proTOM1 Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Its all class lexions round me they seem to like them tho did see 1 jd yesterday still on rape round me then will be on spring barley before touching the mass of wheat going to be a long harvest round me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Will not be growing a holl variety again! I wondered if you too would arrive at that conclusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Well I have finally finnished for the day. We got a good bit down so we are ready to move on to the next farm now. My mate Lexion 480 packed up today, it had trouble with the header not wanting to work for some reason. I will be sticking with my JD I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Will you greedy blighters send just a little bit of your rain down this way please. Finished the wheat today driest bit cut was 11.6% moisture wettest bit was 17.2, I now want a bledy great big auger to stir it all up together then the drier could stay silent. Waiting for the results of the protein etc to come back on the solstice but the yield would suggest that it will be low on protein. The alchemy was actually fit to cut this year for the first time since growing it. Just the beans to go now after I plant the rape. Hope it stays good for you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 We were going well until we got a heavy shower at 6pm and that stopped us dead but it has been dry since so hopefully back in the field tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Proteins have been good so far on Solstice and Hereward, and adequate on Einstein. Nobody has had anything particularly spectacular to report so far, but similarly no disasters. Things sound a little parched for you, Badshot. I hope it doesn't drop much below that 11.6%. I was talking to someone from Sentry Farming on Sunday, who was talking very smugly about how selling a third of the company's barley and milling wheat forward had covered their costs for the coming year. Spot prices are creeping back up slightly, but I am glad we don't have a shed of barley at present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapwing Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Need some sun here. Still a day on w barley to go yet, let alone the rest of harvest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Have you chewed your fingernails right down to the bone, Lapwing? I hope your WW is looking OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Very dry here at present Baldrick, when seed arrives for the rape I will plant it and then it will be ready to go with a bit of rain. Sounds promising about proteins, hope mine is ok. Is that spot price which is creeping up 'cause Ive just read my daily update for the futures and it is at it's lowest for the season so far £98.25, which would equate to something like £88 ex farm, for feed that is of course. I have never been able to make the barley job look right financially so have only ever used it once as a last resort. It is easy to farm with hindsight and I would just ask your sentry chap how much he sold forward at £80/tonne when the price went up to nearly £200, I don't like smart *****, however I have finished my wheat so there, and it's all in the long openfield pool. They know a lot more than I do about grain marketing, and have yet to give me a really poor result. get those lexions and JD's going while the weather allows. I could always come contracting for you. another 12 tonne per hour would make all the difference. Not. Going foxing now so stay lucky all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapwing Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Moved on to the spring barley yesterday evening, so saving the fingernails until we can start the wheat. It is not over ripe really and still standing on the whole. Saw a nice covey of 13 grey partridge yesterday so that makes up for a lot. Usually the badgers have ours on the nest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Very dry here at present Baldrick, when seed arrives for the rape I will plant it and then it will be ready to go with a bit of rain. Sounds promising about proteins, hope mine is ok. Is that spot price which is creeping up 'cause Ive just read my daily update for the futures and it is at it's lowest for the season so far £98.25, which would equate to something like £88 ex farm, for feed that is of course. I have never been able to make the barley job look right financially so have only ever used it once as a last resort. It is easy to farm with hindsight and I would just ask your sentry chap how much he sold forward at £80/tonne when the price went up to nearly £200, I don't like smart *****, however I have finished my wheat so there, and it's all in the long openfield pool. They know a lot more than I do about grain marketing, and have yet to give me a really poor result. get those lexions and JD's going while the weather allows. I could always come contracting for you. another 12 tonne per hour would make all the difference. Not. Going foxing now so stay lucky all. We always struggle with barley too (and oats were a bit of a foolish decision last year). A friend grows Otter on contract for export to a Japanese brewery, and he is the only bloke I know that can make a viable and consistent profit on it. We might experiment with WintaLin, on some of the poorer land. A few locals have had decent results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badshot Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Never grown winterlin myself but a few people in the area have and only done it once or twice, did do spring linseed once in the good old days of subsidy farming, direct drilled into turf on the 14th May, done half tonne/acre from half seed rate, quite pleased with that at the time. Interestingly the glyphosate applied pre drilling did not kill the clover, nor did the pre harvest glyphosate, seems we are already growing a roundup ready crop. Finding the right mix of cropping is not easy, and obviously if everyone landed at the same rotation it would not go down too well. I do sometimes wish that my land was considerably lighter and would support veg as it would be more of a challenge, but it isn't and I am not moving. Got three cubs with D2D last night, all in the same 40 acre field. Light rain at moment so doubt if there will be many people out combining tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 We had intermittent showers and heavy rain all of yesterday, so the combines stayed in the sheds. Things look slightly more positive today, but I doubt we will be out cutting wheat until tomorrow. Badshot/Lapwing/David/Edward, have any of you read Oliver Walston's book 'Thirty-Five Harvests', published recently? I bought a copy, despite my objection to boosting Ollie Wally's bank balance. It's a fairly simple and rather interesting book, recording each year at Thriplow Farms in Cambridge. If any of you want to borrow my copy, I will bung it in the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapwing Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Got a bit of barley in yesterday when the mizzle stopped. Had to have all the hydraulic pipes out of the back of the header first though which held up proceedings for a while (Samuel Whiskers appears to have decided to expire half way along the trunking a while ago, and the resulting goo had started rusting of the pipes... 