proTOM1 Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 well its far to wet round me for any kind of cutting to be done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 The madness has started , heard of the first bit of rape cut locally today, there has also been some barley cut as well. A lot of local barley has been in the shed for a week now, and I've seen several locals pounding up and down with their Simbas. The torrential rain we had yesterday has stopped play completely, and it doesn't look like things will brighten up here until Monday. The rain won't do a drop of good to the wheat though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 By the way things are looking round me, the rape is going to be ready at the same time as the wheat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted July 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 After i finished shooting the barley stubble today i had a drive round the rape fields . Two of the rape fields had hundreds of pigeons droping into the middle of the fields where the tractor had knocked the rape down while spraying . It would be difficult to shoot the fields at the moment without doing lots of damage walking through the rape .its just about fit for harvesting and to walk through it now would pop to much seed onto the ground . Will leave it untill harvest and get on the stubbles . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 As usual, when one gets out and has a go, everybody else thinks they are late getting going. At least six combines going in the rape today locally. Suppose I will have to get mine out and try in the next couple of days. Be nice to get it a bit drier than the big boys are cutting at (12%) only going to take me about4-5 days to cut it all so will hope for a bit more sun on it. Round here Baldrick it is a competition between simba and quivogne, then you have me with my opico varidisc and tilth. Got to be different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Round here Baldrick it is a competition between simba and quivogne, then you have me with my opico varidisc and tilth. Got to be different. I think I can count one one hand how may Opicos I've seen locally. Quivognes aren't too common, but those that have them seem to swear by them. We run assorted Simba and Vaderstad - deeply conventional, but they hold their value well. My neighbour has finished ploughing today after combining seed grass earlier in the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 I can count on two fingers the number of opicos locally. If the ground here was a bit easier it would be the tool for the job. As it is I just have to be a bit choosier when I cultivate The topdowns are not man enough round here for the larger growers, it is VERY heavy here. I had a simba express on demo a few years ago, the simba man was a bit shocked when it ran over the top without so much as a mark. There are a lot of vaddie drills though, but again just to be different I run a simba miniflow. Horses for courses really between the tinemaster and the solo, it seems to depend more on available horsepower than anything else, the simba seems to need that bit more pulling. Really not much ploughing at all here these days, some for spuds, and other spring crops, but even these are being established without ploughing now. My beans were and look really well. To be honest even if I had any ground clear it is too hard at mo to do anything much, would go through shear bolts like butter. Must say there is a lot of rain about just skirting round us at minute. Hopefully it will either pour down and be done with or wait till the wheat is in the shed safely. I do not want a repeat of the last 3 years rain during harvest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 We're experimenting with no-till in North Norfolk, with what appear to be encouraging results, and down here in Essex we're making a conscious effort to minimise ploughing on the heavy land. Blackgrass control is becoming more of a worry though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 We have been min tilling and no tilling for years, we have noticed when you first start out you will see a drop in yeilds, but eventually they will climb back up over a couple of years. My dads a mod on the notill section of the bff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 My neighbour is no till has been for a few years now. The wheat after beans Wheat after rape Wheat after wheat Rape established by subsoiler, Beans with claydon Linseed into oat cover crop so so too much competition early on. Wouldn't buy a bertini drill they are on their second one and it falls apart as much as the first. Personally i feel it is an opportunistic method of establishment on our very heavy clay and in a wet year don't even bother. Think most peoples idea of min till is actually non inversion till really. Tried rape yesterday and am being locked up today ??? Seriously did get the combine out yesterday and it was just fit so done a bit at about 10% moisture, yeild wise maybe 4-5 cwt up on the average at about 37/acre. Rained overnight though so needs to dry again now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Think most peoples idea of min till is actually non inversion till really. That's a fair point. The almost biblical levels of rain we've had in Essex in the last 24 hours have completely stopped play. What about controlled traffic and precision farming, as the next sub-topic on this thread? Does anybody practice these two dark arts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danccooke Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 although off topic slightly I am enjoying reading about the farming. It is good to understand more about the land I shoot over. Being an office boy by day I have spent a lot of time over the last few days reading