Winter Wheat 2018

Mucked in wheat and oats here last November. Ground conditions were very tough but maybe not as bad as that. Oats did 3.5 and wheat 4.1. The fields are a bit rough after it and had to leave a long stubble as not rolled. Very handy disease year. Delighted tbh. If you wait for idyllic conditions you'd never sow anything. Plough and one pass the only job and a fraction of the cost of anything else.
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply, the picture that needs to looked at is the one showing the ups and downs not the headlands, it wasn't all as bad as the headlands, which were in a poor state before ploughing from some saw work that had went on previously, the land is rented it's our second year in it, more of the farm has been ploughed this year and it's now long term.
The previous crop was oats, we'll freely admit to letting a few oats out the back of the combine, a good sample is more important than a few extra kg/ac.
The oats grew, not as good as a proper cover crop, though possibly better than some that were planted last harvest.
The benefits were clear to be seen when we ploughed it, the soil looked much better than might be expected after the bad autumn, we'd kept it as the last place we were planning to sow, getting other bits done first.
If it were bare clean stubbles it would've been tougher to plough and till imo, as a result we have sowed oats as a cover in a few bits after winter barley this year.

Last autumn was tough going, we dropped a sod earlier on advice of a member here, it helped and got us through more acres, until eventually we just couldn't pull the semi mounted plough and started working with a mounted 5 sod.
With broken weather and showers I can't, nor do I want to, remember how many days we spent trying to get that bit done, there's about 34ac in it. Once we'd started we had to finish even in such conditions on headlands.
I agree it's not ideal, I'm not sorry we did it, given the same circumstances again we will do it again, given the replys and from talking to many of ye personally over the past few years, some might not realise how forgiving a crop winter wheat can be, provided it's land that can grow wheat.

Barley is like a small, soft, soccer player, wheat is a 6ft hurler with little reguard for personal safety.

The land in question will have subsoiling done shortly, considering planting winter rape, there are facilities on the farm to store slurry and tip compost.
All going to plan it'll get mushroom compost and slurry every year from now on.
I'm not one for quoting yields, in this case I'll make an exception.
Yield wise it did around 4t.
Our best crop of wheat this year.
 
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