The last week in July saw our winter wheat harvested. Beginning with our late September sown Costello seed rate trials, three different seed rates were applied from the farm standard rate of 320 seeds/m2, to as low as 160 seeds/m2. Each one-hectare plot was taken off individually and weighed. Running the trailer back to the weighbridge it is great to be able to put an accurate figure on output for our trial plots, as often margins can be fine.
With the plots safely off, it was into our main crop of October sown Graham. A solid performer on this farm both agronomically and in yield. With the weather changing dramatically and thus soil conditions between our September and October sown crop, Graham once again delivered a solid performance, averaging 9.2t/ha, with good bushel weights. A few days of combing later with fields cleared, the early winter wheat harvest left
the perfect clean slate for early entry of our cover crops, providing them with the whole of August to get to work and build biomass.
Sown in somewhat of a no man’s land, with a drill date of early February. Our field of Gleam, although a winter variety, it was treated like a spring crop from the beginning with inputs tailored accordingly. Combined on 10th August, the crop went on to yield 6.8t/ha, which given the spend was far from disappointing. Not a record breaking yield by all accounts but i have been pleased with how well the crop has coped with the relentless wet and then dry weather. Had we have still been farming conventionally, I fear our margins would have taken a more significant hit.
Costello ahead of Harvest
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