We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.IN YOUR FIELD
Steve Heard: Crops are struggling – but a new ‘toy’ arrives on farm
In our onging series charting the ups and downs of seven farmers around the country, STEVE HEARD this week tells us what’s been happening on-farm in Leicestershire.
I would love to report how wonderful our crops are looking, but the truth is, they are suffering – the toil of a cold, wet winter seems to have culminated to a stress point in the last few weeks and OSR, especially, seems to have moved backwards.
While I was very optimistic of all our crops pre-Christmas, now I would really like to see them start to grow away.
Oilseed rape has received 90kg/ha N (36kg/acre), all the wheats and even some oats have received a first 45kg/ha N (18kg/acre) application.
Usually I would be more patient, but this year I am keen to provide the crops with all the energy they need to advance. Hopefully, by the time you read this, things will be on the mend.
My sprayer has not moved a wheel. The same climate that has stalled the crops also delays any herbicide applications, but some warm weather will hopefully soon see that change.
New solution
A visit to the precision farming event has, I hope, helped me clarify a new solution for our GPS guidance and mapping requirements. Currently, we use three different makes and I am determined that, as we look to add yet another, I start to standardise things.
If only it were that easy. Unfortunately the agricultural GPS world does not entice the likes of Bill Gates or a ‘Windows’-type system, so all manufacturers use their own method and, frustratingly, they don’t work to a common platform.
As we move to utilise more of this technology, I feel the need to choose a single system type which we can adopt across all machines.
All I need to do now is to be convinced which is best, now, and for the future.
A new toy arrived on the farm last week in the shape of a six-tonne JCB digger.
This will soon be at work clearing ditches and repairing drains, but first building some new jumps for my off-road buggies!
STEVE HEARD
- Farms at Illston on the Hill, Leicestershire. He grows a variety of combinable crops on 1,192ha (2,945 acres) of land which is rented and contract farmed. He also runs an arable contracting business, and is a keen user of new technology.
