ctsboy

I've got boom trac on my 840I and i wouldn't be without it now , its nothing to do with being lazy it makes life easier and able to do the job better, you can keep the booms lower with out having to keep making minor adjustments frees you up to monitor what else is going on. especially with bigger booms , to often i see operators when i'm driving around with the booms to high above the crop cause its easier to run with them high than keep adjusting them, i have mine set so they are running around 50cm above the crop and they keep there unless i hit a sudden rut, and they also lift up at the end of the pass when i turn the spray lines off so they are up out of the way while i turn leaving me to make a smooth controled turn.

looking good Gav, 1 question though, those arn't McCormick overalls you are wearing are they?

Wild oats are controlable with chemicals in barley we used to use a product called Tigress Ultra, but not had a lot to do with barley over the last 6 or so years. Another 1 was Panther. These have probably been super seeded by new products.

Good pics Ertlerik, brings back memories they do , we had a AR-4B on hire/trial a couple of years ago, it was 1 hell of a bit of kit,

How you enjoying harvesting Gav? There dosn't seem to be a lot of clear view of the main web on the harvester? The topper looks like a Basilier,marketed now by standen pearson if i'm not mistaken. When you are done there you will have to get over to us, we have another 350-400 acres to go yet!

Still running the 3 , just waiting for a window to get going not turned a wheel since saturday Got the troops mobilised at lunch time today by the time we got to the field the rain was coming straight down Next few days are looking a bit more promising.

I know of 2 topdowns near me a 7m (i think) on a JD 9620 on H-tracks and a 4m on a JD8410T Will try for some pics when we park the ark up and get the tractors out again :

So Jez how was it coming out to see a quality outfit in operation? We had a good day till we got rained off

That ploeger looks more like one of there Spinach harvesters, i may be wrong we saw them when we went to the factory.

Its looking like 2-3weeks before we get going in the rape, going to start desicating next week. All dependent on the weather, looks like some barley local on light ground may going sooner, but we have none so got to wait that bit longer to get the green fleet rolling.

i must say the twins are looking the business No stopping JAG contracting now! There may be some grass this way in need of chopping so i can get a 1st wheat in. ;D ;D

Its true we had a price for fuel at work at 68p/litre today four years ago it was 16p/litre

There are so many variables that can be brought into it, i am working on price per hour , you can't compare things like putting up ceiling tiles etc cause they have differnt pricing stuctures i was think of letting the small man know well the younger lads who think it would be good to have there own tractor to watch out on hidden cost and at the minute fuel is a big cost that needs taking into account.

This is just man and tractor no machine! When i was self employed 6 years ago there where people going out with 140hp tractors for £15 per hour, at the time i was looking into getting a tractor but i couldn't justify it , i'm not big headed but i think my time is worth at least £10per hour if i was a plumber,sparky etc i would be charging much more and in our field we are just as skilled.

I know that in the past a few members have posted asking what to charge for a man and tractor, well i spent the day today in a talk held at work on cultivations,energy and grain storage by a chap who is like a agric buisness troubleshooter, and the rising fuel costs were discused and we worked out that on todays fuel price a 100HPtractor(of which i bet very few owner drivers run) alone will us £14 per hour of fuel :o :o :o so if you then add in all the other costs for example:you sat on the seat, repair cost the list goes on. So in my view and i'm no expert but alot of owner drivers need to look deeply at costings or other options like have fuel from the farmer you are working for etc. But i think that the price to make any money should be in the £28 or above bracket. (but like i say i'm no expert)I thought i would share with you what i found out today.