Ben Richards has been awarded Third Place in the 2024 Soil Farmer of the Year competition. This case study gives an overview of how Ben has built his system around resilient soils to provide the forage and nutrition his herd. If you would like to visit Ben’s farm, a farm walk taking place on 12 September 2024: click here to book your place.
Middle Trelan Farm is a 290-acre dairy farm in Cornwall, milking 180 to 200 cows, depending on the time of year. The farm has been certified organic since 2020, with the cows being 100% grass-fed, milked once a day, calved in spring from the 10th March and outwintered to reduce costs.
Soil management has been a key focus on the farm for over 20 years, and Ben shares that making more money has consistently been a key driver in the steps taken to improve soil health and reduce inputs.
Early noughties – addressing nutrient imbalances and surface compaction
As a wet farm with heavy clay soil, an early challenge in soil management was to alleviate surface compaction, which was achieved using slit aeration.
Ben also took advice from Straight Line Nutrition, using recommended fertilisers to resolve nutrient imbalances in the soil.
2010s – phasing out chemicals and introducing herbal leys
Weaning off chemicals has been a gradual process at Middle Trelan Farm. In 2012, the decision was made to start gradually weaning off the high use of nitrogen fertiliser. Now, Ben focuses entirely on feeding the soil, not the plants, which he does by applying 2.5 tonnes/acre composted farmyard manure per year.
Having switched from blanket spraying to spot spraying broadleaf weeds in 2005, spraying was stopped altogether in 2016. It took four to five years to increase dock beetle numbers to the point where they were controlling docks. Now, with the overall reduction in chemical use, the docks have become more palatable, so what the dock beetles do not eat the cows will eat anyway.
Ben also started growing herbal leys in 2016, selecting species to benefit the soil, as well as those which will benefit the cows. This includes choosing deep-rooting species to improve the soil structure and enable water to permeate into the soil. Seed companies warned that cows would not eat some of the plants, such as sweet yellow blossom clover, but in practice, Ben has found that as the soil has improved and plants become more palatable as a result, the cows will eat all species. He has not included any ryegrass in the mix for over five years, with the exception of during Covid when the seed companies were not able to source an alternative.
For reseeding herbal leys, cows are now grazed on the area to be reseeded over winter, followed by pigs. The pigs turn over the soil and root around, preparing the ground for establishing a herbal ley in the spring.
The cows have benefitted from the move away from chemicals and the introduction of herbal leys, as they can self-medicate by selecting the nutrition they need. The evidence for this is clear, as Ben has not needed to treat the cows with any medications for eight years, although he does still give the calves an anthelmintic for lungworm.
The phasing out of chemical inputs, from broadleaf herbicides to veterinary medicines has reduced costs and therefore improved farm profitability.
2020s – moving from a bacterial soil to a fungal soil
Ben shares that it was 2021 to 2022 when the farm turned around – it had reached the point where it had a fully functioning bacterial soil. The focus has now shifted to move to a fungal-dominated soil, as with fungal mycorrhizal structures present plants can cooperate, warning each other of dangers and contributing to the overall health of the farm ecosystem.
The presence of deep-rooting plants will facilitate the transition to a fungal soil, so Ben has embarked on an agroforestry project, which is funded by Forest for Cornwall. The project began in 2023 to 2024, when 6,500 trees were planted in 1.5m rows (3 trees across 1.5m), with 12m between rows, which should be close enough for the fungal mycorrhizal structures to reach each other. Grazing trees were selected, including different varieties of willow, poplar and aspen.
The wettest fields were chosen for tree planting, with the intention that the trees will also help drain the fields, getting rid of surface water. Herbal leys have been planted between the tree rows, so in year two the trees will be grazed together with the herbal leys.
Another 4,000 trees will be planted this winter. In year three, Ben intends to stop planting and wait to see the impact during a full grazing season, then if it is working as expected he can take cuttings from the existing trees and roll out the system across the whole farm.
Ben explains that the overall goal of the agroforestry is to maximise dry matter production on-farm to feed the cows, while the trees will also help drain the fields, promote fungal activity in the soil, secure a reliable forage supply throughout the summer and also provide nutritional benefits to the cows eating them. In short, the trees should ‘tick all the boxes’ for farm resilience now and in the future.
To conclude, Ben shares that he has found it to be true that ‘less is more’. The less interfering he has to do with the cows, the better their life is, and the better his is too.
Written by Tilly Kimble-Wilde, Farm Carbon and Soil Advisor
Richard Anthony, of R & L Anthony near Bridgend, was awarded Second Place in the 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year competition. He was commended on how he responded to and managed challenges, never veering from thinking holistically, always upholding soil health as a priority, and treating each challenge as something from which to learn.
A majority arable business, Richard farms a 6-year rotation of wheat, maize, oilseed rape and westerwolds intermixed with a diverse array of cover and companion crops which he is passionate about. “The emphasis on farm is the soil, improving the soil and organic matter, and keeping a crop in the ground; keeping the soil biology alive.”
Richard and the team also strive to promote and create habitats for wildlife: planting wild bird seed mixes, establishing wildlife corridors, and bordering all hedgerows with a 3m margin to encourage growth year on year. 2m flower margins have also been implemented around all fields of oilseed rape which has been, to quote, “absolutely fantastic.” Encouraging insects and bees and getting the public on side too.
The farm walk itself took place on 23rd November 2023 and kicked off with a presentation taking us through the past year and outlining the various activities and obstacles the farm faced. We were then treated to a fantastic farm walk whereby Richard gave our group of visiting farmers, agronomists, and advisors a tour of some of what they get up to across their extensive arable and forage business.
A big part of what Richard and his team are trying to achieve across the farming business is to use very little bagged fertiliser. Most of the nutrients applied to the soil come from digestate, conveniently stored in the farm’s digestate lagoon. Tankers come in and fill alligator bags for easy transport and the digestate is spread on wheat, oilseed rape and maize.
So far, Richard has managed to eradicate artificial fertiliser when growing maize and OSR; however, wheat still receives a small amount of early application. This wouldn’t have been possible without the construction of the digestate lagoon, a project which was undertaken at the beginning of last year. Still, as Richard says, there is room for improvement. The farm is looking to reduce its N inputs even further by trialling an N inhibitor, all to build more resilience into the system.
This mindset has been applied to fungicides. To use less, Richard has changed the sprayer to accommodate the wet and windy weather brought in from the coast. Now at 250cm spacing, the booms can run very low resulting in no drift even if it’s windy. This enables more spray days and a better chance at getting the timeliness right.
As with most farms across the UK, the weather has been the biggest challenge with dry weather in May and June, and then rain as soon as harvest began.
Luckily, Richard had installed a biomass boiler 6-7 years ago for grain drying after a very wet harvest having heard about them in Scotland. It has been a game changer. Their 1-megawatt biomass boiler provides a lot more spare heat than previous methods of grain drying where they used up to 1.2 megawatts of gas on one drying floor. In the old system, if they were on 25% moisture, it took 10 days to dry one side. With the biomass boiler on woodchip, they can dry 2 drying bays, double the output, and never have to run the boiler flat out. With the right combine (Richard uses a MacDon belt header), the corn is cut as soon as it gets to 25% and achieves good output, as Richard emphasises “do not wait”.
