Oakley Farms

Pre Harvest Update Well the countdown to harvest is upon us, preparations are well underway ahead of our busiest period. The combines are serviced and we have one header to finish off before we run both up out in the yard, winter barley is up first which is looking around 7-10 days away weather depending, oilseed rape will possibly be dedicated towards the end of next week. The drier has had a once over and the handling system is being looked at now, TVS farm cleaning will be brought in next week to wash all the grain stores and cold stores before fumigation and sanitation. Currently the lads are hauling in as mush compost as possible to field locations for autumn spreading along with 2 of Orchards guys and one lorry from Bonning's, sewage sludge has also been delivered to heavy ground. Potentially harvest will start for us next week with wholecrop wheat for AD, brand new for us to do this completely ourselves so slightly daunting I admit, around 800 acres to complete our contracted tonnage. Last week Dan headed over to Compass Tractors to pick up the new XDisc header, 6.2 metres to fit our CTF system. As some of you will already know we were involved with Orchard contractors in running an ejector trailer along with one of theirs for a couple years, when the scope and profitability came about to potentially grow crops ourselves for energy the decision was made to grow this side of the business a little, justifying to now do the job in house, originally we could not do this in the beginning so teamed up with our neighbours and that worked very well, now with both our own workloads increased along with the acreage required for AD we are now in a position to try it ourselves. We are gearing up to do this within our CTF system but at 6 meters, using the existing 12 metre runs and placing runs in between, allowing energy crops to fit into our arable rotation which gives benefits such as more profitably to our customers and black grass control without compromising soil health. A tool which allows us to do this is the ejector trailers-having bought Orchards as well as our own, running on triple axels to spread the weight with low ground pressure tyres these will strictly be for field use, pulled by tractors with GPS, then using the Maus to load waiting lorries on the road. We have just had both of them completely overhauled ready for the season by TWR commercial bodybuilders who have done a fantastic job complete with new paintwork which will be the Oakley colour scheme on custom builds. We will keep our two 14 Richard Western silage trailers for opening out headlands and knocking out the midfield as well as road work if required. All loads are weighed and clamped at Oakley with the pisten bully and transported out all year round by the digester boys. So what's the crops looking like at the moment....Wheat looks good, light land suffering a little with drought stress but all in all ok, winter barley is looking a bit disappointing, most of it on very light land and has been hammered by the wind, it's not flat just slumped together, spring beans have picked up really well and looking excellent, rapeseed is also looking promising this year although we don't have a great deal compared to most years, maize looks ok but needs a drink along with the spuds, the wrong year to grow nearly 200 acres on in irrigation land? Time will tell. Looking ahead we currently only have 900 acres of straw sold so looking for buyers, I definitely want to sell off the remaining 600 acres of winter barley straw, I don't want to chop it as oilseed rape is to follow next year and gives us slug issues, more than happy to chop wheat straw where rape doesn't follow however. Trailers will start to go through the workshop tomorrow, washed, sanitised, running gear checked, lights checked and greased up, the annual Heath and safety meeting is this Friday along with constabulary inspection to make sure we are all above board. Stay tuned next week and see things kick off...

Thanks Ol, we have about 870 acres this year

Destoner was made by BOR, one of four unlikely to be repeated unfortunately. I will keep my eyes and ears if I hear of one up for sale.

Ha ha going to need one, I was hoping it came with a pilot driver from the reputable contractor we bought it from

Smart looking outfit for grass there, like it!

Great pics Dave, what model of jaguar are you running?

Things are pretty much wrapped up regarding spring work now, we finished drilling maize last week, so impressed with the new drill, great output. Just waiting to put on the last pre em's once T2 is all together on wheat which will be this week. First blight spray will be this week too for spuds. Not long for post em herbicide and mag boost for maize too. Some of the boys are now on irrigation set up, an easier year with only Eames Mill block with the ability to water which is 80 acres, Horlicks and Hurcott North have no underground lines. Start to turn our attention to harvest now, we have combines and headers to go through workshop aswell as trailers and also a harvester of a different shade of green to look at, bought second hand from a local contractor for AD work, new for us!

How are things fairing up now Smithy, we had another 23mm last week which has helped, especially the spring beans who were suffering, and maize on the loams, wheat looking good, barley is average, rape reasonable.

Some 25mm of rain over the bank holiday weekend was very welcomed here in Somerset, just managed to finish the late flowering spray on the rape Saturday night. The rain has made a difference to the spud planting, bedtiller is now going easier and the destoner has less to deal with, much better ridges, now down to about 40 acres left. Definitely made the right decision holding off applying the last dose of liquid N on the wheat until now as we have avoided scortch completely and was able to press on with it through the showers on bank holiday Monday and continue this week with cooler temps. Catch up with pre em on spuds and whatever maize is to do before T2. Talking of maize we are just whizzing over the ground for a second time with the carrier now the rain has soaked in and create a tilth rather than clods, so far haven't had to use a power Harrow so happy days. Yesterday the new drill was collected from Redlynch, 8 row Horsch, the first year at attempting maize on CTF, 6 meter system. Steve Burcham came out to help us set up, working with the Trimble system for auto shut off on headlands and RTK traffic lines. 100 acres now in today which is pleasing but a week later than planned but into better seedbeds so all good. Whether to double shift it is the next question with 1100 acres left. A few pictures from the wet day in the yard.

