Hi Harry we've been direct drill for 25 years on our farm here in Australia as with most of Australia. My farms soils range from brown loams to heavy cracking clays. I haven't removed crop residues for a long time and my observation is the less you work the soil the softer and more productive it gets with less requirements for nitrogen. However slugs are a major issue and baiting is becoming the norm.

Harry never disappoints but there's an extra bounce in his step on this video - great enthusiasm.

@danhickling3565

Жыл бұрын

Probably grain and KZread money just landed!

I'm surprised how interesting I find the Farm videos, Harry. I've always know farming is a risky business but I never realized how complex it is, how many decisions have to be made (often without much hard information), and how interdependent all the factor and variables are. I feel like we're just starting a new season of a dramatic mini-series. Will the oil seed rape come up? Will Harry successfully battle the slugs? How will the new wheat variety do? And, always lurking in the background, what surprises will DEFRA spring on the farmers? Stay tuned!

@johnsim3722

Жыл бұрын

I feel this should have been a series on Amazon... ;-)

@7rixee

Жыл бұрын

@@johnsim3722 they might dramatize the heck out of it and lose all the education 😁

@normanrussell5526

Жыл бұрын

They have deep roots that tap into the deeper moisture.

@jukeseyable

Жыл бұрын

The simple truth is , without food you would be dead, seems sensible to pay a bit of attention

@johnsim3722

Жыл бұрын

@@jukeseyable The theme throughout many of Harry's videos has been how the government are increasingly trying to put land out of crop production. That even in this time of high food prices caused by feared of losses in Ukraine and Russia, this government still isn't reacting to the current situation. They'd rather grow weeds than food. So what is the answer when you have a government that is absolutely deaf to the needs of the country?

I don't know what it is, but I find these videos almost like a therapy after an office day. Every detail, all the complexity (and weather lottery) is so interesting and calming to watch!

Who'd have thought farming is so interesting. Can't wait for this seasons Clarkson's farm (but Harry is the original and the best).

This guy is brilliant, Harry dug up a baby oilseed rape plant out of the ground, examined it with not a little satisfaction and replanted it as if on gardeners world, just brilliant!

I always find it perplexing how things like blackberries and grapes do better in dry conditions when they're mostly water

@tomsmith6741

Жыл бұрын

I live in west Midlands suburbia and the blackberry bushes in our green areas are rampant this year, mad!

@simongilbert2704

Жыл бұрын

so does maize , catches the dew i think and just grows taller no matter what .

@trimley

Жыл бұрын

Blackberries were on cocaine this year

@reallyoldfatgit

Жыл бұрын

Our local vineyard say that 2022 is going to be an absolute classic, with a high yield of smallish but very intense grapes.

@marcovtjev

Жыл бұрын

Blackberries got a lot of burn here (inland southern NL) on the 40degrees days. I grow some classic american thornless varieties for jam in my yard. Still an average year though. 2020 and 2018 were the good years. 2021 bad, fungus got them all, and the sprouts were less vigorous which together with the burn.makes this year an average one.

Mr. Metcalfe, please keep doing the drone shots when you're using your machinery, you can really get a sense of scale and precision. It's one thing to see you talk about the accuracy of it all while you're in the cab of your tractor, but these drone shots really do it justice. Please keep up the great work. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your enthusiasm, your farm, and a special thanks as always to Mrs. M for the exemplary camera work. 👍

Harry it's great to see you tackling direct drilling (canola), we in Australia have done the same for over 20 years and I expect you'll experience the same germination/emergence as we do, the moisture retained by the stubble will kick the oilseed rape up quicker than bare soil under marginal moisture conditions. At the same time your soil structure is less disturbed giving better root penetration and moisture wicking. Try to leave the stubble on top as it will use up some of your soil N feeding the microbes to break it down, good luck! Loving your youtube channel from Down Under! Cheers, Wal.

There’s a farmer where I live and he’s got his field preparation sorted. Every year he hosts a ploughing match. A lot of very serious people with vintage tractors and agricultural machinery turn up, pay to enter the competition and plough his fields for him. Easy work for the farmer.

@DJ-uk5mm

Жыл бұрын

I’m gonna go “no till”. - also I don’t have a tractor so. I don’t really have a choice ha ha

@sweetcorn1968

Жыл бұрын

No, and I’ll freely admit it. I live in rural part of Kent and watch these videos to provide me with knowledge about the arable land around me. It seems a good idea to me but feel free to help my education. Perhaps in a less smug manner.

@georgemoore2928

Жыл бұрын

I spoke to a ploughing match organiser near here who said that after all the vintage tractors have scratched the surface they plough the who thing again with modern machinery as it ploughs much deeper than the vintage stuff...

