured impurities. Also important to us is low amino N levels since we tend to dress liberally with farmyard manure in the autumn. Good disease resistance is important although Latoya is susceptible to rust. The crown height on our limestone soils is perhaps more pertinent to our lifting contractor but varieties with a high score make topping easier and less damaging to equipment.
Spares at ready
The drill coulter wearing edges on our precision drill are built up in the workshop every year and we always have a spare set ready to put on in the event of excessive wear during drilling. We find that it is essential to drill the seed into moisture almost regardless of how deep that is and penetration can only be achieved if the coulters are in good condition. Establishment with sugar beet is paramount so that a variety with a high rating is important as well as good seed-beds and moisture. All the seed has been Gaucho-dressed and for the first time we have decided to look at and compare four units which have also been Advantage-treated to see if we can detect a difference.
We have resisted the temptation of rolling the sugar beet after drilling since past experience has shown that while there might be a benefit in consolidating the seed-bed to conserve moisture, compaction can lead to a hard crust after heavy rain.
I must say that after four weeks without rain up until Apr 12 and drying winds to boot, I am concerned more for the cereals than the spring-sown crops. Night temperatures too have plummeted to produce several frosts and with a spray programme of growth regulators and hormone weed killers to apply, we are beginning to run out of time.
Without rain I am also concerned that recent nitrogen applications have not travelled far into the plant. All the urea was applied to barley by March 22 and has totalled 144kg N/ha (115 units/acre) in two doses. The third and final dose went on to oilseed rape on April 5 to make a total of 185kg N/ha (148 units/acre).
The wheat is divided into two categories. The early drilling has had two applications totalling 156kg N/ha (125 units/acre) completed by Mar 27. The late sowings after sugar beet have had one dose of 138kg N/ha (110/acre) applied by April 12.
Rain and warm weather from the south-west is what we urgently need for all crops if we are to realise their early potential.
The last of the Pearl winter barley left the farm at the beginning of April. Just over 40t was loaded last August to make room for wheat leaving two full bins to store until now. This is under contract to Gowlett Grain near Cambridge and has proved to have done extremely well.
Final figures for the gross margin are not yet available but we do know that we have sold 170.96t off 19.8ha (49 acres) to yield 8.6t/ha (3.5/acre). That has knocked spots off our previous three-year average for Maris Otter of 6.1t/ha (2.5t/acre). The straw is an added bonus for our pig unit as well as providing a good entry for oilseed rape. Barley appears to be top of the combinable crops gross margin league table, followed by oilseed rape thereby beating wheat into third place.
I am not too happy with our wheat marketing performance this year either. Having sold 209t of Clare at harvest for £75/t, I decided to hold on to the milling wheat. We could have got £100/t for collection June 2002 last November but instead I have accepted £90.50 in February for collection by July 12 for part of the crop. That still leaves more than 300t of Class 1 Malacca to market. *