smithy

I thought your fields was big as at the top of your maps it say the area which I probably thought was one field . Last year a neighbour had some Leeds I it looked a nice dark-green all though the growing stages and it yielded over 4ton acre and is suitable for lighter land as I rent 34acres of light land about 10miles away from my farm I said to myself that Leeds will do the job which is has done 3.5tons acre , my Evolution and Gator only did 3ton acre but on sunday I cut a 10 acre field of JB Diego which was planted mid October after sugar beet and got 43 tons .Are local radio station have been talking to farmers all day today and yields are down all round especially rape and barley . yes a lot of farmers round here are dropping rape because of flea beetle but as I only have 30 acres I hope to keep on top of it ,I am also keeping with the barley but changed from KWS Cassia to Tower and its going on the lighter land

I also put on the 4meter set of pigtail cultivator's that I made a few years ago the centre part of frame was a browns chisel plough to which I put on the hydraulic folding wings. I was only lightly moving the top as I need to try to get the black grass to germinate

this afternoon I put on the straw chopper as I had left more rows of straw then I could get bales in the shed so chopped it also chopped up some grass margins

spent the morning putting in oil seed rape I was on the rolls the J/D belongs to my neighbour, should finish the field tomorrow morning as they had to go back cutting wheat

Well done Alex sounds like you are getting good yields , last year we was getting 4ton+acre but this year so far my best has been 3.7 tons acre, and my worst field with a lot of blackgrass did 3ton acre I would like to have the big fields you keep showing as I think that increases the total tonnage as not so much headland if you now what I mean my biggest field is 30acres ,smallest is 2acre . Very few farms around me have done well out of rape and barley this year some are talking of dropping both crops been to busy to see anyone to ask about the wheat

Got cutting again today after the rain and we also had a surprise visitor that helped cart the grain for a hr or so Thanks Goody

Does the press use all your horsepower ? or is it easy to pull what would a 4meter one need hp wise , mine is ok but is a bit heavy on some hills but if the ploughing is good I can normally keep it strait

As we had a bit of rain overnight I went pressing the ploughed land instead of getting combine greased up it made a nice change instead of listening for any different noise coming from the combine . Last picture of dashboard not very good was traveling at 4mph and had the area meter switched on have to read the book tomorrow as to how to clear it ready for next field

Clad to see you keeping busy Gav and not just sitting in the class room

some more nice model you have there and all in nice boxes well done

Good news on the Challenger just hope your bill wont to too big ,I moved back home today and yes its good to be local as I have 2or3 days work combining and bailing right at the edge of my farm yard . We had rain all round us today and at my farm yard it rained for a good half-hour but I was cutting about 2 miles away and sun was shining and in the next field was a axil-flow case 9230 with what looked like a 30foot table mowing down the wheat

Things can only get better Mark ,yes got my fingers crossed for you too

Back up and running by lunch time today went to bearing company this morning and matched up old one and only £20 would have been a lot more from main dealers ,we are now cutting GATOR Winter Wheat done 2 10acre fields today only just got home a few minutes ago ,it is yielding 3.5tons to the acre which is below what we have got in the past but for this year I suppose it is the best we can hope four

Sorry about that Mark don't no what else to say on the matter if that is he wish to block you out I am sorry but you will just have to go with it

Thanks for the update Alex wont hit the like button on this one as you may/will be having a big bill for repairs and I don't like that ,but you are not alone on the breakdown front I had a bearing on combine go at about 4pm today took me and 3 of my mates till 10-30pm to get it off it was really tight on the shaft 20ton puller on it plenty of heat and the important big hammer finally won the day hope to get bearing in morning

Last couple of days we have been cutting LEEDS Wheat not sure what the bushel weight is as only been told its ok , moisture was between 12%-16% its on some lighter land then the clay we have on the rest of the farm ,yield is just over 3,5tons to the acre which compared to my rape/barley is good for the year ,fingers crossed the other 2 variety's yield the same

Its her way of dealing with it at the moment ,don't walk away but maybe just take a step back at the moment but let her now you are there ,had a similar experience myself a few weeks back and my head is still a bit screwed up but as each week passes it does get better

Yes mark I now what you mean I have experienced the same feelings with some friends of mine and it all turned out ok in the end

If you did eat/swallow some be ready tomorrow when it has passed though haha

Sorry to here that Mark but im sure every thing will turn out ok for you and your girlfriend

I have done my winter barley about 10 days ago that was also down on yield/quality , should have some leave the farm this week so will now the results when it gets to the merchant , I don't have any spring barley but some has been cut around me as for my wheat it is only 2/3 sunny days away from being cut but as we have had 10mm of rain today it has put it back

Allow I was disappointed with my rape yield this year these Felixstowe pigeons was very happy when I started ploughing the stubble over the weekend and when doing the headland I had two more friends running up ahead of me

That's a nice looking car Trigger is it one of yours ? wish it was mine

yes I have some LEEDS wheat on some light land that looks good but till the combine moves in and get a true sample it all guess work and hopes the same applies for the Gator feed wheat I have looks good from the road but the bushel weight will be the important part and the higher the bushel weight the better the yield . We have just had 3 days of showers with a couple more to come but all we need is 2or3 sunny days and we will be cutting the wheat

Good to see you are off with your rape ,mines not done very well as with a bit of pigeon damage then last week 28mil of rain and hail-stones in a 30 minute spell knocked all the top pods off so am a bit disappointed with harvest so far and the bushel weight on the barley is down allow I have not had mine tested yet fingers crossed the wheat will be a bit better