up on farming. Darn site more technical than most would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Dan, I'm glad you're finding the thread interesting. Have you been perusing any particular farming websites/books, to boost your knowledge? Baldrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danccooke Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 (edited) Typical Dan style research ( I used to be a researcher), bouncing all over the place, from random websites to wikipedia, CLA etc. I've not really read any books so far. My Grandad was a farmer and my dad a Keeper but all before I was really old enough to have a full interest. Always been a country person but it is nice to expand my knowledge it can only help my relations with my farmers and the shooting too. :( Edited July 17, 2009 by danccooke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 British Farming Forum and Farmers Weekly cover current issues rather well. Take the time to ask questions of the farmers you deal with, when there is a quiet moment. Showing a genuine interest will earn you brownie points in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 That's a fair point. The almost biblical levels of rain we've had in Essex in the last 24 hours have completely stopped play. What about controlled traffic and precision farming, as the next sub-topic on this thread? Does anybody practice these two dark arts? We had a couple of thunder storms last night but together they only produced 5-6mm so not enough to do any good, yet enough to be a right pain in the ***. We were also lucky last year, although there were not many days without rain during harvest there was not a huge quantity and the quality of the wheat did not suffer in my area. I grew solstice for the first time and managed full breadmaking quality on the whole lot. It sounds as if I know somebody who is doing everything but another neighbour is VERY into precision farming and is dabbling with ctf. He has invested heavily in equipment with gps guidance and automatic control which does work, although at a cost. I believe he is saving in the region of 5-10% on chemicals due to less overlaps when applying. So this is showing a return, how big is not public knowledge. Although it can be very roughly extrapolated from your own figures. The ctf works on the principle of keeping the damaged soil in the same place year on year. Gps should allow that, but all machinery has to be running at the same wheel track to achieve this, which comes apart when trying to travel on the British roads, it makes the machinery too wide, of course partial ctf is possible if you ignore the combine wheelings. He is also ploughing on a rotational basis which will move all soil over and destroy the natural soil structure which has been built up over the years in between. Do you have any experience of any of the above? It is always interesting to hear about other peoples experiences. Hope not to technical for you non farmers, if you have any queries put a post up, it will benefit everyone. P.S tried the rape today and it was 12.2% moisture so too wet for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 We trialled both real-time kinematics and Differential GPS for cultivations and drilling work last year. It has abundant potential, particularly for roots and spuds where <2cm pass-to-pass accuracy can slowly but surely eat away at variable costs. We have yet to commit, but I think we will invest in a full RTK set-up next year, probably upgrading the current JD StarFire GPS arrays we have on the tractors and sprayers. CTF I am very intrigued by, and a friend is currently dabbling in the practice to see if he can make it work. Due to the amount of roadwork we do and our rather mixed fleet of machinery, I can't envisage CTF being hugely suited to our operations here. I haven't even looked at the rape today. If I wanted to, I'd have to go by boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 Yes I would agree with the potential for high value veg crops, where the cost of establishing is so high and the fact that something so far away can deliver such precision is astonishing, no doubt it was on tomorrows world in the 70's. Unfortunately the cost is prohibitive for me as a 400odd acre arable ( with a few sheep ) farmer. Once again it is the ability to spread the cost over a large area which makes it justifiable. However imo the output I achieve would not be possible on a large acreage due to the inability to have the attention to detail over the entire farmed area. This winter has shown this to be a factor with the amount of winter rape ripped up this spring. I do all the operations myself with help from my business partner for corn carting and ring rolling only ( I am quite happy to let him play with his sheep for the rest of the year ). I am in the second year of establishing rape via till seeding, it is this sort of time saving which makes it possible to do so much of the other work. As you say ctf is interesting, more so if you are farming the plains of America I think. Have you really had that much rain then? It always seems to bypass us and come up to you chaps. And tbh the rape is barely fit to cut and as it is raining lightly here again I won't be doing any tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 17, 2009 Report Share Posted July 17, 2009 I am hoping that precision farming will go the way of the mobile phone, i.e. a decade from now, it will be commonplace and affordable. N-sensors and other such kit is definitely becoming more popular here. I do recall you mentioning that you'd pulled up some winter OSR. We re-drilled about 45ac, and it proved in retrospect to be a sound idea. We have used Autocast on the Lexions' headers for seeding OSR, but had better results with a Terracast system on the Quivogne and Simba. It's proving to be a great system, with crops establishing quickly and consistently. We really have had that much rain. So much so that I had to pull up on the side of the road for 10 minutes this morning because visibility was so bad. I haven't checked the rain gauge, but I imagine it will be a a stonking reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Combines should be rolling today. We've had a good breeze so far today, so moisture should be tolerable (at least until it rains this evening). