Wet weather has been the predominant feature of this year so far. It was like 2024, where sowing of spring crops was delayed.<\/p>\n
I set the spring beans on March 11 and, like last year, I used my no-till drill to slot beans into the volunteer oats stubble, which had been disc-harrowed last September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The oats acted as a cover\/catch crop, mopping up nutrients over the wet winter, which otherwise would have been heading for the local Blackwater River.<\/p>\n
My weed control was an application of glyphosate a few days after planting and pre-emergence while the beans were germinating. This method of establishment is very efficient, requiring minimal labour and reduced-cost herbicide.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crows are not a problem, as the presence of a cover crop hides the vulnerable emerging bean plant.<\/p>\n
Spring oats and barley were set at the next available dry period between March 21-23. I delayed rolling the barley until April 20 to avoid crop damage and followed this up with an in-crop application of 3,000 gallons per acre of pig slurry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This application of organic nutrients has allowed me to reduce chemical nitrogen and eliminate artificial phosphate and potash, and facilitates better nitrogen use efficiency versus pre-setting applications.<\/p>\n
Management of winter crops, especially the application of early nitrogen, was difficult. I managed to apply the first bag of protected urea to winter barley crops on February 24, but another farm of winter wheat could not be travelled until March 26.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Considering the move to September setting to avoid bad weather, I must now factor in the timing of the first nitrogen and the possibility of not being able to travel the land in springtime. This is a problem with early-maturing winter barley varieties.<\/p>\n
\n I planted a hardwood forest on the home farm in 1995, and for years I have used the thinnings to heat our house.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
This year, I replaced my original biomass boiler, which served me for 15 years, with a new Atmos 100kW biomass boiler. The efficiency of this new boiler is amazing at 90%, and it gobbles up any waste pallet wood also, keeping the yard tidy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ironically, I commissioned this boiler on April 10 at the height of the fuel protests and the scare of fuel shortage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It highlighted to me the benefits of having fuel security. Any farm with a need for large volumes of hot water, especially dairying, should consider small-scale biomass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the costs of running large tractors to set grain and manage crops have gone wild, but I do welcome the Fuel Income Support Scheme and hope that its delivery will be efficient and simple.<\/p>\n
Crop genetics are always developing, and I have noticed, especially in this difficult growing year, the power of the hybrid-bred varieties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have both \u201cKWS Tayo\u201d hybrid rye and \u201cSY Canyon\u201d hybrid barley, and both have shown fabulous crop vigour and resilience.<\/p>\n
All winter crops are clean from a disease perspective, but I am always keen to introduce fungicides early as a preventative, which seems to give better results.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soil fertility is also a big factor in keeping crops healthy and more robust to the challenges of pathogens.<\/p>\n
Since my last column, I was also shortlisted as a finalist for the 2026 Royal Dublin Society Agriculture and Rural Affairs sustainable awards and received a certificate of merit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a very enjoyable awards ceremony featuring many farming families who contribute positively to our industry and environment.<\/p>\n
Finally, as we are now halfway through May 2026, it is certainly living up to the old saying: \u201cA wet and windy May fills the barn with corn and hay.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hopefully, it will deliver on its prediction and provide a bountiful harvest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wet weather has been the predominant feature of this year so far. It was like 2024, where sowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17228,69198,143698,63615,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-455100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-farming-munster","tag-farming-signpost","tag-farming-tillage","tag-fuel-prices","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}