smithy

Been a long day ,left home at 6am ,picked up Mr Reeve on the way and headed of up to Cheffins Vintage Auction ,sun was out so pleasantly warm several people about but not packed out like pre gov 19 ,got back home about 10-30pm ,and no apart from a hotdog and a coffee i did not buy anything .

I first got to now him about 18 months ago he slowly came in the yard in his van to drop me off some chemical , he jumped out of his van and basically run across the yard to where i had abandoned my fordson major the day before as the starter had got stuck ,he was walking all around it telling me this and that about it and that his father run 3or4 of them on his farm ,he said get me some spanners and i will sort out the starter i said what about your other delivery's he that can wait this is more fun so i left him to it and in about 40 min i looked out of the barn and he was driving it around the yard made his day and mine ,i have seen him a few times since and there is a good possibility that he might be doing another small job for me shortly

Yes you are right on that one ,its not cheap and at my age i probably wont see my investment return any profit on the crops that we grow but the field should have a higher value should it be sold . On a different matter do the name Nat Finbow ring any bells with you

It probably was made up there he did tell me last year that it was being built for him but i cant remember where ,he has moved onto another farm now overwise i would ask again

Les Cotton is based at Laxfield ,Suffolk ,so you have probably seen the name around on the white marker posts showing where the outlet is into the ditch

Within a few hrs water is dripping out of the pipes VID_20210416_105602.mp4 VID_20210416_105706.mp4 VID_20210416_110228.mp4 VID_20210416_110413.mp4 VID_20210416_110608.mp4

A few more ,sorry if i have doubled up on photos they are all scatted about on computer VID_20210416_110636.mp4 VID_20210416_121350.mp4 VID_20210416_121447.mp4 VID_20210416_121533.mp4 VID_20210416_122125.mp4

A few more . The stone cart was made to Les Cottons specification with a steering rear axle and the back end tips up to put the stones forward keeping the weight transferred on to the tractor ,the trailor holds 20tons 1964454290_VID_20210415_163846(1).mp4 VID_20210415_160831.mp4

A few more from the drainage gang

I have a 16 acre field that is in off winter wheat this year ,for the last 6 or 7 years its been having wet spots and the last 2 winters being very wet has made these wet spots bigger and a few more appear. It has a few drains which was put in ,in 1967 some have a small depth of stone on them ,and some have this black clinker type stuff on them. You can see the bare bits which are only going to get worse as the years go by the bits that was realy wet are cracking open more in this dry spell than the bits that have a root system holding it together . Been talking to Les Cotton since January about investigating the old drainage and maybe jetting them out but with digging more test holes and finding the old pipe system the old 9inch long clay pipes are cracking up so we have had to make plans to start again with a new system which uses a short length of the old main drain but a lot more pipes in total ,so i have spent all of my IACS money for this year before i have even got it and because this is the last proper year before it slowly disappear we thought its now or never . The field has a nice topsoil on the surface and normally works into a seedbed ok but it is clay underneath .

No rain since the end of march and none forecast for us here in suffolk so i have been around giving the trees i planted a drink

Not a good photo as we was travelling at 70mph on the m40 on saturday ,cant remember what junction we was near

Item i have collected over the last few days

I think its ok Sean ,there is not stranded height/size for trees in any scale as in real world they all grow to different sizes ,and them ones on the corner have been around a few year longer so bigger

I nipped up to PATRICK EDWARDS Tractor Jumble and Spares Day today at Langley Farm ,Clanfield ,Oxon . good day out plenty to browse at and good sunshine as well about 2 1/2hrs each way for me

This shows where it should be on the combine ,all six blades are bent ,3 of the 9 blade holders are bent ,belt that drives it is damaged ,got a price for all new parts from a NH Dealer £1500 including 2 new bearings and 2 new bearing holders +vat and my time to fix it . I think i have had this machine about 14 years and its my first major breakdown so i suppose i am lucky it happened in the yard and not in the field on the first day of cutting 🙁

Things don't always go to plan ,back in Decemberi got my combine out in the yard to give it a low speed run just so things not in same place for months ,heard a noise so stopped it and looked this little bracket (£28 for a new one )had broken it holds one side of the cleaning fan ,anyway it had all mover backwards and jammed up

Looks like i have a new member in my gang ☺️ VID_20210408_161210 (1).mp4

There was a few other things like this genny ,the engine runs lovely but no power coming out so i took it to the place i used to work in the winter months ,Stains &Golding Generators, saw a couple of my mates down there and we tested it ,could be the capacitor ,or a diode or the windings ,one of the lads said what did you pay for it i told him and he said ill give you that just for the engine so we had a deal ,if he fix it good luck to him

Sunday morning i used it to move my mates trailer that he stores up my farm . I also got mine out for a side by side shot . The baler i have sold to a breaker for parts ,and this little tractor i sold to a builder yesterday as he has a rotavator and a levelling harrow that will fit on and he can sort out the gardens of the houses that he builds ,i asked him if he needed a mower to cut the grass but he said NO so i still have that to try and sell on

Anyway by last Saturday my mate had picked up the tractor and baler on his big lowloader that he tows behind his tractor and got it back to mine ,with the help of my granddaughter we took of the starter motor and gave it a good dosing of wd40 after a hr or so of soaking we connected it straight onto a battery with some jump leads and it began to spin over slowly at first but then as it should so back on the tractor with it ,sorted out the safety switch on clutch pedal that was also sticking ,good battery bolted on on got jasmine to turn the key . VID_20210410_181545.mp4

After cleaning out fuel tank and carb i got it running VID_20210410_174003.mp4 VID_20210410_174205.mp4

We then went back to the meadow again and hooked on the trailer which i towed home to mine (these photos are in my yard ) also before i left the meadow the gardener helped me load up this cutter bar mower and this green turner which will fix on front of the cutter once you take the blade off .