Ron Duncan
Ron Duncan
Ron Duncan farms 222ha
(550 acres) in partnership
with his wife and eldest son
at Begrow Farms, Duffus,
Elgin, Moray. Crops include
winter wheat, spring barley,
swedes and beetroot,
alongside a pedigree
Limousin suckler herd
I AM writing this article before heading south for a few days stewarding at the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston.
Hopefully, the show yard will stand up to the heavy rain that most of Scotland and parts of the south have experienced in the past month. A few smaller shows and Perth races have already been cancelled which is a shame and a pain for the organisers.
However, I am pleased to say that is not the case in Moray. We have had enough showers to keep the country green, yet still have a soil moisture deficit of 30mm at the moment. Irrigators can be seen for miles around on vegetables and potatoes, battling against the incessant wind.
That plus strong sunshine and a temperature of 22C today could quickly turn some light soil areas from green to white.
I must confess I prefer over-dry conditions with the cows calmly lying down, chewing their cuds, which means contentment.
My son wants to come to Ingliston too but, as the spray operator, he is frustrated by being only half way through our spring barley ear emergence programme.
Our choice this season is 0.4 litres/ha each of Vivid (pyraclostrobin) and Opus (epoxiconazole). We also used Vivid at 0.3 litres/ha plus Folicur (tebuconazole) at 0.3 litres/ha on the wheat post-ear emergence.
I mentioned protecting beetroot land from the wind with a sprayed on coating in last months article. The £250/ha (£100/acre) investment seems fully justified at the moment as the crop is a picture. Germination looks just right having applied 2kg/ha of Goltix (metamitron) pre-emergence with adjuvant Actipron.
The weed seedlings are still keeling over from that at the moment but a further 1.7kg/ha of Goltix, again with Actipron, will go on shortly.
Now to more pressing matters. Do not believe that all Scots are happy to see England on their way home from Japan. We who grow malting barley would have been happy to see the supporters introducing lager to the whole of Asia! *