Change was the theme of Claydon Drills’ open day, held at its Wickhambrook Farm and HQ in Suffolk.
The need to reduce costs due to poor grain prices drove the development of the first Claydon drill. “Change nothing and nothing changes,” said export manager Simon Revell as he took visitors through the soil pit.
He questioned whether those who don’t change will be forced to do so. He noted that growers in southern European states like Bulgaria and Romania are having to abandon some crops, after getting just 350mm of rain and summer temperatures of 40C, often for weeks on end.
It was rather apt that as we toured the farm, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, with a brisk wind blowing over already dry soils. The crop of Bamford wheat, drilled on 28 September, looked good, despite no meaningful rain falling throughout March and April. One reason, said Simon, was that it had put roots down quickly thanks to a living and well-structured soil.
Soil heath
With no organic manures, soil health is achieved through a combination of chopped straw, minimal disturbance and the biological benefits of catch and cover crops. Digs across the farm found worm counts as high as 52 in a 20cu cm block. “They work for free, and where worms go, roots will follow,” he said.
The aim at the farm is to improve soil resilience. The Hanslope clay has responded well to over 20 years of minimal disturbance, with organic matter now at 4%. “Every 1% increase in organic matter can boost the water-holding capacity of soil by 275,000 litres/ha,” Simon added.
More importantly, reducing soil leaching and improving the availability of nutrients to plants can equate to 13.6kg N/ha. Phosphate is prone to locking up in heavy ground, but the Claydon system and catch and cover crops help to free it up.
“The enzymes and nutrients worms excrete feed the soil bacteria, in turn leading to better aeration and drainage and, ultimately, better rooting and nutrient scavenging,” Simon noted.
Think change
Now fully integrated into the rotation, the system has a summer catch crop, followed by a winter cover and then into winter wheat or a spring crop, with the same catch and companion, before a second wheat or spring crop.
There are added benefits. The combination of summer catch, overwinter cereal and spring oats gives three weed-cleaning opportunities.
Claydon Drills CEO Jeff Claydon has no figures for the seed bank reduction, but he said: “You can just see we are going in the right direction. The humidity in the catch and cover crop is causing the weed seeds to germinate.
“I used to believe that stopping the weeds from growing between harvest and the next crop was the right way to go. But with soils being dry, they don’t germinate until the next crop goes in.”
The spring oat crop was drilled on 23 March at 4cm to access a moisture band running through the soil. This and a friable bed are the key benefits of the root diversity from a fast-developing mix of phacelia, vetch, linseed, crimson clover and buckwheat.
Pulling up a plant revealed the soil was still moist and roots penetrated the soil. Some wet areas had needed mole draining and a roll, Jeff noted.
He admitted that as it was only their first full season of catch and cover cropping, there is likely more to learn. Although it is probably not a deliberate Defra strategy, the Sustainable Farming Incentive payments of £163/ha for a SOM3 summer catch and £128/ha for a CSAM 2 multispecies winter cover made it easier to ‘play’ with the idea, he suggested.
He said the field of spring oats looks good above the ground due to what is happening below. “The soils have better structure and more life. Roots are getting down, and they are picking up the nutrients and moisture better.”
Camera guidance for TerraBlade hoe
Claydon is trialling its TerraBlade inter-row hoe with the Tillett & Hague camera system. It comes as a solution after problems with the RTK guidance system, where the machine could veer from the rows on undulating terrain.
The system now follows the rows using green/red ratio colour camera technology and corrects steering through the Isobus system. So far, some 120ha have been treated using the system to good effect.
In the field, the unit had done a good job of dealing with weeds. The front bar is set at 325mm to hold the blade flat and shear weeds off at the crown. “Our system works well, as it maintains consistent pressure to keep the blade down and follow the soil contours,” said Claydon Drills CEO Jeff Claydon.
It works in almost any crop established by a Claydon drill, although care is needed with OSR. Even with the accuracy of camera-guided steering, wheel marks can cause damage to stems, he said.
Jeff Claydon (right) highlights the benefits of his company’s TerraBlade inter-row hoe © Claydon
Earlier drilling
As a result, this season much of the winter wheat was drilled in September, something he is keen to continue.
Jeff was asked why he didn’t just leave the summer catch in. He said it would cause too many problems, including slugs and a carpet of volunteers and grassweeds, to deal with later.
This is one reason why the catch and cover crops were sown at 80% of the recommended rate last season. Given the soil conditions, he was confident they would get away, plus he wants an open crop so he can spray off both with one clean hit. This is lesson one in his view.
Some of the winter covers contained mustard, which provided an umbrella for the weeds. With the weather turning, it wasn’t possible to spray off all winter covers in December, so some were delayed until February.
Jeff feared a single clean hit might not suffice, but both crops died off at the same time. The December-sprayed crops without mustard were slow to die off in the wet, cold conditions.
