Flat Out Farming Blog — JB Farming and Country Stays

Hello and welcome to our second Flat Out Farming™ Blog! It seems the April showers (if there is such a thing anymore) have come a little early and with an influx of wet weather these past two weeks it’s certainly thwarting any plan to get on the land for many farmers in the UK – well us, for sure, but thankfully the farmer isn’t stressing about it too much…… yet.

So, what would cereal farmers be doing on the land right now if it was dry enough? If they are planning to plant spring crops they’d be hoping to work and prepare the land to make a seed bed and then planting it; what that means depends on what implements they use, how much they need to work the land (if they aren’t direct drilling ‘planting’), exactly what type of land they have, where they are in the country and what they are going to grow. For us this year we’ve gone in with winter crops – the seed is different than spring crop seed and it’s specific for that planting period, with pretty much everything of ours going in the ground in October or November (although the window for drilling winter wheat can be until Jan/Feb-ish I think and some will plant earlier).

We had to plough some of the land last year due to a wiry weed after the Linseed, the preference would have been to do one pass with the Stubble finisher but we needed to bury the weed. Makes for a nice photo though.

*The Stubble finisher back in October 2022 preparing the land for drilling - our preferred method of cultivation in recent years*

Farmers with a lot of land work ahead of them will be feeling the stress as they can’t get in the fields without making a mess, and perhaps, like us last year, the window is fairly short for preparing and planting if they have a fair bit to do or they left the land over winter. It brings back memories of 2022 when James tore his Achilles tendon in early March, which added vastly to the pressure of a farm going in with many spring crops, as he was unable to clamber in and out of the tractor, was concerned about his recovery and spent most of those weeks with his leg out the door of his machine.. it wasn’t ideal by any means (!!). We had to have help to load the drill with someone sat waiting to lift the bags between each tank of seed, as he couldn’t get up onto the back of it. He was pretty knackered, was in a lot of pain, it was intense as it was dry and he wanted to get everything planted into some moisture, tractors were going day and night, and with a bit of a hand from Barry (who helps us when he can at busy times) and I, he did manage to get it all done… thankfully the leg is pretty much healed now, but what a nightmare that was.

'“It can be such a major blow to the operation if you’re mainly a one-man-band and that man is broken”

Blah. You don’t realise how an injury can literally put you on the backfoot so much (excuse the terrible pun!). And especially for those farmers who don’t have a big workforce behind them, it can be such a major blow to the operation if you’re mainly a one-man-band and that man is broken – I can’t quite emphasise how tight those windows of opportunities are to get things done when it comes to each phase (land work, planting, harvest). The workload can be a bit insane. Contrary to popular belief the tractors don’t drive themselves, and those that partly do, don’t completely drive themselves…! Before I lived with a farmer, I would have never ever understood it and that whole decision making that can be too late, too early, too wet or dry, rolled, unrolled… jeez… the impact that all of those things can have on the success or yield of the crop, and therefore profit that it has, is mind boggling.

“Before I lived with a farmer, I would have never ever understood it and that whole decision making that can be too late, too early, too wet or dry, rolled, unrolled..”

It’s also poignant to note that we sadly lost James’ father in that period too. He and James’ mother had moved the family here and farmed this farm up until his retirement, and move up north, 10 years ago. He was the patriarch of the family, and while no-longer actively farming here, I’m so aware of what he did to build the farming business here and his influence. Everything James had learned was from his father - they worked together for most of James’ life. His death was unexpected and sadly there was no reprieve for James from the farm at the time – it was an incredibly difficult period. He is still very much in our thoughts each day (thinking of you Ken).

Back to 2023 and as I look out the window the wheat is growing on pretty well – no complaints at all, and it looks like most crops nearby on our neighbours’ farms are getting on pretty well too. What James would like to be doing though is applying the fertiliser; half of this application is on, and the rest is waiting for when we can ‘travel’ again, which means when we can get on the land without getting stuck or making a big mess. I won’t go into how much that fert stuff has cost this year, that’s a whole other topic, as is today’s poor wheat prices; it’s a bonkers business that’s hard to get your head around….

To see the video of our winter land work – CLICK THIS LINK

*Fertiliser spreading on some spring crops back in 2020 - you get the idea.*

Also, at this time I’ve learnt from those wizardry people who know about plant stuff (agronomists) that some of the crops that need it will need to be sprayed with Manganese fairly shortly. It plays a key role in photosynthesis (as I understand it) so we need to deliver it in the right amounts to help the crop.. I guess it’s kinda comparable like you’d feed your regular plants with liquid feed - farmers deliver the plants some exact nutrition, on a much bigger scale. These things are (VERY) expensive though, so it’s only applied when it’s really needed for the success of the crop. We’ll also be applying a growth regulator and that stops the plant from going mad and growing four foot tall with leggy, weak stems; it ensures a slow, regulated growth where its energy is put into strong stems, which is needed to stop the wind flattening it and making it a bit crap and impossible to combine, and put growth into the head of the plant, which is obviously where the wheat is.

I’m sure there’s some other stuff too like magnesium and trace elements etc plus some disease control, but that’s the main programme for the next weeks when we can get it applied. It can’t be too hot, too cold, too wet or too windy….. As we head into April it’s more than likely we’ll hopefully get a few warm days and all of those jobs can be done, fingers crossed!

For now though it’s paperwork and other tasks.. we’re lucky enough to have finally had a few days ‘honeymoon’ after getting married in 2021, as we’ve been just too busy since then.. (thankfully it rained all week while we were away so I’m not in the doghouse for us going on a short break!) so we’re pretty much recharged for all the tasks ahead.. I think!

Hope to catch you in the next one… be sure to subscribe to receive the blogs to your inbox, this is a new thing for me.. and short disclaimer: I’m not a farmer, I’m just learning…

Would love to hear from you if you’ve read this…

Best wishes

Jen