B4

B4

CS1 600 5

1800923 05 / 21

CS1 600 5

1800923 05 / 21

3600

3600

• APR / MAY 2022

PROUD TO SUPPORT N & A DURDY

wheat . If we get milling wheat premium that would be great but we are primarily feed wheats and have gone for Gleam and Skyscraper . We normally average around three and a half tonnes per acre on fairly low lying land in this Isle of Axholme area that is Grades 2 and 3 , certainly not ‘ boys ’ land .

‘ Our barley will run to 500 acres this year with 300 acres of spring barley variety Planet and 200 acres of hybrid winter barley . We average 3 to 3 and a half tonnes per acre on winter barley and 2 to 2.5 tonnes of spring barley .

It is the second year that Nigel and Adrian will not be growing oilseed rape . ‘ We ’ ve dropped it for now . We just weren ’ t getting the yield to make it pay and we needed to give the soil a rest as we had blackgrass and other weed problems , plus not being able to use chemicals brought about establishment and flea beetle problems too .’

‘ Our other main crops are rye , of which we have 140 acres this year and 40 acres of maize , plus some winter and spring beans and linseed as breaks . The rye goes into a local anaerobic digester .

The Durdys have the buildings to store grain on-farm , which Nigel believes is a big help .

‘ We have kept improving them and our on-floor drying systems in good buildings mean that we can benefit from the storage when the wheat price goes up . That ’ s the theory .

‘ I got some of that wrong earlier last year when I sold wheat forward at low money , but the other side of that coin is that I also bought fertiliser forward at low money too .

Farm machinery is obviously a big expense for Nigel and Adrian and they are presently running a fleet of equipment that includes an MF Fendt combine harvester , MF tractors , Agco Rogator 36 metre sprayer , Simba Solo and much more besides .

‘ We ’ ve built up a solid business by working very hard ,’ says Nigel . ‘ One of the things I do that is a bit different to a lot of other farmers is that I ’ m also a fully qualified agronomist and handle the field walking tickets for 50 per cent of the acreage we farm .

‘ I ’ m also known as ‘ The Sprayer Man ’ and I ’ ve reached the UK Sprayer of the Year Finals through Syngenta each year .

Nigel says that he and Adrian keep up to date with the latest technology .

‘ We make sure that all of our big tackle such as our prime movers – the combine , big tractors , crawler and sprayer all have Sat Nav and self-steering .’

‘ Eventually Adrian and I will become share farmers on the other side of the fence and find younger farmers who are like we were to take on what we do now , but that ’ s for another day . I can ’ t see it happening any time soon .

High quality blended fertilisers , double screened , oil coated and available on your farm in 600kg or 1000kg big bags .

SUPER KIESERITE 27 MgO 50 So3

SUPER 600kg KIESERITE 27 MgO 50 So3

600kg

For further information please visit www . thomas-bell . co . uk or call us on 01652 652933

PROUD TO SUPPLY NIGEL DURDY

DEPOTS AT : YO17 | DL6 | YO51 | DN14 | DL8 | DE6 | NN14 | DE4 | NG22