Doug & Tracey Palin Glen Elder Kansas 19/5/2010

JD Disc are the Most Common Machines on the Prairies

After meeting Doug & Tracey Palin at Keith Thompsons farm on the weekend we were off to Glen Elder to visit their farm. Doug took over the farm from his father and has built up a sizable operation with a large percentatge either rented (leased) or sharefarmed. All of their farm is now seeded with a zero till JD 1890 single disc seeder. The corn is seeded with a JD precision planter. Traditionally the farm grew only wheat and now Doug uses a number of crops susch as corn, milo, soyabeans, sunflower, and winter wheat, and is still looking for other crops so he can have a more diverse rotation. A diverse rotation is needed to keep weeds and pests guessing.
Doug and I went down the shed with a couple of beers to discuss the mechanics of the disc seeding assembly, he feels that the different operations carried out by the assembly all need to be independent of each other. The disc needs to cut through the residue and create a slot for the seed, the depth wheel must work in tandem with the disc to accurately place the seed. A seed firmer is a good idea as it makes sure the seed is placed at the bottom of the slot. The press wheel should stand alone with the sold job of firming the soil around the seed. It shouldn’t be used as a depth control as this would add too much pressure above the seed and cause germination problems. It can also have the effect of making the disc come out of the ground and leave the seed stranded on top when used on undulating ground. The Thompson wheel is the final part of the assembly and this helps to crumble the wall of the slot to create an ideal seed bed. This star wheel should not have interaction with the soil and stubble greater than the width of the depth wheel as it will reduce the effectiveness of the closing function if it is hit by passing stalks & stubble.

Good Penetration and Seed Placement

An amazing chat we had was about the price of machinery in America compared to Australia. For a JD 9770 CTS header /combine the price was US $ 250000 and the comparable unit in Australia was $450000 for a second hand unit with 600 hours on it.

Both Doug and I found that there is a large gap in our knowledge regarding the processes that occour below the ground. Whether that is interaction between micro & macro organisms or soil colloids and elements. Another area in interest is the functioning of hair roots and the exudates they produce to attract hyphae and the role it plays in extracting nutrients for the plant.

Josh Lloyd - Kansas Tuesday 18th May 2010

Josh With His Beloved Residue

Josh runs a continuous no till cropping enterprise at Clay Centre Kansas. His rotations include Corn , soyabeans, sunflowers, Milo and Winter wheat. This year Josh is using a John Deere 1890 single disc seeder to plant all of his crops, including the warm season ones. These row crops eg. Corn, are normally done with a precision planter by a contractor. Josh believes that the quality of his JD disc seeder will now allow him to plant all his crops himself without using a contractor. After visiting Australia Josh has been slowly implementing controlled traffic on his property. Which he believes is a good companion to zero till.

Single Disc JD with Thompson Wheel Furrow Crumbler

In large areas of Kansas the farms were forced by government regulations to put terraces (ie Contour banks) over their farms for conservation measures to stop erosion. We noticed that many of these were on land with a relatively low sloping gradient. This makes them fairly useless but makes the paddocks a pain in the arse to work. Josh has found over time utilizing zero till seeding and systems of stubble retention etc. The contour banks are no longer required but he is not allowed to remove them by law.

Good Corn Kansas Style

After getting the new seeder he changed the furrow crumbler behind the seeding disc to a Thompson wheel which he feels works better at making sure the furrow is closed over with friable soil. The Thompson wheel has more pronounced teeth and is a bit more aggressive than the original part. As usual when you are replacing a genuine part they are very costly. Josh has got onto a supplier of after market parts for the press wheels and depth gauge wheels which are half the price of the John Deere lot. A couple of hours well spent with Josh.

One problem that we have encountered is the discrepancies in the no till terminologies and definitions used by farmers and researchers. We have found that many use the term no till each with their own different meanings. For example some interpret no till to mean the continuous use of minimal disturbance disc seeders with full stubble retention where others use it to mean knife point usage and others use no till to describe their occasional use of no till equipment, however they still cultivate the soil at some point in their rotation.

I feel that this needs to be straightened out worldwide and a standardization of terminology agreed upon amongst all no till groups to help to clarify what people are doing on their properties and this would be a good project to add to my study. Today has got my brain humming along.

