OIL FERTILITY SERVICES LIMITED
Specialist Advice in Soil Fertility and Crop Nutrition
NEWSLETTER
Issue 36
What Happened To Autumn?
F
We’re all glad we’re not in the Philippines; poor people, and
now there are problems in the Mid-West USA and other areas;
where next? Recent reports say that the ocean is not only
warming but is becoming so acidic it will not sustain life as we
know it. Normally it takes millions of years to change the pH
and creatures have to have time to adapt – not anymore, it’s
happening so quickly that nature cannot keep up with it and it’s
caused by the ever increasing amount of carbon dioxide being
captured by the oceans and turning into carbonic acid. Is it too
late? It might well be we don’t know.
The problem as I see it is that we can try to set a good example
and spend a fortune on producing inefficient ‘green energy’,
taking good arable land out of production to grow maize for the
bio-digesters, increase our energy costs and increase our food
imports from countries that are not as careful with their methods
of production and who probably use more CO2 per tonne of
food produced than we do. Are we missing something? As far as
I know our population is likely to increase from 60 million to 70
million in the next few years. What will they need to live? Not
just food but the right infrastructures; can we cope? Yes of
course, but there will be major changes; you as food and energy
suppliers will become ‘Saviours of the Nation’ – Hallelujah!
Trials
116. 48
The graph below shows one set of results from a replicated trial
carried out by NIAB on their site in Hereford. A very positive
result in OSR was achieved with increased profit margins ranging
from £33.81 to £116.48/hectare.
120
67. 98
100
£ / Ha
80
37. 83
40
Profit in £ after
Product Costs
Control
£33.81
60
33. 81
unny how it just sort of comes out of nowhere; you’re just
getting on with your life, all the problems you have to deal
with and suddenly somebody says “Another two weeks and it
will be all over.” What! When did that happen? Better get the
missus something – don’t know what though! I know I will
become one of these computer shoppers. Now what will I
Google? No, that won’t work, I don’t even know what to look
for let alone where to look for it – I know, I will go to one of
these big stores and ask for a personal shopper! All I have to do
is get one about the same build as my missus and job done. I will
just ask her what she would like and buy it – I’ll let you know
how I get on and good luck to you; I know you may not be that
bad and if you are one of those organised ladies (as my wife is),
you will have nothing but disdain for my feeble excuses. Oh well,
the season of good will and all that.
£37.83
£67.98
20
£116.48
0
2013 was a low disease pressure year and we have had very
good results with the megabacters and Vita-Fos in reducing the
need for any additional fungicide treatment. Independent and
replicated trials will be repeated this coming year and we have
substantial plots at the Cereals Event in June – ‘The Biological
Farming Centre’ – Maybe we’ll see you there?
Yield Results
It’s the roots that matter going into the winter, ready for the crop
to get a quick start in the spring. This crop has been direct drilled
into straw and trash; which will break down over the winter and
supply humus to the soil.
Arable farm in Cambs. With solar panels and wind turbines
We had an interesting meeting recently with our ‘Biological
Mastermind Group’, looking at results from trials with a range
of products on various crops around the country; the results
are going to be produced in a booklet form and will then be
available to you if you would like one.
Robert Plumb
Above picture: Four week old OSR (10.08.13 - 10.09.13)
treated with Complex Starter 47 applied at 70lt ha.
The future lies in
BIO-LOGICAL FARMING SOLUTIONS
Weather
Better Grass
It’s been a difficult year for many of our vegetable and potato
growers; it was a late planting while we waited for the soil
to warm up, then they got going really well and BANG the
hot dry spell in July shut them down for 2 weeks.
The Better Grass continues to impress with excellent results
once again and we are pleased to report repeat bookings for
next year. If you have not had your winter forage analysed,
now is the time to send your samples to us. There’s no
cost to you if you are an existing customer, if not then send
£47 for a full mineral and feed value analysis. It is only with
this information that you can make a good decision on the
complete diet mix or winter ration requirement.
They got going again but were struggling to make the required
size in the time available, so what do you do then? Burn them
off at the right time according to the calendar and your lifting
capacity (you want them into your shed before the end of
October) but that’s not much good if they do not make the
size specification required by the packer, so you wait a week
and in this lovely September they put on the size and extra
weight required - but now you are a week later before you can
lift them!
Okay, September and early October the weather is brilliant, no
problem until it started to rain – and rain and rain. 10 inches
of the stuff in October – not an acre lifted after the 20th and
even now into November, more rain and certainly no dry.
Lifting conditions are now atrocious on anything except the
lightest soils and these have long been done.
It was a most difficult spring with mild weather and grass
growing February, then cold, very cold and snow – lots of it,
and no grass. The soil didn’t really warm up until June when it
got to 15 - 16° and only then did the nitrogen fixers kick in
and carried on fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere (in the
soil) for plant growth right through to recently when we have
now had some frosts to cool things down again. The ‘ideal’
Better Grass Program is now to use the Stabilised Amino
Nitrogen – SAN with the correct Better Grass product for your
farm and now we can add the biological fixing microbes with
the activator and in one single application – brilliant! So you
now get all essential nutrients to grow lots of top quality grass
in one pass.
