look round the farm today rape allmost ready to spray off

[Kron]

Badshot

 

Thanks for the reply. Slightly less murky. I have visited livestock farms run by distant relatives in the past but until recently (when I started pigeon shooting) had never understood the arable end - I understood rape fields to be permanently yellow flowered (as seen from the road) until I encountered the 5-6ft high plants gone to seed for the first time a month ago.

 

When you say GPS controlled steering is it just a case of programming the coordinates into a computer link it to the machine and sit back (similar, i imagine, to flying a passenger jet - although I have never done that either), chill out and everything takes care of itself barring major IT failure?

 

 

K

[Baldrick]

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.

 

We haven't tried Podstick, no. It is only the acreage we have to cut that's worrying me, although we have some OSR that is ready to come in.

 

 

When you say GPS controlled steering is it just a case of programming the coordinates into a computer link it to the machine and sit back (similar, i imagine, to flying a passenger jet - although I have never done that either), chill out and everything takes care of itself barring major IT failure?

 

Yes, it's pretty similar, with the operator playing an increasingly little role in managing work on a sophisticated set-up. However it makes tractor work more dull.

[badshot]

Now done 70 acres in between the showers, bit frustrating only getting a few hours at a time to do anything. Especially as we have barely had any rain since march, until the last couple of weeks.

 

Hows your harvest progressing everybody?

[The Sipe-ist]

It's not. Fingers crossed for today though.

[Baldrick]

It's not progressed, but today looks promising. Hopefully we will make light work of the barley and OSR. I wish we'd been able to get out earlier, and used the last 10 days for tillage.

[danccooke]

When you talk about moisture levels is that sonthat the grain/seed doesn't rot or be ause it weighs more when delivering to the grain store? I take it also the the combine measures the moisture level or do you have tools for checking? Cheers Dan "Desk Walla" Cooke

[Baldrick]

Exactly that, Dan. Too much moisture and you risk i) having your crop rejected by the buyer, ii) watching your stored produce degrade whilst sitting in storage or iii) spending time and a fortune on drying costs to try to dry it to a specified level. Too little moisture and the grains become very brittle, and thereby being of little value to a buyer. One normally aims for moisture content in the range of 11% to 15%. 16% tends to be the buyers' threshold for moisture in wheat. There are similar criteria for OSR and other cereals.

 

Combines do moisture meters fitted, and hand-held moisture meters are used for checking crops in store. The grain buyers like Dalgety just drop a probe into the lorry's load of grain to check for moisture and contaminants.