Planting OSR in August was a struggle, with some fields too wet to put a tine in and any cultivation out of the question. Instead, Richard planted the wet parts of the field by snipping the OSR with a sprinter drill and planting the dry parts with a farm standard drill and a top down.
To better manage the unpredictable weather, Richard has a selection of drills that he’s held onto rather than sell. The farm will run 2, sometimes 3 drills if they can, capitalising on days when they have the right weather. This was especially helpful during autumn when the farm received 295mm of rain in October alone.
The farm also spends a lot of time on drainage. Ditches are cleaned, dug out, drains put in; all with the aim of evening out patches in fields and making the farm more resilient. As Richard says, it’s great getting 16t/ha on wheat in a bit of field but if you’re only getting 3t/ha in another part because it’s too wet there is space to do better.
Still, the most used bit of kit on the farm is a spade. By continually monitoring and assessing soil structure, Richard can make a well-informed decision when determining how to establish the next crop.
Farm Walk
During the farm walk, we were shown multiple cover crop and companion crop trials that were taking place on the farm. Steve Corbett from Agrii has worked with Richard for many years, trialling different varieties and combinations, highlighting the importance in being selective. You need good establishment, and it must earn its keep.
What they have found is that OSR, a “lazy rooting brassica”, completely lends itself to companion cropping, in this case with beans, spring vetch and buckwheat. Beans help to get the roots down as well as provide free nitrogen through nodulation. Spring vetch as opposed to winter vetch grows quickly providing biomass and N fixation. Buckwheat adds to the canopy, slowing down flea beetle, making it more difficult for pigeons to land, as well as mining phosphates. When the companion crops die, all the fixed nitrogen and phosphates will be released back into the soil ready for the next crop.
Richard deliberately plants OSR at low seed rates to encourage big branchy plants in spring which will grow away, allowing light through the canopy. By choosing thicker and well-branched OSR types, flea beetle is more contained, damaging only the outer leaves, leaving the middle to branch out. In Richard’s experience it provides a plant that will survive despite a pest living within it.
In terms of cultivation, Richard is a big fan of direct drilling. When direct drilling wheat, he believes it is important to see what is happening underground: what is the root depth? Taking stock of root depth and maintaining that attention to detail during crop growth is essential to determine the next steps in terms of cultivation. At Sealands farm, root depth is critical to survive the winds, Richard has found through monitoring that cultivation disrupts root growth, and that direct drilling fits his system best.
Ultimately, Richard has tried a lot which didn’t work out, but he’s kept at it. One outcome which has surprised him the most was the success of forage rye which he believes is underestimated. In the field, Richard showed us the root mass it was building and the excellent soil structure it yielded. This has provided Richard with an extra income stream, either taken for silage or grazed (ensuring to move stock on in wet conditions to avoid undoing all the good work he’s built up!).
Looking to improve the soil structure even further, Richard planted the forage rye together with westerwolds. He found that they were able to harvest the westerwolds a fortnight earlier due to the ability of the forage rye to get away in the spring creating its own microclimate which Richard believes benefitted the westerwolds.
Finally, we heard about Richard’s problem with persistent perennial ryegrass. In this instance, he introduced an annual ryegrass to outcompete the perennial. “Putting in a bully to outcompete a bully”. It worked and Richard is now able to include it within the arable rotation without generating a loss. This allows a rest period within the rotation to build fertility, stabilise soil structure and generate a bit of extra cash from silage or grazing. Essentially, Richard is maintaining the balance of farming resiliently: optimising soil health and crop yields while sustaining a viable business.
As we’ve all come to realise, we can’t rely on the weather, however, prioritising soil health as perfectly exemplified by Richard, can better equip us to respond and adapt. When we get to know our soils, monitoring how they behave in certain conditions and how they respond to our actions, we are better prepared and forearmed to make decisions that will affect future harvests and pocket.
Through trials and problem solving, Richard together with Steve have implemented more diversity and reduced inputs without damaging profits. A big resistance to straying from our well-known and “safe” rotations is often down to “how will it pay for itself”. Richard and Steve have shown that they’re not radical in their rationale for cover and companion crops, the bottom line is it has to pay. The most exciting take home from the day is they didn’t give up: they’ve found the right species to incorporate, the soil health on farm is improving and crop yields are directly benefiting. It was a truly inspiring day and a masterclass in perseverance. Richard hasn’t made it look easy by any stretch but as he puts it “we’re just learning all the time.”
Written by Emma Adams on behalf of The Farm Carbon Toolkit
In a first for the Soil Farmer of the Year competition, in October 2023 our series of farm walks took place in Northern Ireland. A group of farmers, academics and industry professionals met at Drumard Farm, just outside Cookstown in County Tyrone, to hear from Bronagh O’Kane on how she is transforming her farming business with resilient soil at its heart.
Bronagh introducing the farm to the group
Having come back to the farm in 2020, Bronagh began a journey to transform the soil. Historically the farm supported continental cattle breeds with a high reliance on imported feed, Bronagh has transitioned this system to more traditional breeds managed on herbal leys and ever-increasing diversity grasslands. Utilising a rotational paddock system she has extended the grazing period so that cattle can be out by 4 weeks and soils are more resilient to the extremes of dry and wet weather. Bronagh has started producing vermicast and composting to improve soil biology; focusing on natural inputs and a softer approach with foliar fertilisers where needed to manage historically compact and imbalanced soils. The walk will provide the opportunity to discuss and demonstrate the practices undertaken at the farm and the ongoing challenges and successes that Bronagh sees in her system.
The beginning of the farm walk
At Drumard Farm, Bronagh was told she had poor soils and no doubt they are a challenge, with testing suggesting an average of 45% silt and 45% clay they are tight and sticky, with little aggregation or infiltration. As such, understanding what was needed for the soil to function better was a priority for Bronagh, with a great deal of research it was understood that the high magnesium, bacterially dominant soils were being held back by a mineral imbalance, compaction from big tractors and heavy cows.
Inspecting the soil condition following the autumn rain
Changing the livestock system at the farm has been central to Bronagh’s evolving management. The cattle business has been streamlined, and as such the previous finishing and store systems have been stopped instead to focus on a suckler system with pedigree Charollais sheep. The sheep are high value stock, as Bronagh suggests there isn’t the acreage for a larger flock, instead, she buys in September before selling the ewes with lambs at foot in the spring and runs the rest of the flock throughout the year. This system works well as there is the housing space available over winter and also the sheep provide a good opportunity to clean up the last of the grass when it is too wet for the cattle to graze. Previously the farm also had Charolais cattle, but these have been restocked, reducing numbers from around 80 to 50 on a sucker system focussing on more native breeds such as Speckle Park, Shorthorn and Hereford crosses with an Angus Bull. Even with these changes, Bronagh found that those animals with a Limousin cross within the breeding still comparatively lost condition on the new system which is thought to be from underlying epigenetic traits. This has led Bronagh to source more local Shorthorn heifers which are better adapted to a grass-based system.
