Drilling at Gladfield Malt

Welcome to the Gladfield Malt Blog - No sales pitch, no new products (but don't panic we are still working on them!) We like to think of you as part of our family, so we want to keep you in the loop with whats happening in our world. Here you'll find some useful information that gives you an insight in to just what happens at Gladfield Malt as we strive to provide you with the best malt available. You'll be able to see everything from Grain to Glass - as well as any side projects we are running! If you're ever out our way - be sure to pop in and say hello - We'd love to see you!

At Gladfield we have just finished planting the winter barley, a real signal that we are well into winter however that is about as far as the signals go for winter. We have experienced a beautiful Indian summer that has been perfect for sipping those great craft beers out there.

As a result of the unseasonal weather conditions we have made the decision to plant two weeks earlier than normal. The gut tells me we are in for a warm dry winter so I am having a crack at something different. Lets wait and see if it is the right decision. Hopefully we can turn the dry weather into our favor by getting the crop well through the growth stages before any disease pressure comes on and we can set the plant up for a good spring and early summer. Who knows its only a gut feeling but growing barley is in my blood and its the game I love more than any thing else. My two boys (Fred and Trev) are already trying to push me aside telling me they want to drive the tractor to the school bus just for practice for when they launch a take over.

I love the thought that as our crops grow, so do we. It just seems like yesterday that the old man was telling me to keep the ploughing straight and keep my wits about me especially when I was drilling the road paddocks. Of course things have changed a bit in the last 30 years and now all the tractors have GPS guidance systems in them to keep the rows gun barrel straight and the crops as even as can be. We put in tram lines for controlled trafficking for accurate inputs of fertiliser and sprays. Every thing is organised on fancy APPs for measuring sowing rates, grain weights, weather patterns things the older generation would never have thought possible but all the time we continue to raise the bar and push the boundaries in growing the perfect malting barley. I wonder what Fred and Trev's boys will be using in the future to push the boundaries whatever it will be there will always be that passion to make things grow better than ever from the soil up.
This blog was Written by Doug Michael

Autumn Drilling at Gladfield Malt