Rudge Farm

Late spring down on Rudge Farm with Peter Wilson

Out in the fields Peter has been enjoying some lovely spring weather. “As great as it is we could really do with some more rain, especially for the spring crops. We planted the spring oats on the 24th March, which is a little later than we would have liked but the first opportunity that we had with the weather. It was nearly dry enough at the end of February but then it rained again. We then waited until the 11th April to plant the Canary Seed. It needed the soil to be a bit warmer for it to germinate and start growing. Since planting it we have only had a couple of millimetres of rain, which is not ideal. Most of it has germinated and you can just about see the rows in the field but it needs a good rain for the rest of the seed that did not find moisture when it was planted. Luckily our direct drilling system does keep a lot of the moisture in the soil compared to when we used to cultivate to create a seedbed.

The winter crops are generally looking well and will have roots down deeper into the soil, so more able to cope with the dry conditions. Some of winter linseed was grazed by pigeons but the damaged areas are starting to recover and catch up with the rest of the undamaged crop. In about 10 days’ time we should have 2 pretty blue fields as the linseed flowers. The winter rye seems to be about 3 weeks ahead of last year but that probably reflects how much warmer April was this year. The wheat is all looking well and so far the dry weather has mainly meant that the pressure from disease is lower, but if we continue without any rain it will reduce the yield of the crop.

On 2nd May the poultry housing order was finally lifted meaning that we could let the chickens back outside. They are being very slow to go out as they were shut in for just over 5 months! The bright sunlight is not helping to encourage them out but hopefully they will get used to it soon. Slightly scary that there has been another case of bird flu in England last weekend. Hopefully the birds can stay safe.

The price of eggs has been in the press recently due to the high pressures from rapidly increasing feed and energy costs. There are pressures right across the industry with inflated costs. One farmer said that he had worked out that agriculture was experiencing inflation of around 30%. These are very uncertain times for everyone and who knows when they will settle down. Over the space of a year fuel has over doubled, wheat has doubled and at one point ammonium nitrate fertiliser was nearly 5 times what I paid for it the previous season. So far the price of the chicken feed has gone up about 30% but it will be soon 40% more than when we started the egg enterprise 2 years ago. Away from the fields, the family has been enjoying the warmer spring weather and the longer days. The blue bells have been spectacular and we have all enjoyed some lovely walks in the woods.” Claire Costello, Froxfield

By mid-May Peter got his wish - heavy downpours and slightly colder days! Hope this is good news for the crops. Time will tell and hope to catch up down on Rudge Farm in the summer.