It has been a few weeks since we finished the sowing campaign, and we would like to summarise our crops and also take this opportunity to introduce you to our friend Nemesio's Gil seed drill.
Regarding the crops we sow, as we have mentioned on other occasions, we mainly rotate crops with pulse vegetables and some sunflowers. Pulse vegetables are working quite well for us because they are inexpensive to grow (mainly because they do not need fertiliser) and also leave very good stubble for the following year's cereal crop... hence why they are called soil-improving crops. We notice this especially with the yeros, which means that the barley for the following year is always slightly more advanced in its growth than ther fields that have not had yeros. The problem with yeros this year is the very low selling price (€170/tonne).
Another pulse crop that is performing very well is pardina and verdina (Ston) lentils. This type of lentil is not as delicate as the Castilian lentil, as it can be harvested with a combine harvester, and its selling price is quite attractive (around €600/tonne). This year we have also sown vetch, whose main challenge is harvesting, as it tends to stay very close to the ground… so we will tell you later how this crop turns out.
As for cereals, we continue to avoid wheat and focus on barley. We have been using Medinaceli barley for years with excellent results, but this year we were short on seed and sowed Záncara barley, which also yielded good results for many farmers in our village last year. Finally, we have sown some Rumboso triticale in areas with a high rabbit population… Some fields are seriously affected by rabbits, which cause significant damage.
We would also like to take advantage of this sowing-related post to introduce you to our friend Nemesio's Gil seed drill. What makes it special? As you can see, the hopper is mounted at the front of the tractor, while the rear only carries the sowing system. This has one main advantage: it allows you to use a high-capacity seed drill with a smaller tractor (Nemesio has the Fendt 314 Vario Profi+). As you know, seed drills (colloquially known as “octopuses”) usually require high-powered tractors to operate smoothly, especially when transporting them and when manoeuvring on slopes at the headlands. With this type of seed drill, a medium-power tractor works without any problems as the weight of the machine is distributed. It is a very good option!
No comments:
Post a Comment