We have many unsolicited testimonials which we love and
thank you for, you might be able to help us; we would like to
grow the business a little more and wondered if you know
one or two people that would benefit from using the Better
Grass Program. If you do, just let us know and we will speak
to them; as a ‘thank you’ we will send you a gift – don’t know
what yet, but as always, it will be nice!
This was on a good day!
There’s nothing you can do, you just have to wait and hope it
will come dry and you have a kind neighbour that will help
you and you can get them in before Christmas. I promise you
non potato growers, it is no joke and as for the mess you leave
behind, what are you going to grow in that? At best some kind
of spring crop or maybe better to leave it until autumn giving
you time to repair the damage. Farming these high value crops
carries a huge risk and it’s never easy!
‘Better
Grass’ in Pembrokeshire
Ag Slag
Still works to improve soil pH, only 1½ tonnes per acre shows
pH going from 5.5 to 6.2 and at the same time puts on 40
units of phosphate plus essential trace elements.
Some people condemn it because it contains iron and they
worry that this will cause lock-up’ in your soil - IT WILL
NOT!
When soils are acid, the natural iron in your soil is solubilised
and then oxidises in the topsoil. When this happens it can
then cause ‘lock-up’ of many nutrients including phosphate,
but when you apply lime or slag the calcium itself ‘locks up’
the free iron and your available iron levels go down, in fact
in some parts of the country the calcium is so abundant
i.e. Oxford and Wiltshire - chalk lands, these may become
very deficient in available iron and we need to supply it. If
you can keep your soil’s pH in the region of 6.1 to 6.6, then
you will have the best balance of all available nutrients.
Mr C. Edwards -South Wales says:
“Since we started on the Better Grass Program, the soil
and forage analyses have improved and the stock have
improved. What more could I ask for?”
Mr B. Taylor - Shropshire says:
“We normally get top prices at Beeston Market plus lots
of comments about how well the stock look; what is
even more important now though, is that our average
selling price is increased.”
Mr Stebbings - Duns says:
“We used Better Grass in one of two fields next to each
other. The stock have access to both but will only graze
in the 'Better Grass field' even though the grass is now
longer in the other.”
Arable
Sugar Beet
Cereal yields were pretty much all over the place, anything
from 12 tonne/ha to 6 tonne/ha and OSR with most farm
averages only 3 tonne/ha - in fact pretty much what we
would have predicted last autumn. The best crops came from
early drilling into healthy well aerated soils and these same
crops needed little fungicide, especially when the megabacters
were used. Best protein at 14% was achieved with the
Foli-N application, made to supplement the normal nitrogen
application – not as a replacement.
We are now making bespoke autumn fertilisers for this
important crop to be delivered and spread as required. As part
of the full programme for sugar beet and other crops, we will
carry out a full soil fertility analysis, blend exactly what is
required on a field by field basis and then in the spring advise
on the best type of nitrogen for you to use plus follow up with
leaf analysis and foliar feeding to produce the big high-sugar
crops that you need. Ring us if you want more information.
NEW Potassium
We are pleased to report that we now have a LOW COST
source of potash - K Plus will be available this spring.
This is a fine ground, dusty product which will be offered to
you on a delivered and spread basis.
For arable application, we recommend 1 tonne/ha every 3 or 4
years, probably prior to OSR as this is usually the biggest user
of potassium and is always deficient. We will advise based on
the soil analysis results. If you think you need K Plus phone
us for more details.
Phosphate
Above: 8 week old Barley in Aberdeen
Spring barley was probably the most profitable crop with
good yields of grain at low cost production and I think you
should programme more spring cropping into your rotation.
It shouldn’t be too difficult, OSR subsoiler drilled with a
starter pop up down the spout, winter wheat after OSR drilled
before the 15th October – no till unless you made a mess
getting the OSR off and spring crop the rest having put in a
cover crop to mop up the nitrogen and other minerals, these
will all be returned to the soil in spring ready for your crop
of barley or spring wheat.
Last year we introduced the Micronised Phosphate Slag and
this has worked extremely well; this year we have a similar
product and we are pleased to be able to offer it when you
may have the need to top-up your soil phosphate reserves. It
is a by-product that will improve conditions for the life in
your soil.
To use just a starter nitrogen is all that will be required
with the biological nitrogen and megabacters. No grass weed
problems and a low cost profitable crop with an easy entry
for OSR and away you go again. Ring the office to discuss
the details, but K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) is the answer.
Carrots - Onions - Potatoes
For arable application, you may need to apply 1 tonne/ha
every 3 or 4 years depending upon soil analysis.