Congrats on 100k! I remember when farmers burned off their wheat stubble, not allowed anymore thankfully.

It just dropped about 30 mm around Le Mans in 1 day…. Everything was almost toasted let’s hope for more rainy days and not just showers. Apparently the sweetcorn crops are not so well this year. Here in France they are sometimes still ploughing fields but I see it less and less. God bless the farming community for the hardwork they are doing

Please more oilseed followup videos! we have just been drilling ours with a Carrier mounted with a biodrill from väderstad in verry simular konditions. Local: the south of Sweden. Also, thank you Harry for the inspiration and wisdom!

This is the serious version of Clarksons Farm, and I love it ... thanks Harry !

Great to see more and more farmers using the minimal till method. Soil is life

@PHILCHUDS

Жыл бұрын

Unless you have a few hundred tons of dung to get rid of. Then , you really do have to plough it in.

@geoffwoodgate7450

Жыл бұрын

I find this very interesting. I don't know much about farming but live in a farming area. I didn't know ploughing was actually detrimental. here they add sand and certainly pig fertiliser to the soil.

@ep1981

Жыл бұрын

@@geoffwoodgate7450 it’s not always bad - there are some soils that need to be turned over to grow anything edible. Now there are some that would say those soils should go back to the wild grasslands etc that they were before humans cultivated them, but nonetheless for now they need to be turned. For example the soils in the northern Midwest of the US.

@riamriam6758

Жыл бұрын

@@ep1981 every time you crop, your taking away nutrients from the soil. And you can only turn soul so many times before you need to go deeper to bring up nutrients. Turning soul is always damaging even if you fertilise.

@ep1981

Жыл бұрын

@@riamriam6758 Agreed, but that doesn't change the fact that some very productive farming areas in the world can only be productively farmed if the soil is turned and fertilised. I'm a huge advocate of no-till where it's possible, but there are lots of places where it's not.

As a life long country lad, interesting video Harry, I haven't seen anyone properly plough for years. Blackberries as you say everywhere and yet we are the only family that I know who picks them. Especially on a wholesale scale! Delicious, basically organic, free-range and FREE !☺👍

This channel should be on prime time TV👍

Absolutely loved this episode, as a gardener! We lost an entire courtyard of pots taling a holiday over the same fortnight, so we feel for you...

Congrats on the nearly 110K subs. Said it once twice three times a lady. Harry is the dog's nuts. Needs to be PM right now with Clarkson as his ambassador 😂😂😂😂

This is so informative,especially if you live in a rural area. Living next to a farm you see the machines setting off and returning but have no idea what they are doing.It's like living next to a pottery but never seeing how they make a cup. Thankyou.

@andrewbaldwin4260

Жыл бұрын

Glenda, you have said exactly what I was thinking. And Harry got it all across in a way that was clear and instantly understandable. Andrew.

marvellous, the enthusiasm for a single germinated OSR seed, giving such an optimistic outlook for whole crop. 'crops fail, animals ail', farmer's mantra.

Somehow this most compelling, informative enjoyable... Came for the cars and stayed for the farming. :D

Somehow I like your farm channel better than your car channel. I'm always interested to learn more about the technical realities of agriculture but it's not often presented in a manner digestible to me. Thanks for creating this channel and explaining things so well. And you weren't lying, you really are a farmer now. Respect.

Thank you Harry for your time to upload.

I keep learning and enjoying. Thank you Harry.

We have a barley stubble field where I walk the dog. Casual observation... straw was chopped behind the combine during the hot dry spell. Despite the dry weather there was sufficient moisture in the soil to allow the volunteers to germinate. This then had a slight rain (unknown quantity, not much) It appeared that the uncultivated straw residue was sufficient to hold that moisture, and or provide some sun cover to get a seed around three inches tall, with a healthy green to it. We have since had some good rains which has allowed other volunteers to get established and get into the normal post harvest growth.

Congratulations to 100k, amazing work!!!

Fascinating, thanks Harry 👍

I love this channel! Thank you Harry.

Great video Harry.

fantastic as always

Very interesting. Thank you Harry.

Harry - your gift is to completely absorb the viewer in the almost tranquil world of farming. Sadly its anything but that but the warmth of your personality does you credit as that's a good method of stress relief. Maybe you should pay the rainmaker a bit more next time!

I knew nothing about farming but I find these videos very interesting. I am traveling through France atm and I look at very dry corn fields wondering why they haven't been harvested, maybe moisture content? I'm learning :)

Have you just assumed the gender of that Oil Seed plant LOL? Thanks for all your videos. Subscriber - thank you for all your information about the farm. Hope it goes well for this coming year. The future is Blackberries...

