Baldrick Posted July 26, 2009 Report Share Posted July 26, 2009 There is now only a meagre handful of 600TTs being run in Essex: Ernest Doe, the CNH dealer, has been pitching the CR9090 at the major operators as the 600TT-killer. But that rumoured Lexion 660 will level the playing field. Our neighbour is using a shiny new JD 670i, which appears significantly quieter both inside and out of the cab, when compared to the Lexion. The forecast for today looks excellent, so hopefully we'll do the same acreage again today, albeit in a more relaxed fashion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Badshot, a local farmer told me today that he'd lost 80% of his OSR crop in the hail storm and subsequent rain that we experienced last week. And another farmer today was almost crapping himself having swathed his OSR 24 days ago, without getting an opportunity to lift it to date. I would imagine the top half is devoid of seed and the bottom half is wet and rotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Oh ****, I feel for you guys up there, i really do. We had a storm two years ago golf ball size hail, broke tiles, wrote off caravans, 30cwt rape down to 4cwt, knocked wheat out of the ears, broke barley ears off, split bean pods wide open. Only knew of one farmer locally who had hail insurance for his crops. Every roof light in the barns was gone, literally. I was very lucky that year, I took the decision NOT to dessicate the rape because the weather was SOOOO bad it did not make sense to bring the harvest forward into it. My rape lost some but yielded about 23cwt after the hail. This week isn't looking any better for you to get combining either is it. It was the hail storm that prompted me to get my own combine again, there is nothing worse than waiting for a contractor to come when you are watching your crops deteriorate daily. The cost of owning is not that great now either, our bill for the season would have been over £10000 for our acreage, I know there are costs involved but not as bad as losing your crops. How is your rape holding up then? I will try my last bits tomorrow and if acceptable will have it done by evening. Heres hoping that you get some of the dry weather we have had. Started ripping up the stubbles today, like trying to rip up the yard. Still, it seems to be in good heart this year and nice and friable once it is moved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 A photo of my workshop roof after the hailstorm. The older roof lights on the exposed side of the barn didn't fare quite as well as this. The roof was big six size perspex to give a sense of scale. It is now tin with grp roof lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 That is a shocking photo of your roof - the hailstones we had were pea-sized and no larger, but still caused a bit of damage. We escaped the worst of the hail that hit the county, and have instead just had rain and drizzle ever since (apart from Saturday and Sunday morning). Dry weather is due Thursday onwards, and we will be working at full tilt for as long as it takes. We haven't had an all-nighter for some years, but things are getting unfunny now. We were quoted £208/t and £214/t for OSR purchased spot by two buyers today (don't worry, it was more an exercise in curiosity) - what a staggering drop on last year's prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danccooke Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Are Rape and Wheat the most commonly grown due to the rotation you can do with it, knowledge that there will be a buyer or ease of growing. I am down in sunny-ish sussex and most fields here are rape or wheat, there are some barley and a couple of pea but that's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Dan, Wheat is the principal arable crop in most of the UK, unless you're sitting on a bed of deep silt in the Fens or some other patch of Grade 1 land (the best land is typically used for growing root vegetables, spuds and sugar beet). The global demand for milling and feed wheat is such that it's bonkers not to grow the stuff if the soil supports it. There's an increasing demand for OSR globally, due to a USA-led drive to increase biofuel usage, and the growing use of rape-seed oil in the food/pharmaceutical trade. But the real reason for OSR's popularity is that it's a combinable crop, i.e. it is treated like wheat/barley/rye/field peas/field beans and hoovered up with a combine harvester, and dried/stored in the same fashion. The OSR harvest is usually carried out before people begin on the wheat, so as a crop, it's harvesting window doesn't conflict with much. OSR doesn't require more specialized kit, such as that needed for harvesting borage, spuds or vining peas. Our typical rotation focuses on wheat, OSR, beans and rye, but we also grow about spuds each year on a 8-year rotation, although we are looking at bringing that down to a 5-year interval. The majority of arable farmers in East Anglia will grow wheat, second wheat, barley, OSR and back to wheat. As I've alluded to, it's possible to just employ a wheat-OSR-wheat rotation, but I have my doubts about cost-benefit of doing so in the long-term. Baldrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Shocking photo indeed, it hurt if you happened to be caught out in it. Fingers crossed on the weather for you, I decided that the country file forecaster really didn't know what was happening and decided to just fill the time with a load of old waffle. £208 for rape, funny how two years ago that would have seemed a very good price, but this year it feels poor. All of my rape goes to a central store and has to be sold by them, so it is out of my hands but they normally do fairly well. Have now finished the rape, once it is all loaded out I will have a good average figure for yield, however the final two fields did give more loads per acre, so although it took a long time to fully ripen it was worth the wait. I was offered £170 for my beans about 6 weeks ago, didn't take it though, looked like the market was going to improve, might regret that. At the moment it is harvest pressure pushing the price down, I think that in a couple of months or so things will settle down and be back to a sensible level. I see milling wheat still has a very healthy premium over feed though. Everyone up the pub was out desperately trying to find some wheat that was fit to cut this weekend, they didn't succeed though. It was all still above 21% moisture. Get this next bit of rain out the way and it will be go go go again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 We have a few more fields of rape to come in, and then we really must start thinking about the wheat too. The Countryfile forecast is utterly useless. In fact, it couldn't be more inaccurate. We have a weather station on the main grainstore, which gives much more accurate predictions than anything online. As things stand, the combines should be rolling again on Thursday and Saturday. £170 for beans would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) Most of the OSR is done 'round 'ere.... And not a Pigeon in sight! The farmers in these parts now seem to be going at the Wheat, as I watched the 1st 2 or 3 fields being given a haircut yesterday