Bronagh utilises plant diversity as an indicator of the status of the soil. The species that may dominate in a field or area can suggest what the underlying composition may be – chickweed for excess nitrogen, low calcium or high potassium or creeping buttercup thrives where there has been poaching, bare soil and a low pH. Like many farms, docks have historically been widespread at the farm, often indicating compaction and an anaerobic soil environment. Bronagh’s approach to dock management is to change what has historically not been working – sprays and topping – and instead let them grow and allow the dock beetle to get to work combined with a cut for silage around June. This understanding of what the plants are indicating has led Bronagh to stop spraying and minimising fertiliser use to zero, instead focusing on balancing the soil and improving the health of the biome. She explains:
“Biodiversity, long rest periods and grazing management can change soils – you’re not stuck with what you have”
Grassland management is central to how the business is now run. Bronagh has diversified existing grasslands into multi-species swards despite the testing conditions and low pH of the farm. On the walk, the group visited a newly established herbal ley that had been planted in a field that was pH 5.8.
The newly established multi-species herbal ley
The 15-way mix contained species such as sainfoin, plantain and chicory and Bronagh has subsequently experimented with both cutting and grazing, which has led to discussions with contractors on cutting heights, timings and more to best maintain the sward. For Bronagh, managing these lays to allow the full diversity is important, with the understorey plants encouraged through the aforementioned considerations in combination with the paddock grazing system. Bronagh has experimented with the paddock grazing timings and methods, including grazing the cows on knee-high swards which resulted in moving them faster but increasing the size of the paddock as the cows were found to be trampling rather than eating following heavy rain. Bronagh suggests:
“The definition of overgrazing is letting them get that second bite – it is so important for my fragile, shallow roots to rest”
In addition to the home farm, Bronagh also has a 30ac National Trust tenancy on a zero-input system supporting both a rotational grazing and cutting platform. For Bronagh, having the right livestock that will thrive on a grass based system is key to success. As such, she puts the heifers on the poorest fields to determine which animals will be kept as some breeding is adapted better to the system than others.
The walk also incorporated learning more about how Bronagh is using vermicast to provide nutrition and balance to her soils. Vermicast, or worm castings is made by using worms to compost organic amendments such as farmyard manure, food waste, wood chip etc to create a soil conditioning fertiliser.
Worm farm whereby organic materials are broken down to create the vermicast
On the farm, vermicast is used to provide nutrients, stabilise pH and also as a coating on any new seed that is established. Bronagh applies her vermicast through a sprayer after making a ‘compost tea’. The vermicast is added to a porous ‘tea bag’ within an IBC filled with water which is then agitated and aerated using a bubbler to extract the nutrients and beneficial organisms which vermicast contains, the resulting liquid is then applied to land to stimulate soil biology and provide nutrients. Bronagh is aiming for a 1:1 ratio of fungi to bacteria which the vermicast and good soil management will help promote.
Bronagh explains the process of using vermicast to make a compost tea
Regularly conducting Brix testing has allowed Bronagh to understand how to best apply the vermicast and the benefit it is having to her land, with fields which have had no fertiliser, slurry or inputs other than vermicast scoring 12, with Bronagh suggesting that every 1% increase in a Brix result can give a 0.5-0.75kg improvement in liveweight gain in the cattle. Any amendments which Bronagh applied to the land are designed with this goal in mind, alongside the cost and feasibility within her system. An example of this is that she has been experimenting with using egg shells to help aid the calcium balance and flocculate the soil; this can be spread with a conventional fertiliser spreader rather than other products which can have additional costs due to the price of both material and the contractor required to apply the product.
Since 2015, the Soil Farmer of the Year Competition has helped to find, promote and champion UK farmers who are passionate about safeguarding their soils and building resilient businesses. As part of the competition, the top three farmers host farm walks that bring farmers together to share good practice and innovations that improve soil health. The 2024 round of the competition opens on 5th of December 2023, which is World Soils Day – if you are interested in finding out more, entering the competition or nominating someone who you think is deserving of this award further details can be found on the Farm Carbon Toolkit website or https://farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk/soil-farmer-of-the-year/
The Soil Farmer of the Year 2024 competition is now open for farmers to apply.
The competition, run by Farm Carbon Toolkit and Innovation for Agriculture, finds and champions farmers and growers who lead the way in improving soil health and increasing the resilience of their farm business. The competition, which has been running since 2015, now supports a network of farmers and growers across the UK who are passionate about their soil and the innovations that safeguarding it can bring to their business.
Emma Adams, Senior Farm Carbon and Soils Advisor at the Farm Carbon Toolkit, encourages any farmer or grower who is prioritising the management of soil to apply:
The competition is open to all farmers and growers in the UK, regardless of system, enterprise or business size. If the impact on soil is at the heart of your decision making, with implemented practices driving improving soil health as part of a fully functioning farm ecosystem, this is the competition for you.
The winners will be announced at Groundswell 2024: The Regenerative Agriculture Festival on 26th-27th June 2024, with the top three farms hosting farm walks later in the year to share ideas alongside demonstrating their practices and approaches.
Deborah Crossan, Head of Soils and Natural Resources at Innovation for Agriculture, explains that the farm walks are a key part of the competition, as it gives others the opportunity to see how each winner has approached soil management:
Nothing beats digging a hole and looking at the soil in the field while hearing directly from the farmer how that field has been managed and seeing the impact it’s had on the soil structure over time.
This competition champions farmers who understand the importance of soil and are using management practices to protect and improve it. Crucially, it also enables others to learn from what they’re doing via the farm walks.
This year’s competition is once more kindly sponsored by Cotswold Seeds and Hutchinsons, with the top three farmers receiving a voucher for seeds provided by Cotswold Seeds.
Innovation for Agriculture (IfA) is an independent, charitable organisation working to make UK agriculture more sustainable, profitable and resilient. Through interactive workshops, on-farm demonstrations and practical events, IfA aims to provide UK farmers with solutions of real commercial value. Visit: www.i4agri.org
Farm Carbon Toolkit is an independent, farmer-led Community Interest Company, supporting farmers to measure, understand and act on their greenhouse gas emissions, while improving their business resilience for the future.
For over a decade, Farm Carbon Toolkit has delivered a range of practical projects, tools and services that have inspired real action on the ground. Organisations they work with include farmer groups, Duchy of Cornwall, First Milk, Tesco, Yeo Valley and WWF. The Farm Carbon Calculator is a leading on-farm carbon audit tool, used by over 7,000 farmers in the UK and beyond. To find out more visit www.farmcarbontoolkit.org.uk
The competition is being judged by a panel including representatives from IfA and Farm Carbon Toolkit, Cotswold Seeds, Hutchinsons and previous Soil Farmer of the Year winners.