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Much to my surprise I did get some more rape cut yesterday, it was again down to about 10% moisture - till the heavens opened again. Suffering with something the kids brought home today so haven't tried but reckon it would have been too wet anyway. Hopefully it will stay dry tonight which will allow me to get going properly tomorrow. Beans have taken a bit of a hammering in the last couple of days looks like I will need to put the lifters on when it comes to cutting them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 I'm not too concerned with our beans and peas, but the rape is starting to worry me. We had barely started the combine up when the heavens opened this morning. The foul weather looks set to continue until at least Tuesday evening. Hopefully your bout of swine 'flu won't hinder your combining! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kron Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 We had a couple of thunder storms last night but together they only produced 5-6mm so not enough to do any good, yet enough to be a right pain in the ***. We were also lucky last year, although there were not many days without rain during harvest there was not a huge quantity and the quality of the wheat did not suffer in my area. I grew solstice for the first time and managed full breadmaking quality on the whole lot. It sounds as if I know somebody who is doing everything but another neighbour is VERY into precision farming and is dabbling with ctf. He has invested heavily in equipment with gps guidance and automatic control which does work, although at a cost. I believe he is saving in the region of 5-10% on chemicals due to less overlaps when applying. So this is showing a return, how big is not public knowledge. Although it can be very roughly extrapolated from your own figures. The ctf works on the principle of keeping the damaged soil in the same place year on year. Gps should allow that, but all machinery has to be running at the same wheel track to achieve this, which comes apart when trying to travel on the British roads, it makes the machinery too wide, of course partial ctf is possible if you ignore the combine wheelings. He is also ploughing on a rotational basis which will move all soil over and destroy the natural soil structure which has been built up over the years in between. Do you have any experience of any of the above? It is always interesting to hear about other peoples experiences. Hope not to technical for you non farmers, if you have any queries put a post up, it will benefit everyone. P.S tried the rape today and it was 12.2% moisture so too wet for me. As a non-farmer I have found this discussion interesting but confusing. Its good to hear what is going on around us rather than just turning up to shoot. I do have to questions: what is precision farming? and what is ctf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 Thats not good news for you baldrick, it is annoying when that happens, but surely your rape is still only barely fit to cut or is it the amount that you have to cut that is more worrying? Most rape in this area is only just there, with the later varieties still a way off cutting yet good weather or not. Have you tried pod stik, personally I don't think it would do much when faced with a hail storm like we had two years ago so don't use it, but a local supplier pushes it fairly hard. I doubt if it is swine flu but it did fit the criteria, if I don't get worse I won't bother the doctors with it, certainly after pebbledashing the fixtures and fittings all night I am now feeling better, and as I will not be seeing too many people it will not be too difficult to minimise the spread of whatever it is. Kron Glad you have found our discussions interesting if a little confusing. firstly ctf is simply an abbreviation of controlled traffic farming, which means trying to keep all wheelmarks in the same place all the time to keep the majority of the field as nature intended. This is a benefit because a plant will put it's roots down much better in an uncompacted soil. Precision farming is using the latest technology to make the best use of inputs (sprays, fertiliser, etc) this can take the form of sensors which scan the crop and will then apply the appropriate amount of fertiliser to that part of the field. The amount applied is varied constantly by computer while driving along the tramlines. Or it could be gps controlled steering for the tractors so that the full width of the implement is used all the time,and it is possible to have the sprayer controlled in the same manner automatically turning off so the same area is not sprayed twice. As I said in an earlier post the cost of these is prohibitive to a small farmer like myself, but baldrick is on a much larger scale and will have more knowledge than I. Hope this helps clear the murky waters a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edward Posted July 19, 2009 Report Share Posted July 19, 2009 We have just got a guidance system, its nothing special but it makes a huge differnce when it comes to spaying, dont know how we could live with out it now At the moment it looks like the wheat is going to come before the rape, as it is still green in patches Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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