Brian & Jana Lindley - No Till on the Plains

Brian & Yana run the No Till on the Plains Farmers group which is a group that services the needs of no till farmers from Kansas , Nebraska , North & South Dakota and a few from Colorado. This is a huge area. They run an annual Winter Conference in Salina KS each January which attracts approx 1200 farmers/ They also have other events such as crop walks/field days and bus trips. No Till on the Plains has about 3000 attendees for the year. They also have interstate and overseas trips for the group. No till on the Plains have a board made up of farmers and a prominent research fellow. They don’t currently have a formal membership but are looking into getting this tidied up. Some of the past presidents include Keith Thompson, Josh Lloyd, Doug Palin, & Mike Zoot.
No-Till on the Plains

Comparisons in New York

Surviving Bronze Ball from WTC

Exit England - Enter USA

Well the volcano erupted again and closed airports in Scotland so we decided to make a quick exit from England while we could rather than being stranded there if the ash from the volcano got worse. David & Joan, Im sure,  were delightedly devastated to see us go after such a short stay. We had such fun with them it was a shame to have to rush off so quickly.  Ah well we'll be back!! We changed our flights and flew out of Heathrow on Thursday 6th and headed off to New Jersey. A quick 7 hour flight. saw 2 more movies.  Arrived in USA at about 6pm and stayed with our good friends Jono & Natasha Meek and their 3 kids Harrison, Eloise & James.
We had a great week there. Went to Princeton Uni - fantastic buildings, saw an exhibition of the early maps of the world which was facinating. Did a trip to New York with the Meeks on Saturday. Went across on the Stanton Island ferry and sailed past the Statue of Liberty. Toured around Wall St, Ground Zero etc etc. it was good. Had a couple of rest days which was nice. Balls & I went back into New York on Wednesday  on the train, in drizzly weather. Went to time square and near central park. got all the required touristy bits. Food shops and restaurants are just amazing in the US. Everything is so BIG. Just walking through a supermarket explains so much!!! and there are so many fast food places. Its tragic really. Everyone has big ovens. maybe to fit the turkey's in...?  There is no water conservation. Even the loo's, as badly as they flush, look like they use about 20 litres of H20 and then the bowl fills up again!!. Heaps of lawn areas around all the houses and streets.  Beautiful area in Jersey though. very green  lots of trees. no one has any fences around their houses which seems a bit odd but all the houses look the same. Cookie cutter stuff really. all the light switches are upside down and its tricky to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Other than all that we could be in Oz!!  Sad to be leaving  Jersey but on Friday 14th we headed off to Kansas for the next farming bit of the trip.  Posted by Nikki

No Till Alliance Conference Wednesday 5th may 2010

The day was well attended with over 200 farmers coming from across Great Britain and a couple of French men. Simon Childs & Will Scale were the main organizers. There were 4 speakers on the day. I spoke on No Till farming in Australia and disk seeding systems. Joel Williams spoke on soil Biology. Simon Childs talked abou t his experiences as he has converted over to no till. He purchased a second hand JD disc seeder and has been using that for the last five years. He gave 4 advantages 1. Improved soil structure 2. Reduced costs of establishment. 3 Improved timeliness 4. Increased Yield. He also spoke of some of the fears of reduced yield, increased slug numbers, and high residues that needed handling. To overcome his fears in the first couple of years he increased the seeding rate and put on extra nitrogen.


His work started at harvest with stubble management. He found keeping the stubble long and standing was the better way to handle the large amount of residue. He looked at Soil Structure and there was a large hard pan which the mulboard plough had created. He was told that he should use a chisel plough to break this up before commencing no till. Simon did half and half in his first paddock and found there was no need as the roots were good enough over time to get through the hard pan. He used press wheels followed by gutler wheel at rear to create loose soil over the seed. With this system he feels he needs to have more diverse crop rotations. Diverse rotations are needed to keep weeds & pests “guessing” and therefore not give them an opportunity to create problems and then resistance.

John Landers - Brazil.
Started with Direct drill/ no till in 70’s in Brazil and has seen a widespread adoption of this system throughout Brazil and other South American countries. He put the benefits of increased yields and sustainability to the following reasons. Decreased erosion, decreased runoff and increased CO2

No-Till on the Fens

After seeing Nick at Lincoln we headed south to catch up with Tony Reynolds at Milton Mowbray down in an area known as The Fen’s. We were driving towards Tony’s farm when we first noticed stubble standing up in a crop, so we knew we must have been near to Thurlby Grange Farm.

Good Healthy Wheat Crop Sown into Standing Stubble

Tony runs Thurlby Grange Farm, 1250 hectares, with his 3 family members and 1 full time worker. It is a relatively flat area which is below the river levels as it was reclaimed from marshes and swamps. The soils range from organic peats to mixtures of silt and clay.

