I’m a relatively late convert to autosteer.

Now, I’m conscious that not all my precious readers – maybe older – will know what autosteer does. So, a little explainer is required.

Autosteer is used on tractors and other self-propelled machines to essentially steer the vehicle in straight lines in the field by way of GPS.

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It has been around for years now, coinciding with Google Maps; I’m a late convert to that as well.

Sin scéal eile.

You see I never thought, until recently, that I needed autosteer. One of my talents is the ability to drive straight, and my tramlines were always pretty good.

Autosteer was doing away with this time-honoured tractor-driving skill, replaced by new technology, and I didn’t need that.

But I relented.

Last September’s cobble-lock seedbeds were dry and dusty, and I hadn’t a clue where I was going, so I bit the bullet. The technology was already on the tractor.

Niall from Atkins set me up and, generally, I got on okay with it. And despite a few disasters, I could certainly see the advantages.

This year, while sowing oilseed rape, I’d slap the tractor into cruise control leaving me with two spare legs and two spare hands.

So, I could do useful stuff such as putting through the wages on the banking 365 phone app while driving up the field.

It’s always been a divil to eat Keogh’s crisps while driving, so that was sorted as well. And if I got bored, I’d read Classic Tractor.

In a good long field, there was even time to ring FBD to insure a new-to-me 1992 Mazda MX5 and pull out the wallet to divulge card details, driver’s licence number etc.

Though as an aside, the insurance people ask you so many security questions, it’s unreal. It’s very tedious.

But I got complacent with autosteer technology and I curse anything that has even a modicum of artificial intelligence. When spell check on the laptop fails to recognise the word I’m trying to spell, I give it desperate abuse as it’s supposed to be smarter than I am.

But back to autosteer complacency. When I’d finished the call with FBD (at long last), I must have tapped something important as the autosteer went crazy. The tractor suddenly steered full lock to the right for the front lawn field, which is in grass.

And full of trees. I’d had enough of Artificial Intelligence.

There was absolutely no plan to sow rape in the front lawn, so I grabbed the steering wheel and took control of the situation. It was a roadside mess.

And sowing is like murder; you can’t undo what you have done.

Anyhow, I re-applied myself and haven’t made too many more mistakes. At least that’s what I think, pre-crop emergence.

The oilseed rape is all sown and rolled in great conditions after 19mm of rainfall last week to dampen the dust. Two of the rape fields got 20t/acre of FYM and the others got 650kg/ha of Agriphos.

So, no chemical fertilisers needed; I’m learning.

But cereal volunteers will need judicious early removal as there were no useful stale seedbeds beforehand due to the arid conditions.