It is at times like this that I wish I didn’t have a job so dependent on the weather. The past 6 weeks have been extremely frustrating, as we have not been able to do very much fieldwork at all. This Spring is one of the latest I can remember, and it because it was coupled with a wet back end (autumn) we have more grain to sow than we would normally. I took the above picture on March 26th when things were beginning to dry out, and it looked like we might get something done. I’m glad we didn’t as if we had, then every crow and rook in the county would have been feasting on it as no-one else has done much from what I can see. But is my memory playing tricks on me? I’m sure I’ve seen similar before. I decided to do a bit of research.
Digging Through The Archives
I have kept a diary, or journal, for 30 years now, so I spent an hour or so this evening going through these diaries to see when we started drilling (or sowing) in each year. I’m missing 1989 and 1990 as I was travelling, but the others are all there.
Start of Drilling Dates 1988 - 2017
| 1988 | 25th March | 1998 | 19th March | 2008 | 20th March |
| 1989 | - | 1999 | 14th March | 2009 | 18th March |
| 1990 | - | 2000 | 12th March | 2010 | 13th March |
| 1991 | 26th March | 2001 | 1st April | 2011 | 24th March |
| 1992 | 16th March | 2002 | 28th March | 2012 | 11th March |
| 1993 | 12th March | 2003 | 21st March | 2013 | 4th April |
| 1994 | 21st March | 2004 | 30th March | 2014 | 15th March |
| 1995 | 24th March | 2005 | 4th April | 2015 | 21st March |
| 1996 | 27th March | 2006 | 6th April | 2016 | 23rd March |
| 1997 | 19th March | 2007 | 15th March | 2017 | 16th March |
The first point to bear in mind is that just because we start late doesn’t mean to say we finish late. For example, the latest year for starting is 2006 (6th April). But then we only had 105 hectares to drill (this year we have 175 hectares), it was pretty much all in ‘easy’ ground, and we were done and dusted by 14th April. 2012 on the other hand had an early start (11th March), but we didn’t get finished until 5th May because of a very wet April.
A second point to consider is that up until about 2001 – 2003 we did all the drilling ourselves. After that it has mostly been done using a contractor. So the ground may have been fit, but because the contractor was elsewhere we didn’t make a start. One thing that was very clear from my diaries was that when we did it ourselves we went as soon as we could.
So why use a contractor if we can start earlier ourselves? This year it wouldn’t have made a difference, and when the contractor does arrive he gets over the ground far faster than we could do it ourselves.
This is one year where I am glad we still have our grain drill though. With a poor forecast for the rest of the week it may well be getting hauled out from the back of the shed just in case…
Grain Dryer Progress
Regular readers may remember we had a bit of a disaster at the grain dryer towards the end of last harvest (http://cultsfarm.co.uk/2017/09/30/harvest-17-update-all-is-safely-gathered-in/). The main grain elevator came to the end of its useful life, so we were looking to replace it over the winter. With all things like this it wasn’t long before the whole project began to sprout arms and legs, and the potential cost started to escalate. I took the decision towards the end of October to get Sellars to rip out the current elevator, bottom conveyor, and grain dresser (installed in 1976) so we could clearly see what space we had for putting in new kit. This was duly done, and the decision taken as to what we are going to do. The new kit has arrived, and some building work has been completed. Hopefully construction will begin within the next few weeks or so. I’ll post updates as they happen.