evening, I would have thought it was far to wet... Anyway it's all bailed up - and i'll be doing a bit of "pigeon watch'ing" over the next few weeks.. Had a call last night from a friend who works as a farm hand, to say that they'd seen 5 foxes on the stubbles earlier - and what am I upto tonight ? - Shame I was at the Cinema with the split ar'se Edited July 29, 2009 by garyb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 they're doing better round you than us then Gary, we've still got rape standing, barley straw that was going to be baled is probably going to be chopped as there is little chance its going to dry out. But the pigeons are on the rape stubble and if it carries on then no doubt when the combines do roll again there will be more seed on the remaining rape just due to the amount of rain its had on it. Still not having too much stubble does seem to mean the foxes are pretty well concentrated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 they're doing better round you than us then Gary, we've still got rape standing, barley straw that was going to be baled is probably going to be chopped as there is little chance its going to dry out. But the pigeons are on the rape stubble and if it carries on then no doubt when the combines do roll again there will be more seed on the remaining rape just due to the amount of rain its had on it. Still not having too much stubble does seem to mean the foxes are pretty well concentrated That reminds me... I was going to phone you at the weekend... I was over, at that village near you - and on the way through P Green there is a field of Rape on your right.. It was BLUE, even with the combine still on the field Worth a looky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardo Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 the biggest rape field on my permission is half done! the headlands all still need combining, just a large chunk done in the centre. the smaller fields are still standing, and a couple of wheat fields are done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 That reminds me... I was going to phone you at the weekend... I was over, at that village near you - and on the way through P Green there is a field of Rape on your right.. It was BLUE, even with the combine still on the field Worth a looky? maybe but and the big but is how close to the airport approach is it? also you've seen my house my pigeon shooting time is limited shall we say at the moment I think a lot of that ground is contract farmed these days as a lot of it was under threat of compulsory purchase had Luton airport got the second runway now they've not I'm not sure what the state is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyb Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 It must be 3 miles from runway 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Hi Baldrick, how is harvest going mate? We have harvested about 3/4 of our rape so far and have started on our Barley and wheat and most of all that has been moled and cultivated already. I was harvesting a couple of rape fields last week and once I had finnished one the shooter was straight on it and set up in the middle of the field even though the flightline was up the far end of the field and no matter how many times we stopped and told him he would not listen to us and we ended up getting another guy in to shoot the far end of the fields and in 3 hours he had shot 112 pigeons and 42 crows where the first guy only shot 19 pigeons and a fox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 We have about another 230ac left to cut, and two combines on the go at the moment. I went for a quick bike ride at lunch to stretch my legs, and every farm I passed had a combine out in the rape. The weather looks like it is going to close in within a few hours. We're itching to get started on the wheat. I am so glad we're not cocking around with borage this year though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 (edited) all our borage has been swathed and picked up and is in the barn already, but one of the farms down the road swathed his on saturday and it has been too damp to get on the field to pick it up. We are not combining today because it is way too damp at the moment and our 3 combines are just sitting in the grain store waiting to get going again. You must be lucky up your way. Edited July 29, 2009 by MerseaDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 We're teetering on the edge of what's tenable, regarding moisture, but needs must. After the setbacks in 2008, we're snatching what we can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 We have about another 230ac left to cut, and two combines on the go at the moment. I went for a quick bike ride at lunch to stretch my legs, and every farm I passed had a combine out in the rape. The weather looks like it is going to close in within a few hours. We're itching to get started on the wheat. I am so glad we're not cocking around with borage this year though. your lucky to get out a few farms round me were out at 8am on the rape by 9 it was ******* down and it has not stopped im gutted as they have only just started cutting the rape in the last few days as alot of barley is grown round me . Dont think much will be getting cut for the rest of this week ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryantidgwell Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 most of the rape as been done on the farm now think there is 3 more fields to do (big ones) what was late takers think they have got5 a good month or two left , started cutting the barley the other day but the weather is pants now so think that will be finished when weather clears so more good shooting to be had !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 We're teetering on the edge of what's tenable, regarding moisture, but needs must. After the setbacks in 2008, we're snatching what we can. Well good luck mate and I hope it stays dry for you. We will hopefully be in the fields again on friday but it is all down to the weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danccooke Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 looks like all the rape on my permission has been dealt with now, noticed the combines waiting to get to some of the wheat. I know he has a lot more land than my permission covers so i am not sure what else he has and where. Hopefully if i keep plugging away and get myself some GOOD bags he might open up a little more to me next year. Seen loads of foxes recently but I don't have permission or the license to deal with them. Might drop him a line though to let him know. I just never want to seem like I am teaching him to suck eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted July 29, 2009 Report Share Posted July 29, 2009 Well we managed to get the combines out around 4:30 pm on the Oats and we got a good amout cut before the heavens openned and it has not stopped since and it was a good race back to the grain store in the combines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 The weather looks a little too variable to accomplish much today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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