Page 21 - The News for the three villages October 2018

BallaRD FaRm NEWs
Although we finished harvest earlier than usual due to the hot, dry weather we seem to have been just as busy during the extra time we gained. The first priority was to spread the farmyard manure from the cattle buildings which had been stored since last winter. As this involves spreading up to a load an acre (approx. 8 tonne) the hard and dry ground this year meant the tractor and spreader caused minimal soil damage. Each arable field gets an application of manure about every three to four years. So that we know what nutrients we have applied it needs to be spread evenly and then we can estimate the fertiliser value and apply the appropriate artificial fertiliser to make up the crop requirements.
We have taken the opportunity this year to plant a cover crop in some of the wheat stubble. The seed mixture contains Black Oats and Phacelia which have big root structures and should improve the organic matter in the soil; Red Vetch and Berseem Clover which are legumes and should fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and Buckwheat which is claimed to absorb phosphates from the soil. The idea is that these plants will grow through the autumn and cover the ground and the species chosen will hopefully be killed off by frost during the winter. This should leave more fertility and an improved seedbed ready to plant spring barley in March.
At the end of August we planted oilseed rape and despite the very dry conditions it has come up quite well, although it could do with some rain now. As we are not allowed to use neonicotinoid seed dressing on rape seed, since it was banned by the EU a couple of years ago, we are conscious of the problems caused by cabbage stem flea beetle who nibble away at the new plants as they emerge. This year has been a particularly bad problem across the whole country, perhaps because the flea beetle hasn’t been controlled for several years and the population has expanded. Some farmers have had to re-drill as so few plants survived that the crop would not have been viable.
We have completed our second cut silage and are pleased to have made what looks like some good quality bales. The quantity is less than we have had in previous years but we will have enough silage for the cattle to get through the winter. We also managed to bale, in big square bales, a good quantity of dry, excellent quality straw straight behind the combine when we cut the spring barley. We will use that for bedding the cattle during the winter but the cattle also love eating it.
By now we have had to plan which varieties of wheat we intend to plant this autumn. We can choose varieties from different characteristics, mainly the potential yield, quality of grain produced and disease resistance. To spread the risk we tend to grow four or five different ones. New varieties come on to the market every year and this year we have chosen to plant a small acreage of a new potential milling wheat called Zyatt. This seed, and a proportion of the other varieties we plant, we buy from seed merchants. The rest we have saved from fields where we planted new bought in seed last year. This has been cleaned to remove weeds etc. and dressed with a fungicide and then weighed into half tonne bags by a mobile seed cleaner which comes to the farm every year.
thenewseec@gmail.com EDINGTON, ERLESTOKE & COULSTON 19
BALLARDS FARM NEWS