“The mustard had smothered the weeds, but these were less developed. Both cover crop mixes did the job and we drilled the oats in mid-March. But farming is a weather-affected business. One season isn’t enough to base decisions on, so I’m not ditching the mustard just yet.”
© Adobe Stock
Putting metal in the ground
When it comes to establishment, it is no surprise to hear him say direct drilling is important. But talk to Jeff and you realise it’s genuine advice and not a plug for the Claydon system. Although still on the journey, lesson two is that the principles of good crop establishment apply to catch and cover crops too.
“You need moisture and good seed-to-soil contact to get the crop away. Moving soil adds time and can result in a loss of moisture. It can work, but the weather needs to be on your side.”
The straw harrow can be equipped with an applicator, but Jeff believes that broadcasting seed from this is just ‘taking a chance’. Broadcasting into a previous crop can create problems like higher slug pressure. Direct drilling is more reliable.
He said it makes better use of the drill. “We are drilling catch and cover crops outside the winter and spring crop drilling window. Of course, there is a cost to it, with fuel, labour and wearing metal, but the payments cover this and we get the reward of the cash crop getting away, a more even crop, and better soil resilience for a more secure future.
Catch and cover crop advice
Jasmine Utting from Frontier’s environmental crops team started her session at the Claydon open day with a Q&A, asking if anyone knew the difference between a catch and a cover crop.
It was clear from the silence that many attendees didn’t really know and, in truth, some do both. But one delegate did correctly note that a catch crop catches nitrogen, while a cover crop stores it.
The key advantage of a summer catch crop is that it is establishes fast and, importantly, helps protect the soil against sunlight exposure. A catch crop is usually used for a minimum of six to eight weeks, whereas a cover crop will be used for a couple of months over winter.
A cover crop stores nitrogen from various sources, including fixing it from the atmosphere through species like crimson clover, or deep-rooting crops such as radish, scavenging from the soil.
Protecting the crop
Both catch and cover are about protection against the elements. The catch crop protects soils against the ultra-violet rays of summer sunshine, while the winter cover crop helps to stop nutrients and soil from being washed away by rain during the winter.
But to get the most from a summer catch crop, ideally it has to be in place for six to 10 weeks, Jasmine stressed. “It provides a chance to reset soils in a short period of time.”
She pointed out that a catch crop must contain a minimum of four species to be compliant with the Sustainable Farming Incentive and cannot be grazed except to be destroyed.
© Claydon
Establishment time
Some delegates asked how much time is needed to establish a summer catch crop. Despite this being an economic option, Jasmine’s advice was to hold off rather than hope that a short-lived crop will do something. “The minimum time for a summer catch crop is four weeks. Less than this and it won’t achieve anything.”
Claydon Drills CEO Jeff Claydon agreed with this view. He noted that in 2024, without the use of glyphosate, it took eight weeks to remove oat straw. “It puts immense pressure on the system,” he added.
Last harvest, the straw was chopped, giving time for the catch crop to establish and put nutrients back in the soil.
Selecting species is farm-specific, depending on location, drilling time and, most importantly, rotation, Jasmine said.
For those with sugar beet or potatoes in the rotation, it is important not to promote potato cyst nematodes, beet cyst nematodes or free-living nematodes through species selection.
Growers with legumes in the rotation should take care when adding an extra legume to the cover crop. Similarly, those growing OSR should consider additional brassicas in the cover crop to avoid increasing the clubroot risk.
Establishment should also be considered, in the same way as with a cash crop. Seed-to-soil contact, weather conditions, time of drilling and – for those broadcasting – seed ballistic properties need to be factored in to ensure even spread.
In Jasmine’s view, setting a target date of 20 August for establishment is ideal, but farm-specific establishment windows should be factored in when selecting species. For example, some legumes will struggle to establish if drilled past the middle of September. “Using mixes over straights offers greater weather resilience,” she noted.
Overwinter cover
When it comes to drilling an overwinter cover into a summer catch crop. Jasmine said it can be done, but cautioned that care is needed. “It depends on several factors, including the full rotation. Species such as buckwheat will be dying off and can set seed. It’s a crop that you wouldn’t like to leave for more than 10 weeks. The summer catch crop will also create a humid habitat for slugs, which could affect the winter cover.”
She was quizzed about what a cover crop is truly worth. She admitted that it is tricky to calculate and depends on many factors, including soil type, species mix, biomass and weather.
However, a good place to start is by completing a cover crop cutdown. She advised a 1sq m cutdown of the cover crop, and after weighing it, sending it to a laboratory for an analysis of nutrients captured in the above-ground biomass, which can be translated into a monetary value. Frontier’s advisers can support growers to carry out this procedure.
Jasmine said her own father was sceptical of the value of a winter cover crop, until she went through the process of using the data gained from cutdowns.
“Bare land is a wasted opportunity,” she concluded. “Nitrogen is expensive, so why not retain it, rather than risk losing it?”
