Five amazing Harvest Machinery

Who said harvest season cannot be a fun one!

VST - Shakti Yanji Rice Transplanter

Rice planting can be a tedious and tiresome venture, especially if you are low on man power.

Having this in mind, this brilliant and extremely talented farmer found a way to make it easier.

Planting Machine

This is a fast and effective way of planting, requiring less man with relative increase in productivity.

How to plant trees to benefit free-range poultry farms

There are many benefits to be had from tree cover on poultry farms, including improved ranging, the reduction of injurious feather pecking and the number of egg seconds.

Farmers Weekly and Poultry World have teamed up with the Woodland Trust to put together this step-by-step guide to planting trees on free-range poultry farms.

We’ve created several design options, depending on your management practices and farm layout, the location of sheds and the land shape. All the designs feature trees and shrubs close to sheds and so should encourage poultry to roam.

Before you plant

1. Before you commence your planting project, check whether your range can be planted – if your land is ecologically valuable.

2. Select your species by looking at what is growing well nearby. Native shrubs such as hawthorn will encourage birds to explore, as well as acting as a windbreak and screens for sheds. The Woodland Trust recommends you plant only native trees.

3. When planting close to sheds and other infrastructure, bear in mind the ultimate height of the species you choose. Select species whose ultimate height won’t affect power lines, drop leaf litter into gutters and restrict extraction fan outlets.

4. Plant your trees between November and March, and protect them from browsing by mammals such as rabbits or voles with tubes and stakes. This also prevents hens from pecking the trees.

Designing your woodland

When planting close to sheds and other farm buildings, it is important you leave enough room for machinery access without damaging the trees.

Design 1: Plant close to the shed with a clear view of tree cover from popholes to encourage birds outside and onto the range.

Design 2: Plant lots of groups of 15-30 trees at 2m spacing, with the bulk of trees on the edge at 3m spacing to create shelter.

Design 3: Plant large oblongs of trees at 2m spacing and start thinning at 5-10 years.

Design 4: Plant in blocks of straight lines at 2m spacing for easier mowing between rows and thin after 5 years.

Design 5: Encourage hens outside by leaving corridors between belts of woodland which may take them further out into the range. Plant trees at 2m spacing and start thinning trees at 5-10 years.

Maintenance

1. Keep the base of your newly planted trees weed free to make sure that young trees with immature root systems can access as much water as possible.

2. Leave a ring, like a polo mint, of vegetation approximately 10cm wide directly adjacent to the base of the tree. This can help protect the roots from scratching by hens.

Wheat Price and the Global Market

Pressure on global wheat markets has knocked values in the past couple of weeks.

The smaller, better quality 2016 crop, combined with weaker sterling, has been keeping UK wheat prices higher than in many other main producing and exporting countries in the past few months.

However, growers should not count on UK market conditions continuing to buck the global trend, traders and analysts warned.

Acreage fall predictions

US growers have seen their lowest wheat prices for 10 years on a heavy supply, leading to predictions that the acreage will fall again in 2017.

AHDB describes UK supplies as “sitting on a knife edge”, but pointed to a recent record high Australian wheat production estimate.

Canada is expected to produce its second-largest wheat crop on record at 31.7m tonnes, despite early snow and harvest concerns.

Overall quality of the predominantly high protein spring wheat crop is yet to be established.
Midweek ex-farm prices for December feed wheat were down about £2/t on average, at £131/t and ranging from £125/t in north-east Scotland to £139/t in Yorkshire.

Barley gap

The gap with barley narrowed slightly this week, with barley putting on about £1/t to average £117.70/t ex-farm and in a range from £109/t in the South East to £121/t in the North West.

Defra’s first estimates of UK cereal supply and demand for 2016-17 show a tighter wheat supply than last season.

Exports have got off to a flying start and animal feed use is expected to rise, mainly on higher poultry feed demand.

Other uses are also expected to increase wheat intake, with human and industrial consumption forecast to rise 7% on last season, if the UK’s two large bioethanol plants remain open.

The estimates leave almost 3.5m tonnes for export and stocks, a 39% drop compared with 2015-16.

Operating stock

Operating stock requirements are estimated at 1.6m tonnes, leaving 1.851m tonnes for export or so-called “free” stock.

Official figures show wheat exports were more than 700,000t between July and September.
This would leave a surplus of 1.139m tonnes for the rest of the season, said AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds’ report on the Defra figures.

Traders estimate that a further 300,000t will have been exported between October and Christmas.
This would leave a potential further 800,000t for export.

Gleadell Agriculture managing director David Sheppard said that given the availability of wheat globally and the UK’s less competitive position, that could be a real challenge.

“New crop wheat is worth £10/t less than old crop, so there is no incentive to carry it over, so carry-out stocks should be low at the end of this season,” he said.