Ploughing: you can plough, spray or cultivate land from 1 December if it has been cultivated already. If land was not cultivated then it cannot be ploughed, cultivated or sprayed until 1 February, unless a crop is going to be planted straight away.

However, if you have planted a cover crop under ACRES or Farming for Water then that must remain in place until 1 January. After 1 January those cover crops can be sprayed, cultivated, rolled in the frost or lightly grazed by livestock.

Spraying: there are a few people out with sprayers at the minute, whether that be for weeds or disease control in oilseed rape. Temperatures are too cold for aphids, so an aphicide should not be needed as they should not be moving too much in current conditions.

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Only move with the sprayer where absolutely necessary. Land is very wet, so you are likely to make tracks that will damage the ground and that will be there for the rest of the season. Met Éireann is reporting most fields at field capacity for water levels.

Stocktake: as ploughing season is upon us it might be no harm to do a stocktake on the farm. It is too wet to plough in most places, but get the plough ready and replace worn parts.

Make sure you have spare parts to hand and count up what you have so you can order what is needed and you won’t have to go for parts in the busy season. Check across all machines from cultivators to spreaders, sprayers and drills. Make sure fertiliser spreaders in particular are stored away properly and have been oiled for the winter.

Grazing cover crops: if you are going to graze cover crops or allow another farmer to graze them, make sure you are compliant with regulations. You need a 3m buffer that is not sown with cover crops around the edge of the field and a 4m buffer at a watercourse.

If you have a stocking rate over 170kg N/ha then you need to fence the watercourse at 1.5m.

A lie back area that equates to 30% of the total grazable area is needed. This should not be cultivated. Protect your soil, do not allow animals to stay on fields when the crop has been grazed and only allow light animals onto crops to avoid poaching and compaction.

ITLUS: The Irish Tillage and Land Use Society will hold its winter conference next Thursday 4 December. There is a good lineup for the day.

We shared the agenda last week. The morning will feature presentations on economics and grain markets, while the afternoon will see farmers from the US, England, Tipperary and Dublin chat through their farm business, challenges and opportunities.

If you want to attend email itlussec50@gmail.com by Friday 28 November. Very importantly there will be time to chat over lunch and a cup of tea. You can meet farmers from across the country and you might just find that you share the same challenges or that someone has a good idea that could work on your farm.