Farming Chitchat 10/10- Now VIRUS-FREE!

emaherx

Say my name wrote: »

Loads of rain on the way.

Not a whole lot forecast here.

Say my name

emaherx wrote: »

Not a whole lot forecast here.

There is so a lot forecast here!!

Ah don't frighten it off.
The type of situation it is you can't really forecast till it happens.
All good.

whelan2

If you look up your bps application preliminary checks have been carried out , mine shows no dual claims, overclaims or overlaps. Maybe they learnt a lesson from last year

whelan2

Never saw one like this before

Lady Haywire

whelan2 wrote: »

Never saw one like this before

Only seen one of those yesterday evening, Cinnabar moth I think. They're the ones which eat ragwort as caterpillars.

Water John

Can I borrow them. Had a field sprayed four years very successfully. The fecking things (ragwort) are all back this year.

whelan2

Photo was taken at bathroom window,not much ragwort in there

Lady Haywire

whelan2 wrote: »

Photo was taken at bathroom window,not much ragwort in there

Eeeeeh, funnily enough it has a nickname of 'stinking willie' :pac:

whelan2

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Eeeeeh, funnily enough it has a nickname of 'stinking willie' :pac:

_Brian

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Only seen one of those yesterday evening, Cinnabar moth I think. They're the ones which eat ragwort as caterpillars.

Our neighbor farms 60acres of ragworts so we see plenty of them.

blue5000

_Brian wrote: »

Our neighbor farms 60acres of ragworts so we see plenty of them.

E village near here would be fairly bad too. One of the neighbours said it would be like snow in august with all the seeds blowing off it.

Say my name

If you hear a loud noise in the next half hour/hour over Ireland. It's probably this big bird.
The largest plane in the world.

https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1270666803459522561?s=20

whelan2

_Brian wrote: »

Our neighbor farms 60acres of ragworts so we see plenty of them.

Any swimming back on yet for your girls? Niece and her swimming club went to Clogherhead the other evening

Hard Knocks

Is anyone else finding the internet extremely bad today?

foxy farmer

Mobile internet with Vodafone here. Clear line of sight of their mast. Coverage with last month comes and goes at all hrs. Its only just back after being out for last hr. Swapped over to another phone but made no difference. I think the speed slowed since the lockdown.

Hard Knocks

foxy farmer wrote: »

Mobile internet with Vodafone here. Clear line of sight of their mast. Coverage with last month comes and goes at all hrs. Its only just back after being out for last hr. Swapped over to another phone but made no difference. I think the speed slowed since the lockdown.

Seams that way
This week has been bad, with today the worst

Kevhog1988

foxy farmer wrote: »

Mobile internet with Vodafone here. Clear line of sight of their mast. Coverage with last month comes and goes at all hrs. Its only just back after being out for last hr. Swapped over to another phone but made no difference. I think the speed slowed since the lockdown.

The usage of mobile devices has greatly increased and networks are under pressure. three got so bad here that we both switched networks. We are with GoMo on the eir network and signal is excellent

_Brian

We’re with rural WiFi, they piggy back on the three network.

Have spent all morning moving router about and connecting disconnecting extra antenna.

We’re right in the fringe of the signal so it works for a while then goes and we have to mess about with the router to get signal again.

We get no indoors phone signal and no other network coverage here. It’s a pain.

Verging I’m going for satellite but last I read it was no good for videoconference de to lag to and from satellite.

Base price

_Brian wrote: »

Our neighbor farms 60acres of ragworts so we see plenty of them.

I remember when I was a child the local Garda would cycle around the roads and call into farmers who hadn't controlled thistles/ragwort growing in their fields and threaten them under the Noxious Weeds Act. Unfortunately it no longer happens.

Lime Tree Farm

Base price wrote: »

I remember when I was a child the local Garda would cycle around the roads and call into farmers who hadn't controlled thistles/ragwort growing in their fields and threaten them under the Noxious Weeds Act. Unfortunately it no longer happens.

They processed them alright, and forwarded the list to the Dept. and there they stayed, no action was ever taken, much to the annoyance of one local Garda.

_Brian

whelan2 wrote: »

Any swimming back on yet for your girls? Niece and her swimming club went to Clogherhead the other evening

They are lake swimming twice a week.
It’s not the same and my eldest hates the lake but it’s something.

https://ibb.co/x66d758

.

Base price

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

They processed them alright, and forwarded the list to the Dept. and there they stayed, no action was ever taken, much to the annoyance of one local Garda.

OH and I were walking through our LIPP fields the other day and they are in an awful state with docks. Due to the terms & conditions of the GLAS scheme we cannot spray or weed lick them so they have gone out of control in the last four years. TBH I don't like using herbicides or pesticides and would prefer to control weeds by topping with the disc mower or with the petrol strimmer around the yards but we cannot top the LIPP fields until the 1st of July.

Irrespective of future environmental schemes that replace GLAS we will never, ever choose LIPP again. I have no problem setting aside land and sowing it for WBC - I buy in c.10kgs of additional flower seed (phacelia and buckwheat) for the bees/pollinators.

Lady Haywire

In theory, LIPP is great. And what they're aiming for with it is commendable, but they really should allow licking at the very least. All it's done is allow weeds to spread throughout fields when before they may have been confined to a patch or small area & were controlled before seed spread.

Say my name

For docks this year I've found that the cows will eat them.
The difference this year over years is an application of seaweed and molasses spray and conversely the best results were the areas where dung was applied.

Not sure if it's allowed in LIPP but it could be worth thinking about.
Docks are supposed to do well in tight compacted soils.

Water John

A real problem also is LIPP and Meadows tied in for 5/6 years, no chance of rotation.
If they want 25% of the land to be organic then maybe they should focus that way. Iv'e gone organic even though I didn't get into the scheme last year. In fairness Andrew Doyle was very proactive but Michael Creed had no interest.
REPS, Glas and Organic are all dancing around the same parameters approximately. Now we'll have much more focus on carbon, and biodiversity, driven by the EU and Carbon neutral targets.

Base price

Water John wrote: »

A real problem also is LIPP and Meadows tied in for 5/6 years, no chance of rotation.
If they want 25% of the land to be organic then maybe they should focus that way. Iv'e gone organic even though I didn't get into the scheme last year. In fairness Andrew Doyle was very proactive but Michael Creed had no interest.
REPS, Glas and Organic are all dancing around the same parameters approximately. Now we'll have much more focus on carbon, and biodiversity, driven by the EU and Carbon neutral targets.

+1

Neddyusa

Lady Haywire wrote: »

In theory, LIPP is great. And what they're aiming for with it is commendable, but they really should allow licking at the very least. All it's done is allow weeds to spread throughout fields when before they may have been confined to a patch or small area & were controlled before seed spread.

Weed licking is allowed though under LIPP

Neddyusa

Base price wrote: »

+1

Yes, that inflexibility is the worst thing about Hay Meadow and LIPP, other than that I actually think they are the best part of GLAS

Water John

BTW and maybe it was here I read it but the Gardai could never prosecute under the Noxious Weeds Act without the go ahead from the Minister, fat chance of that.

Dinzee Conlee

Say my name wrote: »

For docks this year I've found that the cows will eat them.
The difference this year over years is an application of seaweed and molasses spray and conversely the best results were the areas where dung was applied.

Not sure if it's allowed in LIPP but it could be worth thinking about.
Docks are supposed to do well in tight compacted soils.

Never have much issues with docks here - I wonder do they not do well with sheep?

The seaweed you’re putting out is purchased is it, it’s not a homemade job?