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 Farm News March 2012 |
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The warm weather last week prompted a busy week for many farms in the area. We were amongst those making the most of the warm weather and sunny conditions and took the opportunity to start fertilising some of the crops on the farm. The oilseed rape has all had its first application of nitrogen fertiliser along with the second wheat crops and a few fields of first wheat where plant populations were less than ideal. Many cereal crops this year are very thick following the warm winter and there is generally more disease present than one would like. Fortunately for us, we were later drilling the crops last autumn which has meant that the wheat crops here are not over thick which may pay off as at the moment we are seeing little disease present. Returning to the oilseed rape and its requirement for nitrogen fertiliser, we have for the first time used a mobile phone to help calculate and plan the amount of fertiliser needed. Unfortunately I still see my mobile phone as a tool for making calls and sending the odd text message so the first step was to borrow an i-phone with the required “app”. Then I simply had to walk around the fields taking photos of the crop. The app then uses these to calculate the Green Area Index (GAI) of the crop and using this information we can calculate how much nitrogen is already in the leaves and from this work out how much we need to apply to achieve are target yield. All very well and good, but unfortunately there still isn’t an app available which can be used to make it rain just at the right time, make the sun shine during harvest, or stop pigeons from eating the crop in the first place.  The sudden turnaround in the weather over the weekend with somewhat unexpected snow was a stark reminder that spring may not have arrived just yet, but it can’t be too far away, and so thoughts have turned to planning out fungicide programmes and making a note of which weeds will need controlling before they get too big. As ever charlock in the oilseed rape is proving the biggest problem, despite two applications of herbicide in the autumn and some very effective (and free) frost control over the winter, it is still growing in a few places. Unfortunately there is only one chemical available for controlling the weed and supplies have run out, so we will have to accept that there is little we can do about it now, other than physically pulling it out by hand. The most exciting news the farm has at the moment is that the decision was taken in December last year to change the combine harvester. The old machine had completed nine harvests, seven of which were at Stern Farms. Generally it was still reliable, but as it got older repairs were becoming more frequent and at times more costly. Initial thoughts were to find a suitable second hand replacement, but unfortunately there wasn’t too much choice since we only require a relatively small combine for our acreage, and in the end we managed to get a very good deal from Claas, who will be supplying a brand new Tucano 430, due to arrive on the farm in June. The old combine left the farm last month and will spend the rest of its days in Scotland where it will be harvesting less than half the acreage that it did here, so it should have a happy semi-retirement. Finally, I spent four days last month training and studding for my FACTS (Fertiliser Advisors Certification and Training Scheme) qualification. The amount of information involved, together with the short period of time makes this a very intensive course, which at times I have to admit was hard going. The fifth day of the course consists of written examinations in the morning followed by a twenty minute viva panel interview in the afternoon. All the effort and hard work studying well into the night must have paid off, as I arrived home at lunch time to find a large brown envelope on the door step containing my Certificate of Competence in Fertiliser Advice, meaning I passed! |
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Paul Sigley, Farm Manager |
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