Lancs Lad Posted August 20, 2009 Report Share Posted August 20, 2009 Ok. its normal that the wife books the holiday just as the farmer harvests the wheat............... However this year is all a little bit different....... So, off we set for cornwall 2 weeks ago. The wheat was still up due to the bad weather, but no blown spots in the fields so no chance of getting out for a bang. Drove past the fields on the way down...Still up..............ok...thats good. 2 weeks past, and we join que of traffic up from the sunny/wet south and drive past.............fields have been harvested............a week ago.............. Great.....Next weekend after a week back at work and time for some banging.... Today is thursday,,,,someone who wasnt working was on the field on Tuesday, apparent from the whirly as I drove past around 2pm. Set off for work today having a look....a few birds down.............ok, few birds up in the sky......ok too...... Weather looks good for the weekend...............Working saturday, will be out sunday....... On way home today............................hes out with the bloody plough.............. My fields................they are brown................................PPPPPOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH.... Anyone finding the same.............harvesting...and ploughing within a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Fudd Posted August 20, 2009 Report Share Posted August 20, 2009 might get crows on the ploughed field Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 Anyone finding the same.............harvesting...and ploughing within a few days. As farmers spread themselves increasingly thinly, by taking on more and more contracting work, the interval between harvesting and cultivation narrows. That's compounded by the variable weather and labour shortages. Whilst rain will force combining to be halted, it doesn't prevent us from doing all available tillage work. Over recent weeks, we've been discing fields alongside the combine, to make best use of our time. Time is money, and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 I sat and watched one field i really fancied the combine was in following behind was the bailer another machine picking up and behind all this was the plough all in the same field what chance do you have at times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 Sadly this is something that happens alot now. Once one of our fields are cut the quad track is straight in the field behind the combine either sub-soiling, discing or ploughing. These days time is money as Baldrick said and us farmers have to take what chances we get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofthewings Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 In mainly arable area,s the quicker the stubble is attacked the better! there is just to much of it, as the area of stubble is reduced the birds are more concentrated. There is also the need to cultivate ready for drilling the rape, where would we be without that? At the moment the flight lines are non-existant, the birds are falling of the trees on to food LOTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbart Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 Same on a lot of my land......harvested and disced the same day or the next day at latest. On the subject of all things harvesty !! What's the score with beans ?? A few of the farmers i know have put beans in for the first time(subsidy incentive) but this is the bit that gets me....MOST of them are not bothering to harvest them and are simply ploughing the crop in So if a farmer can explain why,i am all ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted August 21, 2009 Report Share Posted August 21, 2009 on a lot of my farms the stubble stays for for some time, by that time the pigeons have cleaned most of it up,so i get a lot of shooting off them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 (edited) Same on a lot of my land......harvested and disced the same day or the next day at latest. On the subject of all things harvesty !! What's the score with beans ?? A few of the farmers i know have put beans in for the first time(subsidy incentive) but this is the bit that gets me....MOST of them are not bothering to harvest them and are simply ploughing the crop in So if a farmer can explain why,i am all ears. Blackbart, I am surprised to hear that. We have now cut about 420 acres of winter beans, but are waiting on about 900 acres of spring beans that still benefit from at least another week of growth. If you see beans still standing, it's likely they're a spring crop, and it's just a timing issue. There's no specific subsidy payment granted for beans (unlike for energy crops, e.g. short-rotation coppice, and sugar beets used for the production of bioethanol), but they are an undemanding crop to drill, maintain and harvest. Beans are grown on a minimum of a 4-year rotation, to control disease. Ours (both spring and winter beans) are in a 6-year rotation, and we would extend to that 8 years if the land was affected by nematode worms. You have to be careful not to follow OSR with beans too closely, as the two crops are susceptible to a few shared diseases. Have you had some fairly extreme rain or hail over recent weeks? Sudden and severe weather can cause pod shatter, dumping the crop on the ground and leaving a useless plant still standing. Have there been drought conditions, that would have prevented the beans developing and maturing? Alternatively, has the crop been standing on waterlogged soil (which beans hate)? The more obvious factor is disease: field beans are pretty vulnerable to a variety of diseases, principally bean rust, stem nematode and various mildews. Some can be controlled, but it is possible for a crop to be rendered a write-off in rare circumstances. If the crop had failed for some reason or other, and could not be salvaged economically, I too would rip it up and at least reclaim some of the plants' nutritional value by incorporation back into the soil. A large combine is a very expensive thing to run and maintain, so I would have to think hard about whether there was any benefit in gathering the crop. Edited August 22, 2009 by Baldrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofthewings Posted August 23, 2009 Report Share Posted August 23, 2009 Blackbart watch those bean fields, pigeons love beans and sooner or later they will be found. I,v seen fields absolutly grey. Watch for them chitting as well the pigeons see the little green shoots long before we can, the little shoot leads them to the bean under it. I would watch those fields like a hawk. LOTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbart Posted August 23, 2009 Report Share Posted August 23, 2009 I am not a soil expert but from what i remember of the conversation with one farmer in simple terms was he was getting payed more to grow beans than other crops(which is why i thought it was a subsidy thing)and he also said it was to put something ?? into the soil.He said it would be just ploughed in but some were going to harvest it. Anyway ploughing it in will be good for a few days sport i would imagine,so who am i to argue why he is doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George1990 Posted August 23, 2009 Report Share Posted August 23, 2009 I recall that some years (before I started whacking woodies) they ploughed within a week or so, and other years left for many weeks. As Balders says, it's jusrt relies on what needs doing and what can be done weather permitting. This year due to variable weather conditions, there have been many fields half harvested and left for a good few days bedore harvesting recommences. During this time they started cutting the rape stubble (much to the pigeon's delight). Having said that, they drill the new seed very soon after ploughing ect. these days, so would the pigeons prefer the new drillings to the grain on stubbles?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 24, 2009 Report Share Posted August 24, 2009 I am not a soil expert but from what i remember of the conversation with one farmer in simple terms was he was getting payed more to grow beans than other crops(which is why i thought it was a subsidy thing)and he also said it was to put something ?? into the soil.He said it would be just ploughed in but some were going to harvest it. Anyway ploughing it in will be good for a few days sport i would imagine,so who am i to argue why he is doing it. Your farmer may be growing beans on a contract, and thereby getting a paid a premium on top of the market price. Beans, as a legume, return some nitrogen to the soil as they grow. Few other crops do this, but with the price of manufactured fertiliser still pretty high, any nutrients that can be salvaged for free are worth grabbing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ean76 Posted August 24, 2009 Report Share Posted August 24, 2009 Great.....Next weekend after a week back at work and time for some banging.... B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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