We recently went to these conferences and to be honest
were shocked by the lack of progress growers have made in
the last 10 years or so, in regard to reducing disease levels
and yields that have been reducing. This is crazy, diseases
like Cavity Spot, Stem Canker, Neck Rot can all be controlled by biological means. We will be conducting field
scale trials next year to demonstrate this approach to growing these high value crops.
These two products may be blended together to create a very
useful ‘P.K.’ fertiliser to replace the likes of 0-24-24 etc far
more effective, more soil friendly, more cost effective, simply
a better fertiliser altogether.
Carrots with Cavity Spot
Aunt Aggie she say:
“I never saw tha need ta git married,
I ‘ave three pets that answer tha same purpose A dog tha’ growls in tha’ mornin’
A parrot tha’ swears all afternoon
An’ a cat that comes home late every night!”
Granfa he say:
Neck Rot in onions
“Tha reason she dint get married
is cause nobody would ‘ave ‘er
with all them soddin animals!”
A Note From Our New Recruits
Oxford Real Farming Conference
I have been with SFS for nearly six
months now and in that time I have
spoken to lots of you lovely farmers all
over the country. In my first few months
I was rather nervous about ringing you
as I know it has been a very busy time of
year, although when is there not a busy
time in farming! However you have been brilliant and more
than willing to chat about how things have been going.
It’s the 5th anniversary of The Oxford REAL Farming
Conference (not to be confused with The Oxford Farming
Conference) and will take place for 2014 on January 6th and
7th in Oxford.
Occasionally Robert lets me out of the office and I am lucky
enough to attend some of the shows that we do. I went to
the Royal Welsh Show for the first time this year which I
thoroughly enjoyed and it was really good to put so many
faces to names of people I’ve spoken to when I went to the
Winter Fair in December.
Hopefully I’ll meet up with more of you next year and I look
forward to hearing more of your stories and talking to you
very soon. Melissa Fletcher - Customer Liaison
I am currently starting my fourth month
with Soil Fertility Services and am still
loving it. I graduated from Reading
University in 2009 with a Bsc in
Agriculture and have spent the last four
years driving (and occasionally breaking)
tractors and working with pigs.
Day one concentrates on arable:
A.M. : Soil Fertility - What is it?
- How do you get it?
Soil Biology - How to improve beneficials
In practice hands - on farm experience
- Biological farming
P.M. : Workshop - Interpreting soil audits.
- Discussion on biological inputs.
Day two concentrates on grassland:
A.M. : Mob grazing
Pasture species diversity
Healthy mineral-rich grass = healthy stock
P.M. : Workshop - Grazing management
You can bring along soil, forage or laboratory results for
interpretation and group discussion. Registration and booking
is compulsory, you can buy your tickets online at the following
link:
http://www.oxfordrealfarmingconference.org/2014-booking.html
Soil sampling, pH testing, meeting farmers, walking fields,
attending shows, translating analysis results and receiving my
first speeding fine - these are just a few of the things I have
been doing in my new role, aside from learning as much as I
can about biological farming.
I would like to thank everyone at SFS, especially Robert and
Suzie, for their help and on-going support and for patiently
answering any stupid questions! Also to our client farmers for
talking me through how their farms work and proving that this
system really does work. Joe Barfoot - Trainee Soil Specialist.
Snippets
When you see the green patches in your grazing ground it is
not surprising, as this patch has the equivalent of 1000kg/ha
of nitrogen, the same as 1.5 tonnes/acre of 34% nitrogen.
A simple rye grass can ‘fix’ more nitrogen via its root exudate
than can be found in a 50% legume mix, but only if there
is sufficient free lime and the appropriate nitrogen fixing
organisms in the system to allow this to happen.
Events for 2014
Grass will produce more photosynthates, catch more carbon,
make more sugar and exude more compounds for the
nitrogen fixers in the soil. What legumes do is to supply the
organic calcium necessary for these fixers to do their work.
Next year is already looking busy for shows that we will be
attending, please come along and see us, it’s always good to
speak to you and let us know how things are going and if you
have any problems, queries, or results.
All nitrogen fixing organisms need a supply of boron to make
the calcium ‘available’. Molybdenum is needed to manufacture
the enzyme nitrogenase that splits the nitrogen atom making it
available to your crops.
January - 6th and 7th
- 21st
- 22nd & 23rd
May
- 21st & 22nd
June
- 4th
- 11th
July
- 21st - 24th
- 30th
Sept. - 17th
- Oxford Real Farming Conf.
- Brassica Growers Conf.
- LAMMA
- Grassland & Muck
- NSA Scotsheep
- Cereals Event
- Royal Welsh Show
- NSA Sheep Event
- UK Dairy day
We - ALL of us at Soil Fertility Services
would like to wish you,
your family and loved ones,
a peaceful and happy Christmas time
and wish you happiness,
health and prosperity
for the coming year.
Soil Fertility Services Limited, Harvest House, New Road, Crimplesham, Norfolk, PE33 9FH
Tel: 01366 384899
Fax: 01366 380205
Email: info@independentsoils.co.uk
Website: www.independentsoils.co.uk