How a winning mixed soil farmer cut arable crop inputs
Billy Lewis © Emma Gillbard/MAG Soil health is a key focus at Boycefield Farm and this has seen fertiliser use fall by 50% and the farm’s highest wheat yield.
Herefordshire farmer Billy Lewis was crowned Soil Farmer of the Year this summer, a credit to his unique integration of arable and livestock, cover cropping and use of clover-living mulches.
His passion for soil health at the 140ha family farm near Dilwyn began three years ago when he came home to farm full-time, after completing his university degree in agriculture.
See also: How one grower tackles late drilling of wheat on heavy soil
Since then, he has kick-started an additional share-farming partnership comprising 60ha of cropped land with a local farm owner with a similar vision.
Always farming the traditional mixed beef, sheep and arable farm in harmony with nature, Mr Lewis aimed to take this a step further and reduce the reliance on costly inputs from the chemical can and fertiliser sack.
Biological soils
The drive to create more biologically active soils has seen fertiliser use tumble by more than 50% in the past three years at Boycefield Farm, with healthier crops and higher yields to show for it.
His rotation revolves around a three-year fertility building phase of either grass and white clover or herbal ley mixes.
These are grazed by the farm’s flock of 300 Cheviot ewes, before following with three years of cereals, usually wheat and oats.
A combination of cover and catch crops also feature as a means to keep a living root within the ground to promote mycorrhizal fungi populations, across the farm’s medium-loam soils, with some heavier clays.
Not only do covers play a valuable role in improving soil health but they also provide additional sheep grazing.
“A wide range of cover crop species alongside compost applications help us to improve the diversity of our soil biology, reducing reliance on external inputs, helping insulate us from the madness of the outside world.
“Our ultimate aim is to eliminate fertiliser and drastically cut down on pesticides – not going down the organic route but as close to it as we possibly can,” says Mr Lewis.
Yield boost
Last harvest saw the farm’s highest winter wheat yield of 10.1t/ha from the group 4 variety Costello which was direct-drilled into a clover ley to form a living mulch.
The crop received just 60kg N/ha and one fungicide application at the T2 timing.
This year, Mr Lewis plans to cut nitrogen rates by at least another 10kg N/ha and is aiming for zero fungicide applications across some of the wheat area.
By growing a three-way wheat blend of Extase, Costello and Graham, he aims to promote a wider genetic diversity to achieve an extra 10-15% disease resistance, when compared with a typical monoculture wheat.
All 40ha of first wheats were planted to the variety mix and direct-drilled into either a catch crop or grass clover ley.
Three-year grass clover leys used for fattening lambs and silage-making are smoothly transitioned into the arable phase with one final hard graze, before spraying off the grass with glyphosate at a rate of 2.5 litres/ha.
Half a litre of fulvic acid and 80g/ha of citric acid is added to the mix as glyphosate performs optimally at an acidic pH of 3.5, helping to improve efficacy and reduce dosage rate.
“Spraying off the ley removes the grass but doesn’t harm the clover, allowing it to persist as a living mulch understorey, before direct-drilling the wheat,” he says.
Now in his third season of establishing wheat into a clover mulch, a John Deere 750 drill is used.
Mr Lewis believes this is the correct drill for planting into clover, after previously using a Vaderstad Rapid and a Weaving Sabre Tine.
The Sabre Tine is used alongside the John Deere to direct-drill cereals.
Regenerative farming advice and tips
For anyone thinking of beginning a more regenerative farming system, Billy Lewis suggests experimenting with different ideas on a small scale to see what works for you.
“Start small, and if it works, scale up, if it doesn’t, figure out why. Don’t get bogged down on the minor details and avoid getting hung up about soil type,” he says.
“Figure out what works well on your farm and replicate it year-on-year. Accept that things will probably go wrong along the way but build on those mistakes, but, most importantly, enjoy it.”
Nitrogen use
A slow-release nitrogen fertiliser from Humber Palmers containing humates is applied.
This is a naturally occurring plant and soil stimulant that improves plant function, nutrient availability and protects crops against disease.
A “little and often approach” is taken, in three applications.
The first two being compound fertilisers, with 10kg N/ha and 18kg sulphur trioxide (SO3)/ha applied in early March followed by 20kg N/ha and 36kg SO3/ha in early April.
Then a remaining 4kg N/ha is applied as a foliar form in late April/early May, providing the equivalent of 20kg N/ha of granular fertiliser.
Wheat following oats in the rotation will receive a higher total dose of 90kg N/ha, as oats tend to scavenge residual nitrogen within the soil and so reserves will need restoring.
Next targets
Last season’s Mascani winter oats – the second crop to grow in the clover-living mulch – received 25kg N/ha with a yield of 6.5t/ha.
A proportion of the oats are kept to finish bulls that are not sold for breeding from the farm’s pedigree Hereford cattle herd, while the wheat is sold off-farm.
A 12ha area of second wheat was added to the rotation this year and, if successful, Mr Lewis intends to scale this up across the farm.
If not, an additional sheep grazing summer cover-crop mix will be planted as a break crop for a year before going back into a first wheat.
Next year, his target is to reduce the use of chemically treated seed dressings, and instead opt for biologically coated seeds on selected “healthier” fields, to continue his regenerative farming journey.
Compost creation and livestock grazing
All 500t of farmyard manure at Boycefield Farm is transformed into compost to apply a more biologically active soil amendment to the land.
Manure is turned five or six times over a two-month period, with digestate fibre and woodchip sometimes added to alter the carbon-nitrogen ratio of the end product.
Compost is applied anywhere between 6-10t/ha to both arable and temporary grassland. It is not applied to permanent pasture due to the risk of weed-seed return.
Billy Lewis has plans to apply the compost in the spring to a standing wheat crop after successfully applying to standing oats last year, to reduce reliance on potash.
Since implementing a mob-grazing system for both cattle and sheep, artificial fertiliser use across permanent and temporary grassland is now eliminated.
“We can grow significantly more grass using an electric fence than we could fertiliser. What’s more, we’ve unlocked the natural seed bank in our soils with populations of red/white clovers, vetch, plantain, sorrel and knapweed becoming more prominent due to longer rest periods between grazing,” he says.
