Spring Drilling

At the moment we are putting some crops in the ground. They are going in during the Spring, so it's known as spring drilling. These crops include spring wheat, barley and beans. We are also trying out oats for the first time too. Now that the weather is warming up after the winter, the soil temperatures are also rising. So putting a seed in the ground should mean that it is warm enough to germinate.

Spring crops traditionally do not yield as much as winter crops which are drilled (sown) in the autumn, but they have other benefits instead. These include giving the soil a rest over the winter, thus improving the soil's fertility. It also provides a lovely over-wintered stubble option to our fields, which lots of wildlife really appreciate. It's also a good way of getting rid of some of the weeds we have growing on the land. All of these are examples of our integrated crop management system.