The fine settled spell of weather that farmers have enjoyed for making hay and silage, could also enable them to look at improving drainage following several difficult summers.
The CAFRE “Improving Soil and Sward Performance” event at Enniskillen Campus recently attracted around 500 farmers to view the latest advice on improving soil structure, look at soil profiles where compaction has occurred, examine the machinery available and also look at the reseeding options available.
One of the speakers on the day was Seamus Donnelly, originally from Ballycastle but now working for the ScottishAgricultureCollege at their Stranraer site.
He outlined the problems of poor drainage in different soil structures such as water lying in fields, ponding and poor drainage encouraging rushes and buttercups which reduced crop yields.
He said the benefits of good drainage were to improve root growth, leading to better yields, less surface run off and better utilisation of fields.
He said the signs of poor drainage included dull grey clours or rusty colours of a soil profile. He said one of the new problems on farms this year was water lying on the field surface. He advocated deep drains for ground water problems, based on a good fall while surface water should be dealt with by shallower drains, 26-28 inches.
He said many farmers would install lateral or leader drains with secondary drainage treatment such as moles or using a subsoiler. He said collector drains could be spaced 10-20 metres apart followed by mole drains at more frequent intervals to take the water away quickly.
Mr. Donnelly recommended that farmers should dig test holes with a spade to examine the profile and carry a spade with them regularly.
CAFRE recommends that farmers should take a spade and dig a square hold 50cms wide to 40cms deep. Lift out a slice and examine it. You should select and area where you suspect there was a problem.
Look out for topsoil depth(shallower under permanent pasture), compact layers(especially near surface), colour(topsoil rich organic matter will be dark, rusty grey mottled soils indicate poor drainage), smell(if water lies trapped in soil the airless condition prevents breakdown of organic matter and foul-smelling dead layer of debris forms), roots( will extend to 30cms in good healthy, well structured soil), earthworms(should be 10-15 worms in section removed.
At various demonstration points outside, it was pointed out that losses of dry matter of around 19% in first cut silage was attributed to compaction. Farmers also heard that 2006 was the last year when there was below average rainfall.
One of the problems on Fermanagh farms will be the impervious subsoil. Drainage recommended would be moles or gravel tunnel.
The overall message from the event to farmers planning drainage work is to make sure the soil is dry as wet ground could exacerbate the problems.
(Source – The Impartial Reporter – 18/07/2013)
In discussion (from left) Don Morrow, CAFRE; Ray Elkin, Seamus Donnelly, Scottish Agriculture College who was the main speaker and Albert Foster.
Trevor Alcorn of DARD outlining the specialist aerating machinery on view at the event.