Considering the prolonged Dry period from the 8th May until mid August it’s surprising to see the ground has responded well to some rain. We had 6 weeks where the heavy land cultivation had to stop as the land had baked hard that the wear rate on the machinery wasn’t cost effective to continue and we had to stand machinery up and wait. The primary cultivations are underway and the secondary passes have started to prepare the barley land.

It’s pleasing to see the seed beds coming down nicely in advance, giving the blackgrass time to grow. It’s a critical time from weed management by allowing the weeds to grow which we can spray off with glyphosate. This one pass can save numerous others on the crop.

Mole draining this year hasn’t been amble to be conducted due to dry conditions that the subsoil at 22″ is Dry and won’t hold a mole (moulding the soil), we will have to wait until next year. If we did mole drain it would render useless and then we would have water in the wrong place.