smithy

yes the tractor boys winning again was pleasing today

nice picture of your neighbour drilling kale ol we could do with some of that dust over here at moment as while I was away over weekend we had 31mm of rain and another 11mm last night so will not be spraying the rape this week as more rain is forecast

only got back from Zwolle late last night so had a bit of a lazy day but have been swotting up on a few things as I have a sprayer/training day on friday

above post was meant to be attached /reply to light lands post

We get paid £31.67 per tonne based on the beet at 16% sugar (if 17% you get 1% more 18% you get 2%more and so on ) the factory take a dirt sample and take a bit back and also a bit if you leave to much green top on so on a 29 tonne load you end up on average getting paid for 26 tonnes when you have filled your main quota the price for this year drops to £25 and same deductions for dirt as above. next year the price is only £24 tonne main quota and about £5 tonne for the rest . there is a late deliveries bonus of about 36 pence a tonne from the 1st January 2015 rising up to £3.91 a tonne if factory is open till march 2015. W don't get the pulp back the factory sells this on we could buy some but has to be booked up a good 6 months in advance don't now the price at moment but it does sell out quickly the factory also sells topsoil and stones which is washed of the beet. I normaly grow about 16 acres but next year will only be growing 10 acres as there is too much surplus sugar in the world

spent today loading the last of my sugar beet I have had 17 29 ton loads leave the farm which came of 17 acres so not a bad crop after all don't now at the moment what the sugar content is as the factory will post that to me after Wednesday this week

my son and granddaughter started building my shed to put my E27N fordson major in on Saturday

my granddaughter JASMINE has been helping me with my collection since she was 4 she is now 8 and got a small collection of her own and like me rights them all down in a book

Glad to hear the good news Sean also looking forward to seeing you at Zwolle next weekend

I have been loading sugar beet for my neighbour as he also has been and lifted my beet with his HOLMER CHASER and HOLMER TERRA DOS T4 30 which I was told could be the only one working in the UK

I went and helped one of my neighbours by drilling 20 acres for him as his own tractor a CLAAS ARES 656 RZ has broken it crown wheel and pinion in its back axle also standing in his yard was his RENAULT 90-34 TRACFOR .The CLAAS 620 ARION was a hire tractor to cart his sugar beet into Bury St Edmunds beet factory

my two mates had a drink or two but I stayed on the soft drinks as I was also the driver,

I have been helping my mates at BARKING ENGINEERING we had to fit a liner inside a chimney then fit a double sided wood burner so it would heat both the bar and dining area .Working in a pub for two days was great fun cherry picker outside to reach top of chimney was not so good as it was raining and bit windy

Thank you I don't always keep it that straight but that field is in full view to my neighbours that have got GPS so had to stay awake on that field

spent Saturday pressing the 26 acres I had ploughed on Friday with a 3-5meter Edlington Press and MTX155 MCcormick

I normally just do the local farms but have done some of the distance farms in the past.When he is away lifting beet and his father needs a hand in his yard I go over and help load FIBROPHOS FERTILISER as he stores and blends it on the farm

Yes he covers about 2000 acres but it does depend on the weather and how long the campaign lasts this year Bury St Edmunds factory opens on the 15th September so he plans to start lifting on the 10th as the factory likes to how there is a stock pile of beet ready for processing

No baler worked fine now an again sledge plays up if you are following a tramline .

Yes he did not tell me what he paid but he said he could have bought a real big house for the same money

my neighbour that I help with sugar beet lifting took delivery of his new HOLMER T4 beet harvester on Friday and parked next to it is his HOLMER chaser

Been spreading LIME X on next years beet land at 3 tons to the acre or 7.5 tons hectare also put some on a field going into barley spread 120 tons today

whoops pictures for some reason come out wrong way round sorry

I have been cutting my last field of wheat today moisture got down to 16% so got going and finished

the John Deere planting my rape belongs to Guy Hitchcock he farms next door to me I often go over his to help when he needs a extra driver

the discs make a nice tilth for the seeds which are spread behind where the six legs are which are in the ground about 10 inches or 25cm the second press helps to push it all down to save the moisture in the ground also having it pressed down helps to stop the slugs eating to much as you can see its all done in one pass so its quicker in the end