Farm of the Week: Digital approach to stay ahead in the fields

The Crown Estate tenanted farm between the villages of Skirlaugh and Swine is run by Chris and his two sons Guy and David, but there’s certainly nothing medieval about their farming operation that includes arable, pigs and sheep.

Guy took on the arable management three years ago and is a firm believer in technology. GPS, autosteer, variable rate applications, strip tillage, yield mapping and direct drilling are all in his armoury for the farm’s near 900 acres and for his farmer customers, through an agricultural contracting service that offers them the same benefits. He believes that new technology is especially important bearing in mind the current grain price.

“When the market is depressed there’s not too much we can do to influence what we receive. What we can dictate though is our establishment costs and grow varieties that work better. I’ve reduced costs by going on to strip tillage using a Mzuri drill, which after having checked out the rest is the best of its kind on the market. It has more clearance than others and in one pass I can input granular fertiliser, drill the seed and apply slug pellets. Three years down the line I would never go back.

“I’m now only due to plough one in six years and that reduces time in the tractor, which brings down fuel costs, means the tractor lasts for longer and I can get more done elsewhere.”

While the Shelbys run a Fendt 828 as their front line tractor, which pulls the drill, and a Case Puma 155 for the fertiliser spreading, Guy feels that it is field and soil-based technology that is more important to today’s crop producers.

“You can spend any amount of money on a nice shiny new tractor and it is important to get what you are comfortable with driving for up to 18 hours at a time, but in my opinion the better investment is on GPS and yield mapping. I’ve started using it while crop walking too, using an iPhone. Where I find a patch of blackgrass I’m able to pin that on the maps and can put spray where it is needed.

“We are now growing varieties of wheat that have good agronomic qualities which means better disease ratings. Two of my best mates Billy Hosdell and Matt Richardson of Agrii are our agronomist and seed consultant and I work closely with them. I have great soil maps through their Soil Quest programme, so I know the fields that desperately need muck and slurry.

“We have Skyfall and Revelation in the ground this time and still have Grafton that has always performed well. We use JB Diego as our second wheat. I’m also expanding our crop rotation that is now two wheats, barley, rape, then two wheats and into a legume. The barley will give early entry to the rape, but it’s also there for the straw as barley straw is better for our pig bedding.”

Wheat makes up approximately 400 acres of the annual cropping and a good harvest last year helped make up for a poor harvest in 2014 when Septoria brought down yield significantly. This year’s cropping includes 120 acres of barley, 120 acres of oilseed rape and 100 acres of legumes. Vining peas for Bird’s Eye make up 60 acres with 40 acres of spring beans.

Agricultural contracting includes strip till drilling, self-propelled spraying, conventional cultivations and drilling, fertiliser spreading and combining with yield mapping using a Case Axial Flow 9120.

“Satellite technology is a massive part of the business. We can handle variable rate seeding and fertiliser spreading. The Fendt has RTK that is seriously accurate and all of our machines are equipped with GPS. We’re always interested in any contract or share farming arrangements,” says Guy.

“Keeping costs down is my mantra. Oilseed rape can still work. You’ve just got to direct drill it. We’re also trying 25 acres of forage crops in May this year putting in Italian ryegrass, forage rape and stubble turnips after putting on slurry, partly to deal with a field that has had horrendous blackgrass issues. David will then put fat lambs on it over the summer and we will be able to run a wheat crop after it.”

Pigs are kept on a bed and breakfast basis for Easey Pigs coming in on straw yards at 35 kilos in batches of 1,100 for eight to nine weeks before moving on to slatted pens for finishing.

Sheep are David’s concern. He’s a fourth generation shepherd and while studying for his degree at Cirencester was awarded Best Livestock student in Practical Animal Husbandry in 2013.

“We’ve both grown up with sheep and started shearing when much younger,” says Guy. “David also contract shears with my uncle Simon who helps on the farm in summer.

“After studying at Bishop Burton College I took my degree in Agricultural Crop Management at Harper Adams and that’s when I started to see crops, machinery and technology as my thing. I spent three seasons in New Zealand working for a contractor on a Claas Jaguar baling and mowing.”

David’s flock runs to 310 breeding ewes including Lleyns, Lleyn X Sufftex, Suffolk X Texel, Suffolk X Mules and North of England Mules. He’s also currently over-wintering 200 ewe lambs.

Lambing is all conducted outdoor and all fat lambs go to Hull Market at Dunswell.

Benningholme Grange is a LEAF farm and its grassland is in the Higher Level Stewardship scheme.

Chris and wife Marianne moved from North Yorkshire to a Crown Estate farm next to the River Trent in Nottinghamshire in 1984. They have a daughter Evelyn married to Wolds farmer-contractor Fran Megginson.

Guy is married to Bryony, a teacher and they have a two-year-old daughter called Poppy.