No Till biological farming

We are probably going a bit off topic but Ugo (please correct me if I'm wrong), is min tilling rather than no tilling.:scratchhead:
yep. Started as an opportunistic min tiller, I'm a slow learner, now in all min till and moving to opportunistic no tiller from here. Hopefully, I'll be able to give up min tilling eventually if my learning speed improves:scratchhead:
 
So im reading loads of tweets, numerous pictures of green crops loads of articles on soil but Im still struggling even with the high-level plan.

Continuous tillage here for 30 odd years on light stony soils. Mostly index 3/4 thanks to chicken litter a few years back all artificial recently. Yields 2.6-3 SB 2.8-3.2 WB
So if I want to change this is what I know so far.

One more year ploughing get the ground as level as possible this time round.

Post harvest:
For a following Winter crop
light Disc to chit weeds
Spray off in Late August
Direct drill new crop in September.

For a following spring crop
Establish a cover crop - still not clear what to sow or how - goal is very low cost cover establishment - mustard, oats?
Spray off Feb and direct drill
or possibly drill into cover and spray off after sowing?

I then need to find a better rotation than winter and spring barely that will work in light soil. This land is not suited to wheat.
I would be nervous about OSR as dependent on contractor for harvesting and combine is quite old. Have grown oats previousily could revisit.
 
So im reading loads of tweets, numerous pictures of green crops loads of articles on soil but Im still struggling even with the high-level plan.

Continuous tillage here for 30 odd years on light stony soils. Mostly index 3/4 thanks to chicken litter a few years back all artificial recently. Yields 2.6-3 SB 2.8-3.2 WB
So if I want to change this is what I know so far.

One more year ploughing get the ground as level as possible this time round.

Post harvest:
For a following Winter crop
light Disc to chit weeds
Spray off in Late August
Direct drill new crop in September.

For a following spring crop
Establish a cover crop - still not clear what to sow or how - goal is very low cost cover establishment - mustard, oats?
Spray off Feb and direct drill
or possibly drill into cover and spray off after sowing?

I then need to find a better rotation than winter and spring barely that will work in light soil. This land is not suited to wheat.
I would be nervous about OSR as dependent on contractor for harvesting and combine is quite old. Have grown oats previousily could revisit.
Whereabouts are you?
 
Not meaning to be deliberately contentious Cork, but do volunteers grow behind your combine?

Volunteers behind my combine? No grain out the back of our binder......lol

Nah, of course they do. Birds have plenty more to be eating at that time of year. The pigeons can hardly get off the road with crops full of grain.

It would be much different scattering seeds in October or March though, the birds would nearly come into the house for grain.
Also, we have so much trial data to show the benefits from establishing a specific plant population. If birds etc are going to eat a hard to predict amount then getting the plant pop right will be v hard.
Seed dressings uncovered with soil is a legal minefield.....
 
Volunteers behind my combine? No grain out the back of our binder......lol

Nah, of course they do. Birds have plenty more to be eating at that time of year. The pigeons can hardly get off the road with crops full of grain.

It would be much different scattering seeds in October or March though, the birds would nearly come into the house for grain.
Also, we have so much trial data to show the benefits from establishing a specific plant population. If birds etc are going to eat a hard to predict amount then getting the plant pop right will be v hard.
Seed dressings uncovered with soil is a legal minefield.....
:Thumbp2:Of course I agree with you, but there's an undeniable world of possibility out there.
 
Volunteers behind my combine? No grain out the back of our binder......lol

Nah, of course they do. Birds have plenty more to be eating at that time of year. The pigeons can hardly get off the road with crops full of grain.

It would be much different scattering seeds in October or March though, the birds would nearly come into the house for grain.
Also, we have so much trial data to show the benefits from establishing a specific plant population. If birds etc are going to eat a hard to predict amount then getting the plant pop right will be v hard.
Seed dressings uncovered with soil is a legal minefield.....
Seed dressing:tdown::tdown::tdown:
 
So im reading loads of tweets, numerous pictures of green crops loads of articles on soil but Im still struggling even with the high-level plan.

Continuous tillage here for 30 odd years on light stony soils. Mostly index 3/4 thanks to chicken litter a few years back all artificial recently. Yields 2.6-3 SB 2.8-3.2 WB
So if I want to change this is what I know so far.

One more year ploughing get the ground as level as possible this time round.

Post harvest:
For a following Winter crop
light Disc to chit weeds
Spray off in Late August
Direct drill new crop in September.