The competition aims to find farmers and growers who are engaged with, and passionate about managing their soils in a way which supports productive agriculture, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and builds soil health, organic matter and carbon.
The 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Winners:
1st Place – Stuart Johnson, West Wharmley Farm, Hexham (pictured above right)
2nd Place – Richard Anthony, R&L Anthony Ltd, Bridgend (pictured above, centre)
The 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year Highly Commended:
🚜 Robert Neave, Lincolnshire
🚜 Jonathan Hodgson, East Yorkshire
🚜 John Sansone, Worcestershire
🚜 William Oliver, Leicestershire
SFOTY farm walks – save the dates!
As part of the competition, the top three farmers will host open farm walks that bring farmers together to share good practice and innovations that improve soil health. The farm walks at the top three winning farms are scheduled to take place later in the year, with full details to be announced on the Farm Carbon Toolkit website and twitter, with booking through Eventbrite.
🥾 4th October 2023 – Stuart Johnson, Hexham
🥾 11th October 2023 – Bronagh O’Kane, Cookstown
🥾 TBC – Richard Antony, Bridgend
The competition is widely recognised by organisations working in soil management, with many promoting it to their networks to increase participation.
Emma Adams, Farm Carbon and Soil Advisor with Farm Carbon Toolkit, says
“This year’s Soil Farmer of the Year competition saw the most diverse range of applications so far, we’ve been blown away by the number and quality of the entries this year. The competition is going from strength to strength, with the standard of farms continuing to demonstrate the progress made in UK agriculture. Indeed, the sheer variety of entries highlights the fact that, despite the many differences in farming systems and locations, the soil connects us all. We’re very grateful to everyone who took the time and effort to enter.”
Deborah Crossan, Innovation for Agriculture, says
“As the Soil Farmer of the Year competition gains momentum and the numbers of entries reach their highest level so far, the summer walks at the winning farms represent a not-to-be-missed opportunity for farmers to see first-hand the innovation and change that leads to excellent soil management.“
The judging process now involves visiting each of the six finalists to learn more about their farming practices before selecting the winners.
Open farm walks at the top three winning farms are scheduled to take place later in the year, with details to be announced on the Farm Carbon Toolkit website and twitter.
Further details:
For further details about the 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year competition, contact Emma Adams, Senior Advisor with the Farm Carbon Toolkit, at [email protected]
This year we had so many wonderful entries that we have decided to award ‘Highly Commended’ to those farmers and growers who impressed the judges, but unfortunately didn’t quite make the shortlist. Well done to them all!
We really are grateful to everyone who took the time and effort to enter and who helped make this such a difficult competition to judge, as well as to our kind sponsors.
Jonathan Hodgson, Great Newsome Farm, East Yorkshire
John Sansome, Woodfield Farm, Worcestershire
Will Oliver, Swepstone Fields Farm, Leicestershire
Robert Neave, The Manor, Lincolnshire
The judges have already started visiting the finalists this week to learn more about their farming practices and we’ll announce the winners at a special event at the Groundswell Show and Conference at 5.30pm on 28 June 2023.
The winning farms will also host open farm walks later in the year, bringing farmers together to share best practice and innovations that improve soil health.
Our 2022 Mixed Soil Farmer of the Year, Billy Lewis, is based at Boycefield Farm in Herefordshire on a 350 acre beef and sheep farm. The farm soils are medium loamy with areas of heavy clay. Billy’s business includes around 100 head of pedigree Hereford cattle, a flock of 300 ewes and an additional arable enterprise. In October 2022 over 100 farmers, advisors and industry personnel met at Boycefield to learn more about the system that led Billy to win the competition.
Approach
Billy’s approach was historically sympathetic and typical of many mixed farms, with grassland alongside an arable area used to produce crops and fodder to raise livestock. However previous management on the arable land has seen some degradation through root crops in the rotation, in particular lifting potatoes in the wet harvest of 2008 and grass yields were stagnant. Over the past 5 years the farm has seen some radical changes with regards to soil management and, consequently, this has improved profitability in both the arable and grassland systems with reduced requirement for artificial inputs. Billy has transitioned away from renting land for potatoes and a predominantly high-input, plough based-system on the arable side, and an overall reliance on bagged nitrogen across the whole farm.
Now management is focused on a direct drilling regime, living mulches, catch and cover cropping alongside integrating livestock into the arable system to maintain diversity throughout the farm. Furthermore, the grazing platform has developed from a field-by-field rotational grazing system over the past 3 years to that of a high-impact, long recovery mob grazing approach; transitioning from monoculture grass leys into diverse herbal and legume leys with added natural regeneration of plants within the historic seedbank, resulting in a near total removal of artificial nitrogen requirement.
The Soil Farmer of the Year farm walk at Boycefield Farm, Herefordshire. Exploring the management and system used by Billy Lewis, our Mixed Farm winner of 2022’s competition.
Speaking to the group, Billy described his process in altering the management undertaken at the farm,
“The first year we started putting up a few electric fences over a small area to try rotational grazing. Alongside this we tried around 5 acres of direct drilling. As these two approaches worked quite well the year after we increased the area and so on and so forth.”
The focus at Boycefield is upon building soil health and quality to increase the resilience of the system (either grassland or arable) alongside a capacity to utilise the nutrients already available below the ground,
“Our approach on the farm is to use what we have on the farm – sun, rain and the soil – if we get the soil right then in theory everything should fall into line.”
To aid this Billy has an integrated system whereby all of the farm with the exception of the permanent pasture will rotate between arable and forage cropping, with livestock featured throughout regardless of what is planted,
“We tend to have three years of cereals with grazable cover or catch crops followed by three years in grass or herbal leys to build the fertility – this is either silaged or grazed depending on what is required for the year”.
Maximising above and below-ground diversity is central to the management approach at Boycefield farm, cover and catch crops are used throughout the arable system allowing livestock to feature throughout the rotation.
Much of the permanent pasture is zero input, without cultivation or additional manures outside of what is deposited during grazing from animal impact, Billy explains,
“Since beginning our rotational grazing system we no longer apply fertiliser to our permanent pasture. You will grow ten times more grass with an electric fence than you will with a bag of fertiliser”.
Across Boycefield farm fertiliser use has been reduced by more than 50% over the last three years,
“The ultimate aim is to no longer use pesticides or artificial fertilisers.”
Conversion to mob grazing
Historically fields were set stocked, Billy believed that this was a main blocker on the potential biodiversity of the farm. A mob grazing system with long rest periods allows the natural seedbank within the soil to regenerate. The cattle are on a 48 hour system, whereby they are moved into a new paddock every two days with each paddock being grazed around 5 times throughout the summer season.
Billy demonstrates his grazing system, utilising the approach of graze a third, leave a third and trample a third,
“The livestock are kept happy with the grass available, whilst the plants left have leaf area to continue photosynthesising and the remaining third which is trampled in is boosting the below-ground biology.”
