Lambs fight pests on the wheat front

This one involved Willie leaning on gate of a field of wheat and asking the agronomist who was busy checking the crop what he’d found – and the answer was along the lines of: “Some septoria, a touch of yellow rust, a wee bit of mildew … and a dead yow.”

In recent days and weeks, there seems to have been a bit of a reaction to last year’s back-end weather and, rather than waiting to get the wheat sown, once the harvest cutting has finished, a lot of folk seem to be jumping straight into getting next year’s crop into the ground.

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Over-reaction

Whether this will prove to be an over-reaction or not only time will tell but, just as with selling the crop, it seems that spreading the risk of getting it sown – and putting some early just in case the weather settles into a similar pattern as last year – seems to be an approach being quite widely adopted.

Now, as we all know, putting the crop in early can lead to its own set of challenges from a host of weeds, pests and diseases, many of which are becoming increasingly difficult to avoid or control by spraying our way out of trouble.

But there’s growing evidence that there might be another way out of the dilemma posed by early-sown and overly-proud wheat – and that comes in the form of the woolly creatures which are mentioned above.

And while it might say more about the type of events which I sometimes attend rather than any rigorous delve into scientific evidence, it seems lot of forward-thinking farmers are adopting the age-old practice of grazing down wheat crops with lambs, a tradition which was apparently regularly adopted by our grandfathers and those that went before them.

The golden hoof

If you believe the hype, use of ‘the golden hoof’ still has the ability to increase tillering, encourage root development, reduce the incidence of pests, cut disease burdens and recycle nutrients – while at the same time improving the all-important soil biome.

It’s totally changed my view of our own sheep and lambs which are confined to the hill for the most of the year – although I’d have to admit that they’ve already been playing a bit more of a role on the arable acres in recent times as we’ve been using them to eat up any of the hastily sown cover crops (usually stubble neeps) which we try to get in to cover the ground between any early harvested crops and spring ploughing.

Of course, while I’ve seldom viewed it in this light before, obviously keeping our own sheep on the hill and having the resultant lamb crop available to fatten over winter is a distinct advantage. And while they might be a mixed bag when challenged by a cast Blackie ewe, the fact that most fields still have fences of some description probably puts us in a strong position to at least test the theory out by giving it a shot.

Nerves of steel

Having said that, though, it’s likely to take nerves of steel to actually graze them on a dedicated wheat crop.

And I guess that getting both the timing and the weather conditions just right will be critical to a successful outcome from such a venture – rather than poaching what was otherwise looking to be a strong crop into a trampled, puddled mess, leaving us looking more than a little sheepish.

But, of course, having had a lifetime’s experience with these woolly maggots, I’m well aware of their other reputation – that of keeling over dead at the drop of a hat – so let’s just hope the agronomist also has nerves of steel for what he might find later in the year…

With the annual slowdown in the arrival lorries to collect grain after the harvest got into full swing across much of the country, we’re still waiting on the weights to come in and so there’s still no final figure on how the crops performed overall.

That said, I’d have to admit we were more than a little surprised just how well they seemed to be yielding across the barley, the spring oats and even the winter wheat considering the hand which they’d been dealt across the year by the weather gods.

But we don’t seem to have been alone – and what looks to be a super-abundance of malting barley has certainly knocked the spot price, which also drags down the portion of most contracts which are tied to it.

Although wheat certainly isn’t approaching the values seen a few years ago, it does currently seem to be leading the pack on price at the moment.

Meanwhile, away from the ranch, it was good to hear that Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is forking out £3m of funding to back research aimed at developing climate resilient legumes.

However, it’s a bit disappointing that there’s little sign of much of the funding making its way north of the Border where, due to the shorter growing season, such crops have always been more difficult to cultivate and harvest successfully.

While peas and beans tend to swing in and out of fashion as an alternative to the mainstream cereals, anyone who has ever grown them will know that they can be incredibly unreliable – with great yields one year turning to disaster the next.

The Pulse Crop Genetic Improvement Network aims to improve this situation and has received funding for the next five years with the aim of producing better breeding material for the peas, beans, and other pulses more suited to the vagaries of the UK’s climate.

Strong sustainability story

Given their reputation for not only providing an important alternative source of protein but also the fact that their cultivation improves soils in rotations and can reduce the need for nitrogen fertilisers, legumes obviously have a strong sustainability story to tell.

The research will tackle threats from pests and diseases, such as root rot in peas and bruchid beetle in faba beans, while also targeting nutritional traits such as protein content, minerals and flavour.

Head of the work said that the next five years will be key for developing new pulse crops for the UK – and it was crucial that scientists worked closely with farmers and growers to ensure that the research is targeting the traits which are needed in the field.

Chicken and egg

But there’s a serious chicken-and-egg situation here which also needs to be addressed.

For to make the crop which currently produces highly variable returns attractive to growers, there needs to be a proper market for the combinable varieties. But at the moment, however, there seems to be a great reluctance among millers and feed processors towards using homegrown legumes in animal feeds, partly due to the fluctuations in supply. And until things can be squared at both ends of the supply chain, these crops will inevitably continue to be a might-have-bean.