Bycott Farm Diary May 2024

What an autumn, winter and spring we’ve just had! I think we’ve all experienced a slow start. Our work here began in earnest during the last week in April, some two months later than the corresponding period in 2023.

Spring herbicides and first fungicides have been applied to all cereals, chicken manure and compost has been spread on all spring crops. We drilled spring crops on the 9th May, it’s gone really well, albeit 6 weeks later than planned.

Winter wheats have pulled together really well, however, the wet weather in May has really put the pressure on with Septoria Tritici. We introduced the Grouse variety last autumn, which is standing very well, we’ve not seen any BYDV damage to date.

Our winter oats have stuck the conditions well, the crop is looking fantastic and will be even better than last year. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for our winter barley, this hasn’t fared well on heavy land.

Chris Webber our contractor, has already put around 800 hours on his new RB35 since mid-March. After speaking to Jason and Peter in the factory, Chris decided to fit the taller 600 tyres on his new sprayer. The 35 travelled the farm very well in early April during the first pass of liquid fert. We’ve not had to change wheels, we’re not running over crop or making a mess, the new dual-purpose tyres float extremely well.

We’ve planted the winter bird food plots, wild flower and pollen nectar mixes for the bees and other insect life over the summer. The beehives are still in position from last Autumn, we hope to have some Bateman honey later on in the summer.

It looks likely that harvest will start in June on wholecrop and winter barley, yields will be down. I think it’s fair to say that it’s been tough for all of us, hopefully we’ve turned a corner going into the summer.