For a following spring crop
Establish a cover crop - still not clear what to sow or how - goal is very low cost cover establishment - mustard, oats?
Spray off Feb and direct drill
or possibly drill into cover and spray off after sowing?

I then need to find a better rotation than winter and spring barely that will work in light soil. This land is not suited to wheat.
I would be nervous about OSR as dependent on contractor for harvesting and combine is quite old. Have grown oats previousily could revisit.

Don't follow a cereal with cereal first time direct drilling would be my advice as you may end up disappointed.

For no till to be successful you need 3 key rules
1 continuous green cover
2 minimal tillage
3 rotation

Have you considered beans for your break? With protein payment I would give it a look. Get nice winter barley afterwards

Spring crops provide a good chance for a cover crop and also a point for integration of livestock into system to graze them
 
If you were going into no till would you be far better off to start things like cover cropping and min-till say 2 years in advance, mainly to have fields very level so the drill would work best? The reason I ask is I saw a few runs of DD wheat drilled in the middle of a ploughed field yesterday, in fairness the DD stuff looked very well with an adequate plant stand but anywhere there was slight humps and hollows caused by the plough or tramlines from the previous spring the plant stand was very low obviously due to the seed not being buried or covered as well as other parts.
 
This is a Cross Slot sowing Winter wheat into a cover crop of Oats . Ideally this should have been sown a month ago to give it a better chance . There are not many machines fit to sow into that amount of material . It was doing a good job of closing the slot without much soil disturbance .
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Here is the crop today . It is a perfect field of winter wheat and is well set to do well for the rest of 2017 .We could have walked out on the field in slippers . Where have all the oats gone ?
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If you were going into no till would you be far better off to start things like cover cropping and min-till say 2 years in advance, mainly to have fields very level so the drill would work best? The reason I ask is I saw a few runs of DD wheat drilled in the middle of a ploughed field yesterday, in fairness the DD stuff looked very well with an adequate plant stand but anywhere there was slight humps and hollows caused by the plough or tramlines from the previous spring the plant stand was very low obviously due to the seed not being buried or covered as well as other parts.
Opinions differ but personally I wouldn't bother messing about with min till, have had decent results this way
 
What seems to be the drill of preference for Direct Drilling? Sumo DD/DTS, Claydon Hybrid, JD 750, Kockerling Ultima?

Very little min-till and even less of direct drilling around here. There was a few of the bigger grain operators here who did a fair bit of min-till for years but they have all gone back to ploughing and then drilling. I only know of 1 person currently using min-till techniques and that's it.
 
Talking to a mate the other day, he does a fair acreage of arable along side his beef finishing. (fair acreage round here anyhow!)
Asked him if he'd considered direct drilling or min till, he had but wasn't sure if it could be done in a rotation going back to grass every few years?
Think he grows grain 2 years, then 2 years or more in grass for silage and grazing. Also likes to get a crop in to graze tack sheep over winter.
can this be done with direct drilling?
He said chopping straw would be a no no too as he needs it for the beef. But it is available to go back onto the land as muck.
 
Talking to a mate the other day, he does a fair acreage of arable along side his beef finishing. (fair acreage round here anyhow!)
Asked him if he'd considered direct drilling or min till, he had but wasn't sure if it could be done in a rotation going back to grass every few years?
Think he grows grain 2 years, then 2 years or more in grass for silage and grazing. Also likes to get a crop in to graze tack sheep over winter.
can this be done with direct drilling?
He said chopping straw would be a no no too as he needs it for the beef. But it is available to go back onto the land as muck.
That's a perfect situation, grass is the reset button and drilling straight in seems to give good reults. (see elsewhere on here, theres a few pics)
 
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Yea seems a good situation for it. although might want to be mindful not too overdo grazing in a wet time, so planned grazing with backfencing or maybe a few fall back paddocks he can let take punsihment at times but not damage the good land too much. Its a system than needs a little more careful management. But without digging it up all the time it will take grazing traffic better so that is a big benefit to the system.
 
Did anyone take a look at the Duncan drill at the machinery show. I was only speaking to the guy from the factory but he was saying their Irish importer (Tom Tierney) from Kildare is using his machine mainly for arable crops. Not entirely sure if this is in a no-till situation but thought I would see if anyone knew a little more.
 
Did anyone take a look at the Duncan drill at the machinery show. I was only speaking to the guy from the factory but he was saying their Irish importer (Tom Tierney) from Kildare is using his machine mainly for arable crops. Not entirely sure if this is in a no-till situation but thought I would see if anyone knew a little more.
Yes I know the farmer. He is mainly no-till. GreaT entry level drill that won't cost a fortune
 
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