The farm utilises a leader-follower system, where the sheep graze in-front with the cattle following behind; this allows the sheep to take the majority of the lush and tall grass which is less suitable for the Hereford cattle, which perform better on the permanent or older grass pastures. On a particularly tricky year with the drought Billy discussed how this system had fared,
“It has become apparent that this is the method we should be using to grow grass, fields we went into with high covers recovered faster with ground moisture being maintained alongside that remaining leaf area.”
Although the system is based on 48 hour moves between paddocks, Billy keeps this flexible – altering the area available in cases such as holidays or in the extreme heat to allow for better shading,
“The grazing system is a balancing act between your own life and the farm life – I don’t get too hung up on moving animals or having a set plan so we can adapt to the season, the demands of the animals and the ground”.
In regards to the performance of the livestock, Billy shares,
“The stock know that every 2 to 3 days they will be moved to fresh grass – they are calm, happy and well. The cattle have a lovely shine to their coats and lambs are performing really well on a purely forage based diet.”
On the farm tour Billy demonstrated his rotational grazing system to the group, showing how livestock are moved on a 48 hour system to a new paddock and fresh grazing.
Cattle are wormed a week prior to turn-out when in the shed but treatment is not repeated – Billy relies on regular movement and an increased sward height to reduce the parasitic worm burden and likewise increase the dung beetle population through minimising anthelmintics onto the pasture. Billy mentions that a group of lambs made it to market this year without a single worming treatment, he explains,
“We would never not treat an animal if we thought the need was there, however, with our system worming is no longer a high priority – the animals tend to stay ahead of them and therefore have much lower contact.”
Focusing on soil health has helped Billy grow far more forage, aiding livestock performance and the recovery of pastures to extend the grazing season.
Compost
Cattle are housed over winter and all of the resulting farmyard manure is composted and then used on the arable fields, either into a standing crop in the spring or prior to drilling in the autumn. Billy describes,
“With compost it is a case of little and often.”
Adapting the compost to field requirement, Billy has previously added solid digestate fibre to his compost mix to increase the nutrient content available. All of the straw from the arable system is baled to use in the livestock, however it is then returned via the compost which Billy sees as far more beneficial to the soil and crop being grown. The compost is produced through windrowing the muck and using a compost turner to mix, around about 4 to 5 times before the finished product is realised – being much more in texture to that of the soil, being capable of spreading around 24m at a rate of 6-10 tonnes per hectare.
Boycefield Farm produces pedigree Hereford Cattle, with 2022 marking the bicentenary of the Lewis family breeding herd.
Diversity and reducing inputs
The group looked at an arable field that was just coming out of the three year fertility break – consequently the field has been planted with a three-way blend of wheat (Extase, Costello and Graham) using a direct drill. The seed used is currently dressed, however in the coming years Billy looks to minimise this,
“We are aiming to have half of the wheat undressed next year, we have wireworm within the soils but are yet to see worrying levels of damage – there is so much variety in the soils and also in what we are growing above ground, they don’t seem to bother with the crop”.
Billy uses contractors for some of the cultivation and spraying work, so minimising the number of passes required equally reduces the overall spend requirement for the crop. The field was sprayed off with glyphosate at 2.5 l/ha with 0.5 l/ha of fulvic acid and 80g of citric acid, which left a clover understorey to act as a living mulch for the combinable crops. Billy explains,
“Traditionally I wouldn’t go out of my way to establish clover in an arable crop, but as it is already here and very well established I will capitalise on it. We have done it the last three years and seen some good successes.”
He continues,
“As much diversity you can get in a system the better, in what is usually a monoculture crop of wheat we now have clover roots and three different varieties”.
Billy now manages clover understories within his arable rotation, providing extensive benefits in crop nutrition, water infiltration and soil health.
When looking at a field which has had a clover understorey for the past two seasons Billy explains his method,
“Originally this was wheat direct drilled into a herbal ley and the clover persisted, after harvest we then direct drilled some more mustard and phacelia in to provide some different rooting architecture and sheep grazing. We grazed around 70 sheep for 10 days on the field which could take back the green cover before we have now planted our second wheat.”
Billy uses Humber Palmers fertiliser in a three way split, of roughly 10kg in March and then a following 20kg later in the season before the final dose which is applied as a foliar with humates. The fertiliser program going forward is much reduced to the traditional application rate, Billy explains,
“We are budgeting 50 kg of nitrogen per hectare for this wheat crop, last year the wheat with a living mulch had 60 kg of nitrogen per hectare and one fungicide at T2 and yielded over 10 t/ha, making it likely the most profitable crop of wheat we’ve ever grown on the farm. Therefore it would be nice to go zero fungicide this year and reduce the fertiliser rate further, however if the crop is looking stressed or like it needs more we would always consider increasing the inputs.”
Having livestock available to the arable system keeps management flexible, with Billy having the capacity to graze particularly forward crops to reduce the requirement for fungicides later in the season.
Restoring soil health with cover cropping
The walk visited one of the poorest fields on the farm, which is currently undergoing a process to restore soil quality, health and fertility. Billy explained to the group,
“We started in here with a winter cover crop which was grazed off by lambs intended to go into spring barley. However the field was still very poor and with the current fertiliser prices we didn’t feel like we would get anything other than a marginal crop – so instead we planted a summer cover crop (buckwheat, phacelia, mustard, chicory, oats, crimson clover, rye, vetch) and focussed on restoring the soil to a position where the field could function in our low-input system.”
The field has now been direct drilled with a GS4 herbal ley as part of the farm’s stewardship scheme, with a planned winter grazing to remove any remaining plants from the summer cover crop – anything that is left within the herbal ley will be seen as a bonus to the overall diversity.
One of the fields at Boycefield currently in a GS4 herbal ley as part of a fertility building strategy to improve soil functionality before returning to the arable rotation.
Further explaining the cover cropping system, Billy showed the group a previous oat stubble with freshly drilled winter wheat,
“This field had compost in the spring for the oat crop, straight after combining we establish a catch crop (mustard, buckwheat and phacelia) with a disc drill to create a little tilth and allow any weeds to chit. This catch crop will be in the ground for 6-7 weeks to capture the sunlight and keep the soil life ticking over and cycling nutrients before we desiccate it and drill the following crop.”
Upon digging a hole, Billy mentions,
“When we have been out digging we have noticed some phenomenal plant Rhizosheaths, most noticeably in our cover crops where the plant roots are absolutely laden in soil. This is a great sign, it shows us that our soil biology is functioning and forming great symbiotic relationships with the crop.”
He continues,
“When we dig up any legume species, be it in a herbal ley, cover crop or in the clover living mulch, we’re seeing plenty of nodules forming and more importantly we are noticing that they are active due to the dark purple colour when they are sliced open.”
Moving forward
The next steps at Boycefield are to reduce input usage further, focusing on utilising what is available on the farm. Billy has now taken on additional local arable land after demonstrating the benefits of a more regenerative, resilient system. Boycefield has started running a number of farm walks throughout the year to show other visitors what they are up to.
