One upside to the staggered harvest of 2023 was the opportunity of getting cover crops in early at Teagasc Oak Park.
“And they are looking well at the present time,” confirmed farm manager, Brendan Burke.
“This is in total contrast to 2022 when the very dry conditions hampered germination rates.
“The fields are looking very green at the present time. The cover crop mix is free of brassica species with a strong focus on vetches.
“There is a clubroot issue on a number of the fields at Oak Park. As a result, we no longer grow oilseed rape on the main farm,” he said.
Oak Park farm
According to Burke, Oak Park is covered by the same rules and regulations that impact on commercial tillage farms, despite it being a research centre.
“We receive regular inspections from Department of Agriculture staff. And this is the way that it should be. We apply for the various tillage support measures that are available to all commercial farming businesses,” he said.
Looking to the future, Burke points a dilemma regarding the increased use of farmyard manure and organic manures being within the Oak Park farming model.
“This reflects the fact that we are a research unit. A number of cattle are over wintered on salts at Oak Park. The resulting slurry is put out on ground destined for oilseed rape,” he explained.
“We also compost straw and grass cuttings for up to 12 months. This is also spread onto crop ground.
“But it’s tricky knowing where to go with this material. Ideally, we would not want to put this onto land that will be used for trial purposes during the same year. And if the material is not fully composted it tends to contain large clods and lumps,” he added.
“This is not conducive to creating the seed beds required for specific trials.”
According to Burke, ground destined for potatoes is perfect when it comes to spreading compost.
Meanwhile, winter barley planting got underway at the beginning of October.
“We decided to go with the calendar this year,” Burke explained. However, he said that it’s very much a stop-go process.
“We have been in and out of one field on four different occasions, simply to get it planted out in full,” Burke said.
“The crop has now fully emerged. But we really were all over the place during the first two weeks of October.”