It’s been eight years since we last caught up with Warwickshire-based Hadley Farms, and throughout that period the farm has continued to adapt and evolve when it comes to cultivations and machinery choices. The farm is also using less horsepower too, with a brace of Kubota’s now heading the fleet to double-up on role play.
Ploughing will always have a part to play on the traditional mixed farm run by Rob Hadley and his family. With grain maize in the rotation and a keen eye on black grass, cultural control methods have become a staple of the farm’s arable strategy. Since we last visited in the 3/2015 issue, the area of land inverted now accounts for 50% of the 590ha handled at Chesterton Fields Farm, near Leamington Spa, with the remainder involving min-till techniques using a Kverneland DTX.
“There’s no doubt that our soil structure continues to progressively improve, and we’ve been putting a lot of FYM and liquor from a local AD plant back on the ground,” explains Rob. “I also like to extend the rotation, to make the most of soil types, soil biology and soil health across the area we farm.” That rotation includes winter-sown wheat, barley, beans, oilseed rape and grass, with the farm’s maize acreage determined by demand from grain maize customers. Oilseed rape has only recently come back into the plan, following repeated flea beetle incidence, though Rob is extremely cautious about where it now gets planted.
With the farm dissected by the Fosseway and M40 motorway, block cropping and logistics also has to be considered. There’s also an area of pumpkins grown too, run by Rob’s sister and her husband which helps with the rotation, and a one-in-five approach is the very minimum time period he is prepared to accept.
“We still believe that if you put the effort into ploughing properly and approach the job with an eye for detail, the plough does reward with clean, level, weed-free seedbeds,” he adds. “It’s the best way to deal with maize stubbles, and consistent yields follow a carefully crafted seedbed.”
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