Follow Billy
Equally, Billy shares the daily goings on for the farm on twitter (@BoycefieldFarm) and on the Boycefield Farm website – a great platform to see all of the wonderful photos of the farm throughout the year.
The second in our series of farm walks was with David Miller in Hampshire. This year’s Arable Soil Farmer of the Year, David is keen to demonstrate how a regenerative system can be both simple and profitable even on challenging soils. Managing 700ha of majority Grade 3 land in a purely arable rotation, David focuses on four of the main pillars of regenerative farming – keeping the soil covered, diversifying the rotation, maintaining a living root and minimising soil movement – proving a regenerative system without livestock.
The 700ha farm has been managed under a regenerative system for the previous 7 years, focusing on minimising tillage and incorporating diverse cover crops into the rotation. The move was triggered by rising input costs without the reciprocal rise in expected yield – a change of system was needed to improve profitability and farm resilience. David explains,
“The overriding ambition is for our soils to be much more biologically active and more resilient. Resilience can be defined as, being able to function and produce a healthy crop with minimal interference, either mechanical or chemical and to continue to do this year after year”.
Initially cautious to make the transition, due to the perceived cost of a system focusing on the soil, David conducted a series of trials over a 5 year period; following this the investment was made for a no-till drill to maximise the benefits of the cover crops within the rotation.
With the farm located around 600 ft above sea level and containing large quantities of flint, the soil David manages is challenging from many perspectives. Moving to the no-till system has seen vast improvements to the fixed costs of the farm,
“We have much less depreciation on machinery and save a lot of diesel compared to our previous practices.”
David reveals that prior to their transition when conventionally farming they averaged 85 litres/ha of diesel for the whole year compared to only 50 litres/ha now. The current system also means there is a lower staffing requirement, with the 700ha farm only having one full time member of staff supported by two part-time workers to assist with spraying and harvesting.
Reducing inputs has been a key focus of David’s throughout the journey so far. Historically DAP (diammonium phosphate) has been used to establish crops alongside applications of potassium however now with the cover crop system in place this is deemed no longer necessary.
“The harder you push a farm conventionally with high inputs the harder it is to come back”
– David suggests.
Inputs were steadily reduced over time as the system came into balance, he explains
“The cycling phosphate and potassium was actually at a deficit for a few years as it was tied up in our cover crops. Over time this system has equalised and now we are self-sufficient, cover crops mine the nutrients that were once unavailable within soil that we need for the arable system”.
The farm has had no phosphate or potassium fertiliser for 7 years and has reduced nitrogen fertiliser by 25%, when explaining how he has achieved this he states,
“We have adopted a nitrogen dose reduction strategy alongside making cropping changes (spelt wheat or spring milling wheat rather than winter wheat) whilst lowering chemical costs through a more targeted approach combined with a more flexible risk strategy – we put less money at risk in each crop and therefore we are able to budget for lower yields and margin is our driver.”
David is a believer of testing theories and trialling ideas on the farm, a fertiliser rate trial demonstrated that up to half of the total nitrogen applied was used to produce the last tonne of yield (9 tonnes to 10 tonnes/ha) –
“We are trying to get a consistent yield from a consistent application of fertiliser, if we can understand what’s going on in the soil a little bit more we are likely to be able to reduce our synthetic fertiliser even more”.
Reducing the spray program has also made great savings from both an input and fuel perspective. Insecticides are rarely used on the farm despite the large OSR acreage, instead relying on providing habitats for invertebrate species and beneficial predators to deliver pest control. This has been encouraged by establishing 4 metre margins around all the fields with indigenous species such as mayweed, speedwell and wild carrot which historically would have been considered arable weeds, but provide the habitat to encourage the species within their own local ecosystem. David describes this thinking,
“A healthy, active soil is just one component of a healthy, active environment – getting the biological balance in the soil requires, or results in, getting a balance of invertebrates, predators, beneficials and pests”.
An example of this promotion of beneficials and biological influence on the cropping system is the companion crops used during establishment of the oilseed rape, David explains,
“We try and keep the companions in for as long as we can to help with the mycorrhizal fungi but we avoid having them in the crop at harvest as it can make combining tricky – the species we choose are either not tolerant to the frost or can usually be taken out with the normal herbicide program.”
Establishing the crop using this system has meant no insecticide has been used in 4 years, with no requirement for starter fertiliser, “The seed and companion crop are about £30 per hectare, so if we loose a little bit it is not the end of the world – we’ve given up trying to keep a bad crop of rape”.
Aardvark oilseed rape drilled on the 20th of August, which is farm saved following euric acid testing. Drilled using the Horizon with only the front set of cultures to give 40cm rows which has been drilled with a companion crop of buckwheat, berseem and crimson clover.
Having moved away into a no-till drilling system has itself presented new challenges with crop establishment as David tells the group
“As we no longer apply fertiliser at drilling and have very little mineralisation of nitrogen through cultivation establishment can be much slower. However, once crops are established they seem far more resilient and having had a dig they have a far more developed root architecture than in our previous system.”
The rooting patterns now achieved on the farm also provide the crops with a better foundation during tricky weather, with David observing that in particular the wheat can now stand longer periods of drought. Growing crops such as the spelt can leave a lot of straw residue behind after harvest, David explains that a proportion of the straw will be baled but the majority is chopped and left to biology to disperse,
“If we are confident that we have a good worm population that helps with the straw management following harvest as they take it down into the soil and decompose it.”
When discussing cover crop choice and management David has a key strategy,
“The cover crops which are deemed to be the ‘best’ are those with big top growth and leafy canopies. I however am interested in what’s going on below ground – big cover crops with a lot of above ground biomass use a lot of the available nitrogen in the soil and we don’t tend to see the same benefit to the following crops”.
David blends his own cover crop mixtures from straights, aiming to spend approximately £30/ha on the seed.
A field of oilseed rape established with an in-row companion crop of buckwheat, phacelia and vetch.
David discusses his thinking in choosing cover crop combinations,
“We used to have a lot of radish in the covers in the early days, we found this led to finding a massive amount of slugs. So we therefore decided to remove brassicas from the mixes for a few years, we are now just starting to put a couple back into the mix as they seem to dominate very quickly.”
Crops are established either using a Horizon DSX drill or on occasion a Horsch C04 if there is a large quantity of straw when drilling cover crops. In regards to establishing the following crop after the cover David describes his approach,
“If we get a chance in the winter with a hard enough frost we will come out with a set of cambridge rolls to start to terminate some of the leafier covers, but eventually we will use a low rate of glyphosate (2-3 litres of 360g) before we drill in the spring”.
David explains his thinking behind an overwinter crop of sunflowers, phacelia, buckwheat, gold of pleasure, radish and vetch before planting spring wheat for milling.
David maintains flexibility within the system by not having a set rotation and also using environmental stewardship options to aid trickier areas of ground, he explains
“I would say that our soil structure is improving across most of the farm – some heavier fields which have been more reluctant to accept no-till have been included in our stewardship scheme and planted with AB15 or a 2-year legume mix. Also, active clovers in place for 2 years have formed very strong tap roots and improved the soil structure a lot.”