@garethjudd5840

Жыл бұрын

It's a gender neutral seed

Love your video's Brilliant many thanks.

Thanks Harry. Very Interesting.

This is a wonderful video, Harry.

Really interesting Harry, keep em coming!

Absolutely fascinating as ever thank you so very much indeed harry ciao

Love this channel. Harry is so good at explaining what’s occurring. I really look forward to seeing how it’s all going.

Thanks for another enjoyable video Harry. As others have mentioned,it's so good to come home after another (s$it) day at work and find your videos so relaxing (albeit, the lack of rain may not be so relaxing for you!). Many congrats on the 100K subscribers. Deserved!

Love this channel. Just starting a farm with no previous farming experience so I love learning from Harry Thanks for sharing

Most informative programme on the tube.

I can only wish you the the very best of luck for2023!

Super video, very clever in all that you do, thanks.

Absolutely brilliant video thoroughly enjoyed it keep up the amazing work looking forward to future videos

Congrats on the 100k subscribers ! It's very interesting for us city dwellers

Great video, congratulations on reaching the 100000 subscribers, you really deserve that milestone and your view number’s look great too.

Thanks for another informative video Harry. Looking forward to your next in-depth video on solar panels . Great job 👌

Nice show. Thanks for sharing!

Informative, interesting and entertaining. Great video as always.

Just discovered the channel. One film and I'm hooked. Really informative and accessible to all. Thanks for the effort. Good Luck

Not that it matters on a huge farm, but my dad always told me that a young seed should only ever be handled by a leaf, never by the stem. A crushed leaf soon recovers, but a squashed stem is often fatal. He likened it to the difference between picking up a toddler gently by the arms, and hoicking her off the ground one-handed by the neck. 🤭

Glad the panels are finally on their way and look forward to the Metcalf folder coming out with the facts and figures!

Love your videos, have been out of agriculture for 25 yrs soon and miss it , your videos keep me in the loop a little bit. Keep up the good work

All the very best and bumper yeilds for 2023 excellent vlog 👍👍🚜🚜

Loving the drone shots Harry!

Fascinating as always Harry….I fear that I might be more interested in your work that a Road Test of SHMEE’s Zenvo….we are becoming armchair farmers!!!😎😎😎😎😀😀😀😀

Another great video

Thank you Harry for sharing and for growing our food, you farmers are very important people and i do appreciate you, may Yah (God) bless you & yours.

Fascinating stuff as always, particularly regards the reasons behind not deep ploughing any more. Blackberries have gone mental locally too.

Always massively informative. I really appreciate the detail in the numbers. Balancing input costs with potential yield and profits. It’s a bit like another Cotswold farmer on the telly but without the hamming up to the camera.

Congrats on the 100k 👏

Great stuff. Very informative to the bystander.

Another amazing insight explained with enthusiasm like your car reviews.

Amazing how much farming moves on 🤔 I remember when fields were ploughed . The local wheat fields were cut and bailed and the stubble seemed to sit there for ages .When usually the farmer has the ground worked over and re seeded 🤔thought he’s leaving it late this year only to see this week little green shoots appearing in lines this week,turns out it’s been direct drilled. Next to no ground disturbance 👍and still the remains of the wheat harvest for the wild birds. 👍Brilliant 👍 as Paul Whitehouse would say 😀

Thanks Harry for a really interesting video about modern farming by not ploughing

Sounds like your autumn is a month late, just like our spring is a month late here in South Africa. The deserts daisy's that flower during August on the west coast are only doing it now. Also we had snow during August which is usually seen during July. A late season and drought has been a disruption in the UK. Enjoyed this video.

Harry’s Farm deserves a lot more subscriptions, this stuff is so interesting, is great to see low or no tilling we seem to be learning lessons and treating nature better 😎.

Glad to see you’ve got a good tilth , I was direct drilling after the 76 drought, when it rained and rained , farmers couldn’t plough so they had us in withBettison 3D drills , but we couldn’t create a tilth, and the seed rotted in the slits, it put direct drilling back quite a few years !

Thanks for sharing this beautiful VLOG 😍♥️🔥🌹

Just trying to grow a little osr this year after the disaster of 2 years ago .First field came up in 5 days!! Let's hope it keeps growing well. Great update always a pleasure too watch .Thanks.

I will never look at a seedling in the same light! Great stuff!

Fascinating insight. I did wonder why ploughing has reduced. I am hooked.

