Yes – waiting game paid…
Yes – waiting game paid…
ABOUT a month ago, I commented that all the seed-beds were dry and cloddy. I added that we had decided to keep our cereal seed in the barn, exercising patience until we had sufficient rain to justify taking our drill into the field.
That turned out to be the correct decision. Experience has taught us that pressing on regardless in early September and drilling at low seed rates into dry seed beds usually results in redrilling after the rain.
What we were not in a position to know was that on Sept 14 we were to get 23mm of rain in 24 hours. That, combined with further rain falling in 12 of the remaining 16 days in September to total 87mm, gave us 54% more than the 45-year mean.
Our early drilling schedules had been well and truly blown off course. Indeed, further seed has had to be cleaned and dressed now that October drilling has become a reality.
But all was not completely lost. Of the 116.8ha (288 acres) earmarked for wheat, 11.7ha (29 acres) were sown after set-aside on Aug 20 and a further 34.4ha (85 acres) snatched on the few dry days last month. By Oct 5 we had managed a further 25.8ha (64 acres) to total 72ha (178 acres).
Seed rates have moved up from the 115 seeds/sq m in August to 170 seeds/sq m in September and 250 seeds/sq m in October. We will have to increase the rates again for the 25.4ha (63 acres) of Claire which we are about to move into this weekend.
With seed beds too wet to travel and conditions overhead relatively promising, we switched to winter barley on Fri Sept 29. We had 19.8ha (49 acres) of Pearl to sow on a malting barley contract. The land had been disced once after combining wheat and subsequently sprayed with glyphosate to control volunteers and couch grass.
We decided to plough and press ahead of the power harrow combination drill, which slowed progress but nonetheless meant that we were able to drill on freshly moved soil and were not vulnerable to rain because headlands would be sown last.
In the event, we had heavy rain on both Saturday and Sunday evenings but not enough to prevent us from finishing the field, which was sown at 355 seeds/sq m.
It is fairly common knowledge that Easton Lodge has, for some time, been an advocate of farm-saved seed. But after reading in the farming press about the fall in the price of certified seed, should we review that decision?
It is certainly true that C2 certified seed for this autumn could have been bought at prices below £200/t for large orders. But price is not necessarily the whole issue. We have produced Malacca grown from C1 seed and single-purpose dressed for £183.30/t this season, as the table shows. The cost would be £15/t less for a feed variety.
We are, and have been, in the business of producing seed for seed companies for many years. So we know the importance of good management, timeliness and attention to detail when producing these crops. Clearly, there is an on-cost to growing ones own seed in terms of additional inputs and management time. But its not nearly as much as is made out by those with a vested interest.
We dress our seed far more vigorously than any merchant could ever hope to do, using contract mobile equipment working to our own specification. NIAB carries out a full diagnostic package on our seed lots and nothing is processed until this report is to hand.
We pay full royalties on everything we save and buy C1 seed every year from which to multiply our commercial stock. That also means it is to hand when we need it.
This last point can be worth hundreds of pounds to the business since our aim is to be drilled up by the end of the first week in September – year 2000 excepted.
Home-saved seed production is a process that we regulate from the outset and is so important to the business because I intend to stay in control. As for not having access to the latest varieties, we cant afford them anyway. Until they are tried and tested, we would be foolish to expose ourselves to the unknown.
On another topic, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our new sandwich year student. Will Clarke comes from Nottinghamshire and is currently studying at Brackenhurst College. Will joined the team in July to overlap with his predecessor for two months. His duties will be to work both on the pig unit and the arable enterprises, gaining experience in both sectors while salting away some cash to help continue his studies next year.
Will Clarke who joined the team at Easton Lodge back in July as a sandwich year student.
Cost of home-saved seed
£/tonne
Basic price Malacca ex-combine 75.00
Cleaning + seed treatment (SPD) +
royalty + NIAB diagnostic package 102.87
Additional costs of growing from C1
£39.88/ha ÷ yield (9t/ha) 4.43
Total seed cost in own 500kg bags 182.30