Since converting from a high-input, conventional system there has been many notable changes in the quality and condition of the soil, David explains
“It has probably taken 4 or 5 years, but the soils are now visibly more friable and better structured – this is underpinned by the old and living roots as well as the many worm channels. Observational changes can happen in the first couple of years but the quantifiable changes become far more apparent after around 5.”
David is keen on assessing the land through many different approaches to measure the resilience and functionality of the soil, he says
“Slake tests are showing soils are less fragile and hold together better when we get heavy rain, this is seen in the fields as our infiltration rates have definitely increased and the fields are much cleaner following downpours.”
David is also a strategic farm for the AHDB where he looks to be able to quantify some of the anecdotal theories in partnership with NIAB, increasing the confidence in the practices for other farmers considering converting,
“The regenerative system is such a long-term journey it is sometimes difficult to know what to try and measure, let alone how”.
In particular being able to understand the best approach to lessening the usage of fungicides and nitrogen alongside the impact healthy soils has upon the nutritional density of the food produced.
The 2023 Soil Farmer of the Year competition launches on the 5th of December 2022. Established in 2015, the competition is run by the Farm Carbon Toolkit and helps find, promote and champion UK farmers who are passionate about their soils. With awards presented annually at Groundswell Agricultural Show, the competition is widely recognised within the industry and beyond as a fantastic platform for farmers to share their knowledge and experience. If you are interested in entering the competition or would like to read further articles about previous winners please visit the Farm Carbon Toolkit Soil Farmer of the Year website here.
The group in a field which has been direct drilled for 9 years, it is now planted with Extase winter wheat following a previous crop of beans. The wheat was established by straw raking the bean stubble and then drilling straight in.
With the ever-increasing interest in the environmental and business benefits of soil health and regenerative practices, the Soil Farmer of the Year competition looks set to be even bigger for 2023. Click on the link below to apply — or nominate someone you know! Or click here to find out more.
FAQ:
When does the entry period close?
The closing date for the competition is the 5th of March 2023.
We encourage applications from all sizes and types of farm – if you are passionate about soil management we would love to hear what you are up to. Equally, if you know someone who you would like to nominate or have any further questions please get in touch and we will be happy to have a chat: [email protected]
How is the competition judged?
All entries will be anonymised and short-listed for judging by our panel including the winners of the 2021 competition. The highest placed entrants will then be contacted and farm walks with our judging panel will commence in May 2023 to decide the finalists for the 2023 competition.
Since 2015, our SFOTY competition has helped to find, promote, and champion UK farmers who are passionate about safeguarding their soils and building resilient businesses. The 2022 competition involved a cohort of applicants with new ideas and perspectives on what sustainable soil management means for the future. As part of the competition, the top three farmers host farm walks that bring farmers together to share their good practice and innovation to improve soil health.
Celebrating the 2022 winners
Winners of the Soil Farmer of the Year 2022 Competition. From left to right: Andrew Rees (Runner-up), David Miller (Arable Soil Farmer of the Year) and Billy Lewis (Mixed Soil Farmer of the Year).
As we launch the 2023 competition, we want to celebrate this year’s winners and thank them for all their efforts to promote the benefits of good soil management.
Farm walk with Andrew Rees, 2022 Soil Farmer of the Year (Runner-up) In the first week of August, farmers and industry professionals met at Moor Farm in southwest Wales to hear Andrew Rees explain how he has developed a dairy system with soil health at the centre. READ THE REPORT
Farm walk with David Miller, 2022 Soil Farmer of the Year (Arable) Managing 700ha in Hampshire of majority Grade 3 land in a purely arable rotation, David Miller demonstrated how a regenerative system can be both simple and profitable even on challenging soils. READ THE REPORT
Farm walk with Billy Lewis, 2022 Soil Farmer of the Year (Livestock) Billy Lewis explained to visitors to his farm in Herefordshire how he’s been focusing on regenerating tired soils (previously in a high-intensity arable system) through integrating livestock and increasing species diversity. COMING SOON!
Key statistics
4,411 Hectares collectively managed by applicants across a range of soils throughout the UK. Farming systems demonstrated soil managements across a variety of geographies and landscapes.
60% Mixed Farms. The majority of applications were from mixed farming businesses, with arable and dairy systems also represented.
215 Businesses attended farm walks, participating in information sharing and knowledge exchange to discuss new ideas of how to implement sustainable practices.
Key messages
Protect the soil surface
Maintain a flexible rotation
Understand the biological, chemical and physical requirements of healthy soil
Minimise the disturbance of soil created through cultivation, trafficking and grazing pressures
In the first week of August a range of farmers and industry professionals met at Moor Farm in south west Wales to hear the 2022 Runner-up to the Soil Farmer of the Year competition, Andrew Rees, explain how he has developed a dairy system with soil health at the centre.
Moor farm is a 160 hectare grassland farm near Haverfordwest, which over the previous five years has been undergoing a holistic regeneration away from winter brassicas and a high input system to a fully rotational grazing system integrating diverse species-rich swards. Andrew has seen significant benefits to his business from this change of approach, including a reduction in fertiliser cost and usage alongside better herd health demonstrated by the vast reduction in veterinary fees.
Experimenting with different mixtures and management has led Andrew to create a system intended to provide year-round forage for his dairy herd. Moving away from pure perennial ryegrass leys has had its challenges, but Andrew explains
“Working to a 21 day grazing rotation is stressful, you can quickly run out of grass during adverse conditions, the aim of using herbal and diverse leys was to increase the resilience of the grazing platform. Now we have much more ahead of us and much more flexibility within the system where we aim for a 60 day rest period, but this can be up to 120 days in some cases”.
He adds,
“We started by sowing simple herbal ley mixtures, but as they were still managed like ryegrass we lost a lot of the diversity and therefore also potential yield. Now we have much longer rest periods between cutting or grazing to allow for regrowth and the leys are far more resilient.”
Fields are divided into 0.1 hectare blocks and animals are moved according to need. Andrew now has a keen eye for how much forage his grazing groups require despite the wide diversity of covers across the farm. When asked about his system Andrew states,
“We use a leader-follower approach whereby the R2 cattle (10-22 months old) follow the R1 heifers (3-10 months old), with 24 hours between the groups in each grazing cell. Having the smaller cattle grazing first means they have preferential grazing and we are not limiting their intake in any way, not forcing young animals to graze down also helps lower worm burdens. Older animals can then be pushed a bit harder and are able to deal with the more mature forage”
He further adds,
“Anything which isn’t grazed is hopefully trampled; that is when we know we have the stocking density and number of moves per day right – if the ley is starting to become a bit stemmy we move them more often, up to three times per day.”
This trampling action which Andrew integrates into his system has wider benefits for the soil in that it is better protected from environmental conditions and also now of higher quality with the constant organic additions from the leys above. Andrew fully promotes this system outlining to the group,
“Changing grassland management has given conditions for native seeds to germinate. We don’t want bare soils that cap and produce the conditions for weeds to appear. By keeping the surface covered with either growing plant matter or the trampled residue, we reduce our weed burden.”
