Berry Hill

Trialling Maize Intercropping with Reduced Inputs
 

Jonathan Evans farms at Berryhill, near Newport in Pembrokeshire alongside his father Marc, where they milk 220 cows, calving all year round. With a focus on improving the environmental and sustainability credentials of feedstocks for their herd, this year they will be cultivating two blocks of land and sowing 24.29 ha of Maize grown with Runner Beans for the dairy herd and a further 6.88ha of Maize grown with Runner Beans and Sunflowers for the dairy young stock. The addition of the higher protein Runner Beans and Sunflowers to the Maize has the potential to increase the overall protein content of the harvested silage.

Cultivation and planting will commence at the end of April through to early May after taking off the forage Rye. The Maize/Beans/Sunflower seeds will be sown with a new demo Amazone Precea high speed precision air seeder drill supplied by their local machinery dealer Riverlea. It is Jonathan's intention not to use any sprays post drilling, but instead to reduce the weed burden by using a new experimental hoe manufactured by Amazone; Jonathan has been working with Riverlea to bring this hoe to the area for trial work.

The project will also contribute to the Sustainable Land Management outcomes including:

• improve resource efficiency by making the most of home-grown forage on farm