West Woodhay Estate

Traditional Hampshire/Berkshire estate that converted entirely to zero-till in 2009 and won the European Landowners’ Organisation Land and Soil Management Award in 2014.

Farm Profile
Location Hampshire/Berkshire border
Total area 2,000 acres (1,300 arable)
Ownership Henderson Family Trust (house dating from 1635)
Farm manager Stuart Cath (also qualified agronomist, Cherwell Group)
Livestock 400 Welsh Mountain ewes
Drills John Deere 750A (4m, 24 units) + Simtech Atkinson tine drill
Tractors 2 × JD 7530 (170HP, 7 tonnes)
Conversion date 2008/2009
Award EU Land and Soil Management Award 2014 (European Landowners’ Organisation)

Background: Why They Changed

Up to 2009: conventional plough + min-till, full winter rotation of wheat, OSR, and winter beans. Inputs high. Flints going through a set of tyres on the main tractor every 12 months.

Senior trustee Harry Henderson first encountered Lincs zero-tiller Tony Reynolds nearly 10 years before the conversion. Looking at the farm through Tony’s eyes:

  • Soil clearly deteriorating
  • Stones more prevalent
  • Regular erosion off steeper ground in heavy rain
  • Increasing soil compaction raising cultivation costs
  • “The long term road to nowhere”

Additionally, a 120ha block of marginal land under Countryside Stewardship (mid-1990s) had improved soil dramatically over 14 years — when that Stewardship ended, rather than plough it back, they used a contractor with a Cross Slot direct drill to put wheat into the sprayed sward. The crop was good. The decision to convert the whole arable area was made in 2008.

Transition Experience

Year 1: Reasonably successful — had inherited a “legacy of previous cultivations” (residual structure)

Years 2–3: Most difficult years. Residual structure from previous cultivations had gone; earthworm populations still low. Solution: planted mustard in the fallow as green manure, using its root system as “organic cultivation.” Sprayed off mustard, drilled wheat directly into dead mustard.

Year 3 onwards: “Quite a remarkable change in soil-life.” Most apparent in worm activity — large quantities of worm casts and middens. Residue from previous crops “almost totally consumed and turned into friable organic matter.”

Equipment and System

Machinery sold at conversion: 4 high-HP tractors, 2 big ploughs and cultivators, seed drill, and baler

New machinery: 2 × 170HP JD 7530 (7 tonnes, basic John Deere Parallel Tracking on SF1 free signal, upgraded to steering kit and StarFire receiver), 4m JD 750A, Simtech Atkinson tine drill

Liquid fertiliser: JD 840i trailed sprayer handles all fertilising AND crop protection

750A performance: 100 acres per 12-hour day with 175HP JD 7530; 24 units; steering set to 3.95m to prevent gaps

Simtech modifications: Original 20 tines reduced to 9, re-spaced to 32cm for beans and maize; new Simtech points still serviceable at 64ha; replacements £26 each

Slug control: Ferric phosphate (metaldehyde alternative); Thames Water offered £1/kg incentive to make the switch — enough to neutralise the cost difference

Farming Approach

No set rotation plan — flexibility allows cropping to be dictated by market prices and what the land needs.

Cover crops: Mustard (good performer on the farm); cereal covers from out-of-date dressed seed (free on collection from local seed company — drilled at 200kg/ha); oats on sloping marginal land for root structure, wheat/barley on flat ground.

Grass break crop: Moving toward growing more grass as break crop; exploring Natural England two-year legume mixes (financial incentive + blackgrass control); options include mowing/baling, grazing 400 ewes, or topping.

OSR abandoned: Replaced by both spring and winter beans — fixes N, easier to grow, better trade at time of writing, lower slug damage, lower cost.

Cropping: “We’re looking at a 10-tonne crop” on super stand of Clare wheat; budget yields of 9t/ha being hit.

Soil Results

Stuart Cath’s competition report (European Landowners’ Organisation):

“From year three through to the present day there has been quite a remarkable change in soil-life. The most apparent has been the worm activity with areas of large quantities of worm casts and middens. As time goes by, we have found all the residue from the previous crop is being almost totally consumed and turned into friable organic matter.”

Before and after tests confirmed increase in soil organic levels.

European Award (2014)

Competed for by farmers across the EU. Run by:

  • European Landowners’ Organisation
  • University of Vienna
  • Syngenta
  • Centre of Soil and Environmental Studies, Ljubljana University

Prize: €5,000 + presentation at gala dinner in Brussels following the 8th Forum of the Future of Agriculture.

Quote

“It is the long term road to nowhere.” — Harry Henderson on conventional tillage degrading the estate’s soil

“Here’s a farmer who uses worms as his subsoiler, slashing fuel and HP requirements. You can recognise his land. It is never bare, the aim is to be growing a crop 12 months a year.” — Mike Donovan / Practical Farm Ideas

Sources

  • [[sources/dd-issue-02]] — “A Farming Step Change”, Mike Donovan / Practical Farm Ideas Vol. 24 Issue 2 (2015), reproduced in Direct Driller Issue 2 (June 2018)

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