Since the transition to more species-rich leys Andrew has found,
“The different rooting systems we have in the fields open the soil up and improve the structure, therefore we are removing the conditions in which weeds can become dominant.”
The R1 heifers from this spring moving onto a new block of grazing. Andrew uses a portable watering system to make sure troughs are easily accessible regardless of where the cattle are grazing.
The system Andrew has created focusses on a long rotational grazing platform for both the milking herd and young stock combined with deferred grazing to provide areas for out-wintering cattle. He explains,
“We used to have kale in the rotation to provide over-winter feed but were finding that there was far too much damage and soil wash. We now use a deferred grazing system to out-winter our R1 heifers which are between 8 to 10 months old. We position bales when the land is dry and travels well, ready to provide additional feed throughout the winter period.”
The condition of the soil and the health of the livestock are the key priorities when outwintering stock, to manage this Andrew explains,
“Heifers that are outwintered are scheduled to move every two days, but this can increase to three times daily to avoid soil damage if conditions become wet. This system works for us as our heifers are light and we still have the capacity to bring them in-house if the weather or soil requires it.”
Following these outwintering processes, fields are re-seeded, with Andrew tailoring off-the-shelf mixtures to suit his system,
“We have started reseeding with a half-rate Cotswold herbal ley mix, with half-rate Barenburg Barrmix (this was more because it’s what I had in the shed to give right balance of clovers and herbs) with additional annuals to provide a boost to performance in the first year whilst the other species establish”.
When establishing his leys, Andrew aims to use as simple and minimal cultivation system as possible, removing old or tired leys with low rate glyphosate buffered with humic and citric acid to lower the pH. He then drills the seed in two directions to increase the eventual cover with an application of seaweed to give a starter boost of nutrition.
Attendees to the farm walk gather in a spring established diverse ley which was previously used as deferred grazing this past winter.
Andrew has, on average, reduced nitrogen usage by 140kg per hectare whilst still producing silage for the milking herd. He has recently started silaging the herbal leys which are highly diverse and contain species such as pea, barley, vetch, sunflowers, linseed, radish, chicory, plantain and a mixture of clovers. This will be analysed when the clamp is reopened and fed as part of the usual ration. In addition to regularly analysing silage, Andrew also frequently tissue tests his leys – results suggest the mineral content of his leys are double that found when they were in a perennial rye grass system. The species composition has a naturally far lower demand for nitrogen compared to perennial ryegrass and is much better at scavenging existing nutrients within the soil, further reducing the need for artificial inputs.
Andrew uses slurry in combination with a Tow and Fert system to help maintain fertility and production across the farm. Fields destined for silage are given slurry before and after the 1st cut with a 25kg sprinkle of N prior to cutting. The Tow and Fert is used to top up fine lime, phosphate and humates alongside some foliar potassium. Andrew samples a fifth of the farm every year, with the whole farm last sampled in 2018 – having this up to date data allows him to understand where his nutrients are most required and move away from broadacre applications. Fine lime is regularly used across the farm with Andrew detailing, “Applying fine lime helps increase the free exchangeable calcium in the system, we are aiming to have calcium at luxury levels which will take time but will help with the longevity and palatability of the tall covers.”
As a dairy farmer, herd health is a main priority for Andrew. Through implementing changes to grazing species composition and management, alongside reducing the nitrogen use across the farm, livestock performance has seen vast improvements. The dairy herd are also grazed on diverse summer cover crops, being turned out for a few hours after milking.
Andrew explains this strategy,
“Having the cows grazing across the diverse leys has improved butter fats and allowed us to stretch out the grazing season where historically we may have run out of grass. This means that the herd is currently balanced between herbal leys, traditional grass pasture and silage in the yard when they come in to be milked. The additional grass means we only need to supplement feed them around 4kg of cake per day, massively reducing costs.”
The cows are now found to be far more content, with lower nitrogen covers thought to lower the free nitrates in their system, reflected in the results of the milk testing. This contentment has also improved fertility and the health of the dairy herd. Empty rates have decreased from 10.5% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2021 with mastitis per 100 cows also reducing from 19.7 in 2019 to 3.5 in 2021.
The milking herd grazing following afternoon milking, the whole herd is mob grazing this 0.1 hectare paddock full of highly diverse species.
The increased fertility in the herd has also allowed Andrew to move his spring calving system later so they can calve to match the grass growth, reducing the housing requirement as calves are weaned on grass with outside grazing access from 4 weeks of age. Worm burden has also drastically reduced and consequently, so has the requirement for anthelmintic products. Faecal egg counts are conducted to see if any wormers are required, however Andrew has found that due to the long-grass grazing system with animals biting higher up the plant in combination with chicory rich pastures, very little, if any, are required.
When asked about how he would advise others beginning along the herbal or diverse ley journey Andrew has these words of wisdom,
“Start by drilling the leys in the spring as this gives a much better chance for establishment whilst you are experimenting with your system. If you are going in later when the conditions could be dryer or colder it might be tough on the clover to get up and away.”
At Moor Farm, the leys are highly diverse and full of many different species. Andrew’s thinking behind this is,
“When you establish herbal leys you can often see a drop in yield compared to a perennial ryegrass whilst they establish, therefore we also drill in summer annual species to help build the quantity of forage available to graze. If we are establishing a ley in the spring, we would expect to be able to graze it that autumn. However, this would be a lighter graze than in the second year and not as tight, just to make sure we don’t stress the plants too much”.
The remaining cover approximately 1 week following grazing ready to be re-drilled compared to one of Andrew’s diverse leys which has recovered following previous grazing.
The next challenges for Andrew focus further around nitrogen reduction, as he discussed with the group,
“The aim would be to be using zero chemical nitrogen whilst managing to maintain our current production. I want to be able to leave the land in a better condition than when we started whilst also being financially profitable.”
During the Soil Farmer of the Year competition, the judges found Andrew’s approach highly innovative, understanding how to maximise the health of the soil to produce high quality, mineral rich forage for his cattle using less inputs, but instead through his grazing and nutrient management system. The benefits Andrew has observed upon the health, welfare and productivity of his cattle through diversifying the leys has been highly successful – also giving him additional flexibility in other areas of the farming business now he is secure in the growth of forage on the farm, developed through increasing the resilience of his system.
Ourselves at FCT would like to thank Andrew, his family and his team at Moor Farm for such an excellent tour, providing insight in how the system works and inspiration of what is possible for dairy grazing systems. The Soil Farmer of the Year competition is run by FCT in association with Innovation for Agriculture and this year has again been kindly sponsored by Cotswold Seeds and Hutchinsons. If you would like to find out more about the Soil Farmer of the Year competition please keep an eye on our website for updates on the other farm walks in October 2022 and the opening of the 2023 competition.
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Debbie Wilkins, Norton Court Farm, Gloucestershire
Richard Antony, R&L Anthony Ltd, Bridgend
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