Great video especially the game of spot the OSR plant. I’ve been in east Suffolk right on the coast for the last two months and there has been no rain for about three months at least. I dread to think what arable farmers without irrigation are doing. There’s been several fires in fields as well as on the heathland. Everywhere is brown. I watched a video of I Farm we Farm today and it gave me quite a shock to see all that green grass

Fantastic videos - farming explained to the total novice in such an engaging style - keep it up H !

Love the min-till/direct drill ethos. Turning soil isn't just bad for the worms but it puts all the CO2 back in the atmosphere. Cutting the straw will surely benefit the next crop and discourage pests. Sight nitrogen input too?

I hope we get a costs, and profits vid this year too, keep up the good work

Congratulations at hitting 100k subs! I love watching your videos. I'd love to be a farmer (though I want to farm beef) but it's a world away from me, however I feel like I'm just meeting up with someone at the pub being told what's happening on your farm. Look forward to the Defender video and hope that the rain is plentiful! Lord knows we all need it!

So interesting. Cheers Harry

Blackberries are unstoppable. After a nuclear apocalpse it would just be cockroaches and blackberries.

@sandman8993

Жыл бұрын

And crocodile’s

2023 is going to be very tricky Harry… looking forward to seeing the updates

We’ve noticed the crazy blackberry harvest. And had exactly the same question: why are the birds not taking them? We get lots of smaller garden birds here, but BlackBerrys look untouched.

@Ijusthopeitsquick

Жыл бұрын

Birds don't like getting pricked any more than humans do.

@vincentmckenna1755

Жыл бұрын

Still plenty of food for birds yet due to good growing season of insects ect fruits are the autumn early winter food

Really very interesting.

The sheer unadulterated joy of spotting an OSR plant, magic!

Will be interesting to see if the hot summer is followed by a warm or cold winter… I guess a grain shed upgrade would be nice to remove all those supporting columns…

Solar will be interesting,as Harry mentioned few odd things happening? Inform episode

Harry, fascinating stuff from a very dry Cotswolds. Direct drilling into stubble has been with us Downunder for a long time now, maybe because our crops more sparse, but it works and retains moisture, less weeds and better soil health too. Many benefits. I’ve been meaning to ask about why you don’t use silos at all for grain storage and bulk handling. Maybe it’s for aesthetic reasons and heritage rules? But it seems the way in the old world to store grain in sheds still.

@RobG001

Жыл бұрын

Maybe because Harry used the money the bank loaned him for a silo to start his EVO magazine, many a year ago now. What a legend. :)

@BoxTunnel

Жыл бұрын

I'm not a farmer but my guess about grain sheds v silos would be lack of space and the fact that you already have an old building in the farmyard so why not bung the grain in there? After the grain has been sold you have machinery storage for the winter. Also it's nearly impossible to build anything in this country without a million planning complaints from worthy historians, council jobsworths and NIMBYs (not in my back yard)!

Amazing how little people know about where their food comes from. My girlfriend was popping down the shop and asked me did I want anything I said get me some Chicken milk please She said Chickens don’t make milk 🤔 Of course they do you fool how do you think they feed their baby’s. You know 🤔I never new Chickens made milk she said. Well how do you think they make Cream of Chicken soup They use the top off the Chicken milk 😀 She came back from the shop and said couldn’t see the Chicken milk anywhere 🤣🤣

Hi Harry as always your videos on the farm are superb, have you ever thought about doing a video on Vermin control (if you have any that is) as your farm always looks fantastically well kept and clean.

Harry has a great voice!

good luck there ol' chap

The recent rain showers have been most welcome for gardeners and allotment holders down here in Dorset too, after this period of drought. There was a river running down my road last night, and for entertainment some thunder and lightening.

hit 100k subs well done harry and team fantastic channel thanks all

Harry, blackberry is a noxious weed here in Western Oregon. It grows like the clappers. Our typical summer is very like what you've had in England this year, warm to hot, sunny, and very dry. We can't control it.

@JohnSmith-yv6eq

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, thanks to the Old Country twats that planted blackberry in New Zealand in the 1850's so they could "feel at home" It is now a serious pest plant....along with gorse and broom...ditto reasons. Not to mention rabbits, hares, stoats, weasels and hedgehogs....

I agree Harry, next week could make all the difference.

Glad you got some rain

Really enjoy your channels. My grandfather plowed with a team of mules in southern Georgia (U. S.). I can remember him talking about getting his first John Deere. I wonder what he would think about all the tech in farming today.

Don't worry Harry , the drought will come to an end just as it did in Australia in 2020. 2019 was very dry , bush fires everywhere in summer 19/20...then the rains started , and now we have had 2 years of floods in some areas. Australian agricultural production is now at record highs.