15m of steel pipe and a natty pipe bender and all going again though.) No I have not read OW's book; I'll keep an eye out for it in the autumn when the urge for a book in the evening returns! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 We had intermittent showers and heavy rain all of yesterday, so the combines stayed in the sheds. Things look slightly more positive today, but I doubt we will be out cutting wheat until tomorrow. Badshot/Lapwing/David/Edward, have any of you read Oliver Walston's book 'Thirty-Five Harvests', published recently? I bought a copy, despite my objection to boosting Ollie Wally's bank balance. It's a fairly simple and rather interesting book, recording each year at Thriplow Farms in Cambridge. If any of you want to borrow my copy, I will bung it in the post. We have been out ploughing most of today but we are now going to start combining at last, we have got 100 acres of wheat left on our main farm and about 60 acres of borage and then we will move to our next farm where we have got another 7 acres to cut before we get on the linseed. I have not read it yet but I am thinking of getting a copy soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 We had intermittent showers and heavy rain all of yesterday, so the combines stayed in the sheds. Things look slightly more positive today, but I doubt we will be out cutting wheat until tomorrow. Badshot/Lapwing/David/Edward, have any of you read Oliver Walston's book 'Thirty-Five Harvests', published recently? I bought a copy, despite my objection to boosting Ollie Wally's bank balance. It's a fairly simple and rather interesting book, recording each year at Thriplow Farms in Cambridge. If any of you want to borrow my copy, I will bung it in the post. We have been out ploughing most of today but we are now going to start combining at last, we have got 100 acres of wheat left on our main farm and about 60 acres of borage and then we will move to our next farm where we have got another 7 acres to cut before we get on the linseed. I have not read it yet but I am thinking of getting a copy soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 heres one for you farmers, my mates farm runs a lexion on lease shared between 3 farms, works well anyway this week it self destucted. Turns out it was stored on a farm over the winter and that farm has made its diesel tanks ***** proof so the ****** decided to remove diesel from the combine. Then they replaced it with water B) basically it decided to spit out injectors and knacker the head slap bang in the middle of harvest not what they needed. Guess its a reminder with farm equipment not exactly secure as to just what lengths they'll go to for a bit of revenge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) They are a right pain in the neck We always lock our machinary in one of our barns which is all alarmed just incase something like that happens, we are lucky down our way, we dont seem to have much trouble with them. I do feel sorry for them farm though, that is going to be a problem. Edited August 14, 2009 by MerseaDavid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Al4x, although it makes me appear very sanctimonious, the moral of that story is this: keep all your machinery in secure sheds. We keep everything locked up at home. If the opportunity isn't there, or is significantly more difficult to take advantage of, the didds will look elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 funnily enough it was under cover in a corn barn out of the way but yes it is a reminder that these things happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Well we have finally finnished harvest for this year. Well I have any way, we have got one combine on the linseed but there is only about 50 acres left and they should finnish today. So now it is all down to ploughing and drilling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 (edited) We have quite some way to go with the wheat, although we worked late in to last night. The forecast through to Wednesday looks clear (if I am to believe that). The neighbouring farmer's contractor, a fan of antiquated American kit, has been using these machines for discing and Autocasting. When you consider that neither would cost you much more than £40,000 bought today, that quite impressive £ per hp value. They always draw a crowd, due to their Tonka toy looks. A Ford Versatile 946 (approx 325hp) with a Vaderstad Rexius Twin 830 cultipress. It's actually a comfortable and relatively quiet machine to operate, with plenty of grunt. A Steiger Panther (approx 350hp) pulling a Quivogne with Autocast. It is a horrifically noisy machine (it must be over 100db outside the cab at full tilt), and the controls and cab are almost prehistoric in their simplicity. As appealing as the offerings here (http://www.amtrac.co.uk/) are, I think I'll stick with the modern technology of Challenger and Claas Xerion. I'd keep the Vaderstad press though. Badshot, I am not sure how you are getting on with your wheat, but Friday's Farmers Weekly states that there is a general concern about proteins in this year's crop. There's also an HGCA OSR trials result, putting V141 HOLL rape significantly below Castille and Excalibur. Edited August 15, 2009 by Baldrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 nice pictures,the versatile are good tractors, we had one on the farm in the usa for 40 years befor it made way for the cats,and the steigers are still used a lot in the states,they are good tractors as well.they just keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 They do indeed seem to keep going, usually, but major break-downs can take weeks to resolve due to the lack of spares. That Steiger shown above spent 5 weeks in the workshop last summer, waiting for a new clutch. The Versatile has had a hard life, but just keeps chugging on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Great pictures mate But this is what you want on your farm Baldrick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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