04 February 2024

Watch: Farmers share experiences of ‘smash and grab’ winter plantings

The difficulties farmers experienced during the winter planting campaign were highlighted at the Teagasc National Tillage Conference. Tom Short, who farms in east Wicklow, and Tom Nolan from Co. Wexford gave an overview of how the winter planting season went on their farms.

Decisions to be made

Joined by Teagasc Tillage Advisor Eoin Lyons, Tom explained that just 45% of his planned winter sowing area has been completed and this is leaving him with huge decisions to make in terms of crop rotations and what crops to sow.

Having converted to a min-till system 10 years ago to speed up the cropping process, Tom mentions that record levels of rainfall forced him to revert to a plough-based system this autumn.

“All we can do is dust ourselves down, pick it up and try and maintain and get our rotation back in. It is going to put massive pressure on in the spring and we also don’t have the proper crop rotation. We have to be very careful, we could find ourselves with too much spring barley or too much spring beans. It will have a knock on effect for the next number of years,” he said.

Watch the video below where Tom Short and Eoin Lyons provide an update from the fields of east Wicklow:

Just 30% of winter crops established

Farming just outside Taghmon in Co. Wexford, challenging weather conditions during the autumn sowing period means that just 30% of Tom Nolan’s planned winter area has been set.

The primary crop grown on the farm is spring malting barley, but the rotation includes winter wheat, winter barley, winter oats, oilseed rape and spring beans. Some of the winter-sown crops on Tom’s farm are patchy and he will consider the appropriate action to take with these crops following a careful assessment.

Speaking on the planned crops for the unplanted area, Tom said: “We’re going to have to change our cropping – maybe spring beans. We are going to have to look at spring oats and maybe extra spring barley, but we are going to have to change our cropping rotation to facilitate the three-crop rule as we stand.”

Watch the video below where Tom Nolan is joined by Patrick Power, Teagasc Tillage Advisor, who discusses strategies to take following the challenging autumn establishment period:

Also read: Survey Results: 38% of winter area unsown

Also read: Winter wheat varieties can be successfully sown up to mid-February

For more from the Teagasc National Tillage Conference, click here.