Late winter here was as kind as early winter was cruel. Crops on the whole look decent, but I took the decision to terminate 14ha of wheat in two fields.

A poor crop costs as much as a good one to grow, and with ever-reducing government support, every acre needs to contribute.

One field was wheat sown after potatoes with a power harrow drill combination and had just sat too wet for too long.

See also: Tips on reducing herbicide resistance risk in sugar beet

About the author

Andrew Wilson

Arable Farmer Focus writer Andrew Wilson is a fourth-generation tenant of Castle Howard Estate in North Yorkshire. The farm supports crops of wheat, barley, oats, beans, sugar beet, potatoes, and grass for hay across 250ha. Other enterprises include bed and breakfast pigs, environmental stewardship, rooftop solar and contracting work.  

Contact:

Email: wilsonbrickyard@gmail.com

X: https://twitter.com/SpudSlingsby

Read more articles by Andrew Wilson

It has now had a dressing of poultry manure, which was incorporated, and the field is sown with spring oats.

Interestingly, the two adjacent fields in the same stage of rotation were sown with our strip-till drill and have come through winter much better.  

The other field to receive the axe of glyphosate was a bi-crop of wheat and beans. A mixture of drainage issues, heavy rain and crows meant success potential was low.

I’ve kept a tramline width at the better side of the field for a look-see, but the rest has been sown with spring beans. 

Land has generally worked up well, and this fortnight I’ve sown oats after sugar beet, spring barley on heavier land in a rotation slot once occupied by second wheat, and patched some flooded winter beans with some spring beans (I may regret this come September!). 

As is normal practice for us, the first dose of nitrogen on winter cereals has been 80kg/ha via urea, and sulphur, calcium, magnesium and potassium via PotashPlus.

This will be followed up with either liquid N or ammonium nitrate, depending on the crop. Phosphorus is almost universally provided by pig muck. 

Soil temperatures are nothing special at the moment, but it’s good to be making progress in March rather than May for a change.

Sugar beet drilling will commence next week with our now modified drill rig, with potato planting following  the week after.

Land is still quite wet underneath, and I prefer root crops to be up and away rather than waiting in a cold seed-bed. 

Next week, will see the wanderer return – my right-hand man home from a six-month New Zealand adventure. Suffice to say he’s been missed.

It will be good to have him back and crack on with the ever-increasing job list – because that’s what us farmers do, isn’t it?