Healthly Soil Showing Good Earthworm Activity

They grow a number of crops including Wheat, Beans, Canola, Peas & Linseed. Six years ago they started experimenting with no-till, using a selection of disc combines. 3 years later they decided to go 100% No-Till.

They sold all of the existing tillage equipment and have not looked back. They now have a zero-till combine. When they converted over to no-till they also purchased a stripper front. They now sow straight into the standing stubble.

Tony With His Purest No-Till Canola Crop

Tony has done a trial this year by reaping the wheat with the stripper front. He has bought and mounted an automatic broadcaster which was filled with canola. The canola was effectively broadcast as he reapt with good coverage and did not require harrowing or anything to bury the seeds. Tony called this the purest form of no-till.

Autocast Spreader on his Stripper Front

Tony is trialling a new airseeder made by Weaving Machinery.

Weaver Manufacturing Caddy Seeder

Tony is known as “The Barometer” as he sometimes writes for the Farmers Weekly in the United Kingdom. This visit showed that the No-Till or Zero-Till system can work in the United Kingdom.

Up to Lincoln to see Nick Ward

Nick with an Excellent Canola crop (Oilseed Rape)

Nick and Barbara run the family farm in Lincolnshire with a continuous cropping program. The crops they grow include Wheat, Beans, Oilseed Rape, Corn & others. They use a modified disc machine to sow all of their crops.

A Vaaderstaad Disc Seeder

The seeder had too much soil throw for what I am looking for in  a zero-till capacity. A major problem that Nick and other farmers in the area face is waterlogging through out the year. During the fifties when the UK was sponsoring agriculture this area of England was drained using tile drains with ceramic piping at about 1 metre deep. This is effective but it needs maintanance

Tile Drainage

The high precipitation causes not only waterlogging problems but also problems at harvest with high moisture content of the grain. Nick has to dry all of his grain. He has room for about 4000 tonnes in the drying sheds and more normal storage. With his driers he can change the temperature of the grain and the levels of moisture. This achieved with blowing normal air through the grain pile or heating the air with gas burners.

A Wooden Floor With Underfloor Ventilation & Perforated Tin Channels

Dried Grain

Nicks crops that he grows were very good and the finished product ready for delivery had the right specification for the end user.

Historic Right of Way

All across UK there are historic right of ways which anyone can walk along so the farmers like Nick have to keep these designated areas tidy and accessible. It is a real pain in the arse. Nick told us that some walkers still walk anywhere over his crops.

A Nice Bean Crop

Worcester - Weddings, Beef & Asparagus

Currdine Farm

We left green Wales to go up to Worcestershire. We caught up with John Ballard at Curradine Farm at Shrawley. They have converted a barn over to a Wedding Venue. The farm is like a lot of English farms in that it is relatively small. The extract from their website  http://www.weddingvenues.com/

"Charming restored barns in beautiful countryside easily accessible from all major towns in the south Midlands. This delightful venue has been imaginatively and artistically restored to the highest possible standards. The L-shaped barns are located on a working farm, close to the church, and centred round a charming, flower-filled Courtyard that is perfect for a drinks reception. The atmosphere is friendly and supportive. The owners go out of their way to make you welcome and their inspiration, vision and style has created a truly exceptional, natural venue. It just gets prettier every day! Licensed for Civil Ceremonies.

With underfloor heating and air conditioning, this venue is ideal for both Summer and Winter weddings."

Wedding Courtyard

John and his partner have added a new section with bridal suite and full changing facitlities for the bridal party.

The Farm Dog

Curradine Farm has roughly 3 weddings per week and keeps them busy. This is an excellent addition to the Angus Stud and asparagus farm. John gave us directions up the road to catch up with Richard Colwell at Dingle Farm, Little Witley. Richard was a 1997 Nuffield Scholar

Richard is a vegetable grower with his brother. They have about 70 acres of asparagus. Richard set up WAG which is the Western Asparagus Growers. WAG has 11 growers with 600 acres of asparagus.

Asparagus Shoots

The asparagus plant is sown as a crown 1ft deep. It is allowed to grow for the first year which builds up the root reserves. The shoots are then harvested during the second season. The asparagus grows fresh shoots each day and grow at approximately 6-8 inches per day.

Richard picks asparagus for two months each year. He has 18 young pickers who work for 8 hours a day for Sunday to Friday. These are mainly from Eastern Europe.

Picked Asparagus

All of the members of the group send the produce each day to a central location and they are sorted by thickness and colour. It is then cut to length and packed.

