Web design by Lewis McKerrow 2011

The arable rotation on the farm involves 2 main crops, Winter Barley and Oilseed Rape. Both of these crops are winter crops which means that they are planted in the autumn and then harvested the following summer. Varieties of each crop are chosen based on a balance of yield potential, disease resistance, and ripening date.

Winter Barley is grown for the feed barley market, this primarily goes for export for animal feed. This crop is always the first harvested of the season and enables planting of the next crop early in the season. At the moment the main variety grown on the farm is Volume, this is a new hybrid winter barley that has very high yield characteristics and good disease resistance. Straw from this crop is baled and used to bed the livestock in the winter months.

Oilseed Rape is grown on the farm and is characterised by its bright yellow flowers in May. The crop is grown primarily for its oil content which can be used for cooking oils. The remaining rape meal after pressing the oil out can be used as a high protein animal feed. The varieties grown on the farm include Catana, Cuillin, Temple, and Cracker. Cracker is a club root resistant variety, club root is a soil bourne fungus that attacks the roots of brassica plants such as oilseed rape, stunting the crop badly or even killing it. The only method we have at present to work with this problem is by growing resistant varieties, of which there are only 2.