John Galvin

Croom, Co Limerick

John got a lot of work done during a few settled days in October. However, he still only has 50% of his planned winter crop area sown and the chances of getting any further field work done are getting slimmer by the day.

John was able to plough and sow an amount of Graham winter wheat directly after harvesting maize.

Of the crops that are sown, John questions what the impacts of the continued wet and cold weather might be, especially considering later sown crops have yet to emerge.

The shoots are now peeping on his earlier sown winter barley crops, which were sown between October 21-24. He first sowed Pixel at 200kg/ha. While it wasn’t his original plan, he chose this variety due to availability of seed and time pressures. He then moved onto sowing Tower at 200kg/ha.

John’s 3m Pöttinger drill was staying close behind the plough and could cover upwards of 50ac in a day. This year, he had two four-furrow Överum and one five furrow Lemken plough working together and was able to cover a lot of ground in a day. All ploughs are running number eight boards. Despite the wet weather, drier fields are ploughing up OK. Crows are proving to be an issue, however.

While 90% of the field was fine, around 10% had a number of very wet patches

He was then able to sow around 30% of his planned winter wheat area, sowing Conros and Costello at 200kg/ha after maize and Graham at 170kg/ha into cereal stubble. His Graham seed was dressed with Latitude. “While 90% of the field was fine, around 10% had a number of very wet patches,” John explains.

No sown ground was rolled and no herbicide or slug pellets were applied, as conditions were too wet. If conditions improved he would still consider sowing an amount of winter wheat however.

He harvested his Maize at the end of October and it went relatively smoothly. Ground conditions in the field were reasonable and he was happy with how the crop yielded. Keeping the roads clean leading into the field were a challenge, however. He is now facing into a season with a much higher spring crop area. Spring crops typically don’t perform as well in his area, due to later sowing dates.

Donal O’Keeffe

Delvin, Co Westmeath

The weather has been changeable in Delvin this autumn. Despite his autumn sowing campaign starting three weeks later than normal, Donal is happy with his progress to date.

Last month, Donal just started sowing winter barley. Since then, he has managed to sow around 125ac of the crop for seed and feed.

Donal was able to sow Husky oats using his one-passed drill directly into disced oilseed rape stubble.

He sowed his Cassia seed with a TGW of 57.5g at 200kg/ha and sowed Valerie with a TGW of 62g at 210 kg/ha. All of these crops were sown with a one-pass drill after ploughing, but Donal intends to experiment with min-till and direct drilling winter barley next year. The first 60ac of this crop was sprayed with Firebird (0.5l/ha), Fence (0.33l/ha) and Karis (0.04l/ha).

He then sowed his Isabel winter oats seed, which had a TGW of 35g at 150kg/ha with a plough and one-pass. After this, he then sowed Husky winter oats at 155kg/ha, which is destined for seed. This crop was sown into disced oilseed rape stubble using his one-pass drill. Donal was pleasantly surprised how good ground conditions were at the time of sowing.

Graham seed had TGW of 55g and was direct drilled at 200kg/ha into spring bean stubble

Next, he sowed winter wheat, destined for both seed and feed. His white label Costello seed had a TGW of 48g and was sown at 170kg/ha using a one-pass and plough. His blue label Graham seed had TGW of 55g and was direct drilled at 200kg/ha into spring bean stubble.

Donal is not shy to experiment with establishment methods, but commented on his fear that the winter wheat, which was direct drilled, may have been drilled too deep at around 3.1cm. Field conditions were much better after direct drilling when compared to ploughing, he noticed.

Donal is contemplating ploughing his remaining grassland for crops. He has decided to stop producing beef on his farm. For four years, he ran a dairy calf to beef enterprise alongside his tillage business. However, due to lack of profitability in his beef system, he will fully convert to tillage. “Beef has been pulling profit from cereals for the past four years,” Donal remarks.

Simon Best

Poyntzpass, Co Down

Sowing was finished in Poyntzpass on October 28 after a reasonably good run. Despite around 80mm of rainfall in four weeks, growers there were able to take advantage of breaks in the weather, particularly for the last two weeks of October.

Simon was able to sow 100% of his planned area and all crops have now received a pre-emerge herbicide. This was largely down to the use of his plough and one-pass establishment system. The drill was able to keep tight to the plough.

Simon is now deciding what herbicide to apply onto his winter oilseed rape to knock out chickweed and shepherd’s purse.

Around one quarter of his earliest sown barley is patchy in places. This particular crop was sown in less than ideal conditions, rolled after sowing, received heavy rain after rolling and was subsequently heavily grazed by rabbits. Some of this ground may have to be sown with spring barley next year, but Simon will see how it survives the winter before making that call. The remaining crop has established well.

He then moved onto sowing Graham winter wheat. The crop was sown at between 140-165kg/ha depending on seed weight, ground type and sowing date. He was aiming for around 220 plants/m2.

His wheat was sown into oilseed rape stubble. Around 20ac of this crop was min-tilled, while the remaining area was ploughed and sown with a one-pass.

The weather held long enough for him to finish sowing his planned area

The crops that were min-tilled are notably weaker than those sown into ploughed ground. His wheat was sprayed with a pre-emerge herbicide of Shooter (4l/ha).

Finally, he sowed Mascani winter oats at 150kg/ha. The weather held long enough for him to finish sowing his planned area. This allowed him to strike the right ratio between winter and spring oats for this growing season. The crop received a pre-emerge herbicide of Herald (0.3l/ha).

His Clearfield-enabled winter oilseed rape crop is patchy in parts of the headlands, but the majority of the field is looking good. Last month he applied Cleranda (2l/ha) and Dash (1l/ha) and this appears to have killed any brassica weeds. He will now assess his options to kill the emerging chickweed and shepherd’s purse.

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