The Aparagus Eating Dog

Catch-up with Will

We travelled to Haverfordwest Wales to catch up with Will Scale another Nuffield scholar. Will grows a number of crops including winter wheats and other winter cereals with potatoes as a main stay. He sows his crops using no-till methods. He has been utilizing these methods for a while and is seeing the benefits of this system.

A No-Till Crop with Good Emergence

One of the hardest aspects to overcome with no-till is the fact of the sprayed out seedbed and the new crop comes up and does not look as good as a traditionally sown crops. The photo above shows a crop with excellent emergence, but is partly hidden by the stubble.

Will is looking for options to complement his current farming program to allow for more profitability by 2013 when the current Common Agricultural Policy is reviewed. So far all of the farmers we have talked to consider subsidies/grants or whatever the name, find them wrong but are not willing to give them back.

Some Nice Crops Overlooking Haverfordwest.

One of Will's and others farmer's problem weeds is Black Grass. It is resistant to a number chemicals already. The traditional cultivation systems have still got the same problems. A number of chemical options open to us in Australia are not available in the UK. These include Grammoxone, Simmazine and Sprayseed.
There is no longer a double knock option to help control Black Grass and other weeds.

When we left Will In St David we had a Captain Cook around St David's Cathedral. It is the smallest city in UK. (A city in UK must have a Cathedral).

St David's Cathedral (Patron Saint of Wales)

Louvres Made of Slate

Alvis Brothers

We headed off to Bristol to catch up with our first Nuffield Scholar and his family. John & Pauline Alvis and their two sons, Peter and Johnny. They live south of Bristol at a little village called Redhill. They are dairy farmers with a great model of circular integration.

Lye Cross Farmshop

Home of

West Country Farmhouse Cheeses

The company of Alvis Brothers runs a number of other identities which all integrate well. They currently run three dairies in the area with 1 being organic. The milk is all delivered to the cheese factory behind the shop complex and is made into a range of hard cheeses. The bi-product of the cheese making progress is whey which is further separated into protein powder and lactose syrup. This is pumped up to the companies piggery and utilised there. The pigs are sold with some coming into the butcher shop as part of The Farm Shop produce.

Cleaning Manure from Dairy

The manure and waste from the piggery is spread onto the paddocks as is the dairy waste. The cows are housed for six months and for the rest of the year are outdoors on the paddocks grazing ryegrass and clover based pasture. The farmland gets spread with manure every third year.
All of the paddock work including spreading manure, seeding and spraying is carried out by a contract company in which Alvis Bros have a 1/2 share.  The contracting company uses Moore disc seeder.

A Moore Disc Assembly

The Farm Shop is a key component to the Alvis Bros. The hard cheeses that they produce are sold in the shop which goes well  as there is a  large amount of passing traffic. Now that the farm shop also has a butcher shop and fresh produce including veggies, they have customers who travel especially to buy from them.

Alvis Bros supply Sainsbury's with the range of Cheddar's and other cheeses. Currently they sell 3 out of every 4 kilograms of Organic cheese sold in Britain. They make three types of Cheddar; Hard, Mature & Vintage. They also make Red Leicester, Cheshire,Caerphilly and Blue Stilton.

To be able to use the Cheddar name the cheese must be hand turned during the process. It also helps being in the Cheddar region.

Slackness

I have finally gotten around to updating my blog. Nikki and I have been in the UK for 11 days and have seen a fair part of the country. We would have seen more if it was not for the bloody hedges. They tend to keep them in good order as part of the CAP requires them to do so.

We have stayed some of the time with some relatives which was good as I have not seen them for a long time. To settle in to England we had a tour of Kent and went to a manor house.

Just the Dog House

View from Manor House Tower

England

Posted by Nikki
well we are just about to launch out of England early just in case the volcano ash changes direction and heads back to heathrow. We fly out to New York tomorrow to catch up with Jono & Nat which will be lots of fun.
we have toured lots of England and done over 900 miles after our visit to wales we travelled to Worcester and spent the day there with John Ballard - Sue Wheal's brother and then had a look at an asparagus farm which was interesting. then we zipped off to Lincoln where we stayed with Nick & Barbara Ward. balls will write about all the farming stuff.... eventually. We then toured down to see Tony Reynolds on his property just above Bourne.  We stayed with Balls' cousin Ian Monday night and then on Tuesday popped into visit the other Rellies in Newmarket and then headed back home to David & Joans in West Malling.
Balls has been speaking at a no till conference in Edenvale today and I have been doing a bit of touring.
English election tomorrow. should be close