Are we wasting 2% of our input costs???

Field walking allows plenty of time for comtemplation, especially when the field are clean or the decisions easy! so the thought for today is... why are we treating the tram lines with expensive fertilisers and pesticides???

-Spinning fert on granted no option. But with anything applied through a sprayer (so liquid fert included) could be blocked off - why bother, well my fag packet calculations suggest it would save about 2%, or put another way it accounts for 10ha for every 500ha farmed - not a massive area but consider the £200 ish we spend on inputs /ha...I make that £2000 for every 500ha farmed -just for using right angled nozzles or blocking a few off and my assumptions we made on 25cm wide tramlines which can easily be wider by the end of the season.

Is it worth bothering? well if it's not then you won't mind donating the £2000 to someone else - perhaps the chancellor? I don't mind taking it!

I know, I know it's not perfect but it's an idea! -Maybe we should take a leaf out of Tesco's book -every little helps!

Drowning Diggers

Sorry it's been a while, it's been a drilling frenzy here with frequent breaks for rain - bringing high depression levels sweeping in from the south west resulting in bad moods and sulks all round. Better weather last week saw tempraments improve and a break through of sunshine across the east caused some late nights with thousands of acres drilled, rolled and sprayed. The outlook for this week is scattered moods depending on the location of showers with a good amount of work being achieved and most folks drilled up by the end of the week bringing the shooting season into focus for many (myself included). -The colder weather is slowing the spread from the south of slugs in the wheat and phoma in the OSR and few signs of blackgrass make one happy agronomist/farmer! - is that a new crop?

Prices have also been cheering me up with the volatility bringing the usual head scratching into the game. I attended on ODA grain marketing meeting the other day - an excellent half day, I will be doing one of their training courses in Feb - I came away with the impression that I don't sell our grain too badly as far as cash selling goes over the last few years, however with the volatility here to stay (I believe) it's time to understand options, futures and hedging better to make sure I'm brave enough to have a go when the time comes!

Things continue to march on on the farm with a new employee due to start in a couple of weeks who's firmly set to whip us all into shape -I can feel a few comfort zones being nudged! The Health and safety folder is slowly being bulked out and our new grain store nearly ordered.

I did receive some pictures from Aus that may make you glad to be this side of the world!

Although I am a competitive person this is one competition I do not want to enter!