I had 5ac earmarked for sheep fencing and reseeding this year, but with the coronavirus, the marts closed and the plummeting price of cattle, I decided to put any unnecessary expenditure on the long finger, just to be on the safe side.

A decision, I have to say, I’m wondering whether is correct or not. With all this good weather, ground conditions are ideal for field work and it’s a perfect chance to get a bit of reseeding done without the pressure and hassle that sometimes comes with it.

I also have a bit of drainage work to do - I hadn’t really intended to tackle it this year, but, again, the present conditions are making it tempting.

I think I’ll stick to my original decision and leave things be for the moment

In fairness, none of it is really essential work, so as much as it pains me, I think I’ll stick to my original decision and leave things be for the moment.

Some 90% of the farm was soil-tested in January and a lot of fields showed up as being slightly low for lime. It was nothing too drastic, all pHs were above 6.0, but only ground reseeded in the last few years were showing optimum levels.

To be honest, I have been a little slack about liming over the past few years, really only liming as I reseed. So, I wasn’t really surprised that some fields were showing up as low.

Liming

Liming 25% to 30% of the farm every year is a good habit to get into, something that I used to always do, but, somehow, I managed to get out of the habit. In fairness, poor weather at times would have had a bit to do with it as well.

With our local lime quarry now closed, the cost of lime has increased quite significantly in this area compared with what we had been used to historically, really just down to haulage costs, but, because of this, granular lime has become a lot more attractive than it previously was.

If you cost 3t of quarry lime per acre over a three-year period against 200kg of granular lime per acre per year over the same period, there is next to nothing in the difference.

Granular lime also has the convenience of being spread with a normal fertiliser spreader, so the farmer can do it him or her self whenever it suits.

A small area can be done on its own and heavy ground can be done easily, as there shouldn’t be a need to wait for perfect ground conditions to allow a heavy lime spreader in. If you can spread fertiliser, you can spread granular lime.

Low pH

If you're starting off with ground that has a very low pH, quarry lime may be best, but, as a maintenance dressing, granular lime definitely has a role to play.

Anyway, I managed to get 15ac of grazing ground spread last week and hope to get my silage ground spread after the second cut is harvested.

The importance of correct soil pH cannot be overestimated. I remember the question being asked at a farm walk on my farm a few years ago - 'when is the best time to spread lime?'

The answer given by an advisor was “if you find out today that you need lime, tomorrow is the best time to spread”. Enough said.

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