Farming in Amazement

Ewes Grazing Cover Crops

Farming never ceases to amaze me! This time last year we were gripped in the clutches of the 'Beast from the East' and this year, (at the moment) it feels like the 20th April not the 20th February. Soil conditions are lovely and the first doses of fertiliser are being applied on smooth dry fields. Under the surface the soil has benefited form the dry summer and dry winter, with increasingly good structure being observed every time we dig a hole. The ewes in mid pregnancy now are jumping about like spring lambs every time they are moved from cover crop to cover crop field.

Soil Structure After Sheep Grazing

The pressure is on the grazing girls to eat fast as spring crops need to be planted soon. With dry weather forecast hopefully we will start planting next week, almost 2 months earlier than last year and 3 weeks earlier than normal. First on the planting list will be spring barley, followed by the peas in a few weeks time.
The sheep have a done a great job grazing off the rye and vetch on the hill and soon they will be split up into their grazing groups ready for lambing and its back onto the grassland then. The use of cover crops has some many wider benefits as well as reducing costs in the farming system system. Under this stone on the headland I discovered a fantastic population of Carabid (Ground) Beetles all waiting to pounce on any unsuspecting prey. There are over 350 species in the UK, does anyone know what these ones are? The adults and larvae will feed on other invertebrates, slugs, snails and carrion. Some smaller species will also feed on aphids, so they could be a very helpful ally in the season ahead.

Carabid Beetles In Cover Crops

One slight worry that I have is that we are too dry. There is no water in the ditches and the springs are low as well. Could this be another very dry, drought year on the back of 2018? Time will tell but if we can get our crops established now into good conditions to allow roots to grow, develop and explore as much of the soil as possible we stand the best chance of making the most of the weather ahead.

Grazing Ewes on Cover Crops

Ewes Grazing Cover Crops

Well the rams have really been doing their stuff in the last 4 weeks with almost all of the ewes now hopefully pregnant.  In the first week over 600 ewes were mated, as indicated by the chalk dye that the rams leave of the rumps of the ewes during mating.  The colour is changed every week so we have an idea of which ewes are likely to be lambing and when. The gestation period is about 5 months so we're on for a mid April lambing, which next year will be outside for the majority of the flock for the first time.

At the moment all of the ewes are out grazing the cover crops on the arable fields.  The cover crops are a mixture of forage rye and vetch or black oats and vetch with a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure.  These extras include phacelia, buckwheat and berseem clover.

The hard spell of weather recently, although it didn't last very long, has certainly knocked the cover crops down but it hasn't killed them and we are getting some regrowth on the rye fields.  This will hopefully continue over the winter and into the spring to enable another grazing before the ewes lamb and the fields are planted with spring cropping. The field below is due to be planted with Soya Beans in late April so we should get a second grazing before then.

Cover Crop After Ewe Grazing

The ewes are doing a great job of eating the majority of the green material. But it's not just the cover crops, volunteer wheat and some black grass as well, whilst trampling some of the material into the soil to feed the microbes and worms. This is a great news as the field/soil surface looks well protected from the heavy winter rainfall that we must surely get at some point.  We'll have to watch it on the heavy land fields so that we don't get too much surface compaction if it gets too wet, but we are not there yet.  The soil has restructured itself  beautifully on the clay soil part of the farm enough to carry stock, but it has taken 3-5 years of no till to reach this point. There is still a long way to go until the spring so we'll have to see how things progress.

Cover Up or Laid Bare?

One of the key messages I have learnt from my Nuffield travels this year has been the need to look after  and feed the soil whenever possible.  This is fundamental to the farming system here in the UK.  If we look back 10,000 years the country was covered in trees and grasses; fields weren't created and there was no bare land.  It had something growing on it all of the time and this is what I feel we have to recreate now.  The soil is alive, or at least it should be.  It should be alive with bacteria, fungi and worms constantly re-cycling dead and decaying matter to release nutrients that we can then recycle.  With this in mind, the area of land going into spring cropping that doesn't not have a cover crop on it is down to the bare minimum 30Ha that we have as part of our Stewardship Agreement.

The picture below shows a field that has been split with two scenarios.  Half is in cover crops and half has been left as over winter stubble; although we had to do a light cultivation to get anything to green up.  Modern combines do not leave much grain behind.  The field will be direct drilled with spring barley next year and I can't wait to see what difference the cover crop will have made to the soil health, friability and structure.  Will it warm and dry faster with a crop on it?

The mix contains mustard, to produce organic matter, peas to fix a little nitrogen; oats, forage rye and volunteer wheat to mop up residual nitrogen, fodder radish to push tap roots into the soil and reduce compaction and turnips, just in case we run some sheep over the field.  I have a few observations so far that I would like to share.  The crop needs to be established as soon as the combine leaves the field to maximise the moisture left in the soil.  Any soil surface exposure to sunlight and no crop cover and vital moisture is rapidly lost.  This was a lesson learnt in Oklahoma where a second crop of sesame was being planted directly into wheat stubble in 45 degree heat!  Where the soil is moved we are getting a nice germination of weed seeds as well, so there is a nice flush of black grass and brome, all adds to reducing the seed bank in the top few inches of soil.  The field also walks well, it's hard to describe but it appears to have a cushioned effect, that can only be the organic matter that later will be returned to the soil.  Did you know that a 1% increase in organic matter in the top 6" of top soil means an additional 27,000 gallons/acre can be stored?  Well it's true, meaning that periods of dry weather will have less impact on our potential yields, especially on lighter, thinner soils.  I'm not expecting a fix in a year but over a rotation we should start to see a difference.  A more volatile climate is something that we should expect more often and we need to make plans to have a more resilient farming system. Prof Sir Brian Hoskins only mentioned last night at the Sainsbury's and Grantham Imperial College Lecture that temperatures could rise between 2-4 degrees by the end of the century, this will only cause more volatility in the climate, causing more weather extremes.  Last year for example 3,200 of the 5,000 weather stations in the United States recorded a record weather event  e.g. highest temperature, lowest rainfall, highest rainfall etc.

Another key benefit is the stabilisation of the soil.  All of the roots actively growing through the periods of heavy rainfall and the canopy above, shielding the soil surface will reduce water run-off and increase filtration rates.  Reducing run-off keeps soil particles in the field where they belong but also keeps phosphate fertiliser and any residual pesticides in the field rather than in the local stream.  I haven't even mentioned the amount of carbon that is being sucked out of the atmosphere and stored in the soil,  hopefully helping to turn around the recent losses of organic matter levels in the soil. Which ever way you look at it there are many positives.  But what are the negatives?  Well I guess there is the cost of the seed and establishment which when added together could be in the region of £80/Ha.  There is also the requirement for extra labour, and potentially machinery, at an already busy time of year when everyone is focused on the harvest. Do the positives out way the negatives?  Well it's early days but I would have to say that so far they do.  Are we creating a longer period for slugs to breed and feed?  Are we continuing the 'green bridge' and providing habitat for aphids transmitting BYDV (Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus) or too many brassica's potentially increasing the risk of club root?  Time will tell but as always with farming it's a long term game and there are many obstacles in the way before the results will be shown.  What I am certain of is that building soil carbon and reducing the level of tillage (cultivation) will, overtime increase the crop yields and reduce the variability of production and that can only be beneficial.