Late April update Potatoes have been going in well, 170 acres are in now includes Horlicks and Hurcott south. Down to the last 80 acres now so moving to Eames Mill tomorrow, getting slightly cloddy now, glad we only subsoiled and didn't press on and rip ground up and bake out. We made the decision last week to crack on with T1 spray on wheat first rather than the second dose of liquid N due to the risk of scortching in the hot weather, at least if the weather breaks we can still apply that keeping the workload shifting. T1 is done on the combinable wheat, a few days on AD wheat for whole crop. Sprayer workload is never ending, if that lot wasn't enough there's the late flowering OSR spray imminent as well as pre ems on spuds! We haven't drilled any maize for AD yet, 2 reasons being we are waiting for our drill to turn up and it's also very dry, those that have planted already won't be far ahead, but if the machine arrives then next week we will try to get some in. So far there's a couple hundred acres ready to seedbed but that's it. The sprayer will have pre em on maize to do then too! Pictures to come soon.

Been drilling here for over a week and some under plastic the week before

Glad to see someone else hasn't started maize drilling yet, it's like the Sahara desert over here! Another good update mate!

First field of potatoes in today, Shepody going in down at Horlicks, a little tacky but going well

Spring beans = Done Drilled, Rolled & Pre Emergence on. Now onto T0 Spuds next week hopefully!

Cheers mate, 12 metres for CTF, hopefully going to change the tank colour soon to bring it in line with the newer models.

27/03/2017 A break half way through drilling spring beans for wet weather last week, a lovely dry weekend and we are back on it, cultivations completed Saturday and the drills out in full force Sunday for 400 acre block at Speaks. Finishing off there today and with rain forecast for Wednesday we are putting in a night shift tonight to complete 100 acres across the road from Speaks for Osborne, then moving back next door to the yard for the last 200 acres, will make a start on this tonight to make it an easier day for tomorrow, Chris and Mark will be off the machines now whilst Myself and Webby take over on the drill and rolls after a fill up of the red stuff, once we move back to the farm in the early hours Webby will move from the rollers to go back and collect the seed trailer leaving rolling for tomorrow. Pre ems are up to day with the beans so far so Phil is currently applying T0 on W barley, fingers crossed we can wrap the last of the pre ems up this week as recommendations are in for T0 on wheat!

No no he is on the ball this year, been out drilling last week, but I can't work out if it's spring barley, spring beans or last years winter wheat he has put in!!

Haha our progress is behind yours I notice! I'm getting as bad as Chris Reyland....maybe not that bad

A few pics from Sunday evening in the yard, started drilling spring beans yesterday thankfully, 340 acres drilled in two blocks at Moolham and Boxstone is good going for day one, managed another 50 this morning before the rain came down up at the top of Bay Hill, James is now on the rolls following Chris on the drill as the bowser takes a few days rest after completing liquid N on all wheat including wholecrop AD. Next job for the sprayer is second dose of N on the OSR as that is now racing through growth stages and then pre em the beans which is all mostly local work. We have struggled to get on the land early enough this year to complete all the primary cultivations in one go which allows the ground to dry before hitting secondary and drilling together so this year a week has been allowed between primary and secondary and then drilled the following day, the problem with this is a week hasn't been long enough to cover all the primary cultivations before that Challenger was required on the drill, so using the 939 has been invaluable on secondary cultivations keeping one challenger on primary and allowing the other to start drilling, as it stands at the moment we have 390 acres drilled with probably 200 odd acres ahead ready, and 600 acres untouched cover crop stubble so the drill will catch up for definite. We have starting to take a look at spud and maize ground now, topping cover crops on spud ground today, maize ground was sprayed off as that was overwintered with oats so no topping needed there, get in with the subsoiler on these as soon as the beans are in. Spray shed now being cladded and partition wall in looking good.

Ha ha it's staying under the bed for now, I have 1/32 plans to save for!

I couldn't agree more! I'd love the next fleet to be nature green with chrome kits, that won't be any time soon though!

Start of another fresh week with a settled forecast which is great news! Over last week despite the rain showers we got on with applying liquid fert on winter barley, moved onto the small amount of rape we have in and over the weekend moved onto the wheat, the unimog and bowser working a treat. The subsoiler is on taking out hedgetrimmer wheelings around headlands. Topping down cover crops which have died off well now behind orchard's spreaders is on going, moving onto chicken litter this week despite a slight mishap needing some fabrication work! The Topdown is going on today and get some ground turned around for spring bean drilling

Start of another week, so much to be getting on with but conditions far from ideal so patience is going to be needed. We had to stop the spreaders on Friday as ground conditions started to become sticky making a mess. Saturday was a fine day, windy but we managed to get out on some of the sandiest ground at Wigborough to put on some liquid fert on winter barley, the beauty of liquid! We are organised in the yard to get going as soon as it dries which I'm confident won't take long. Plans for this week include to carry on with the spray shed which the purlins are now going on, finish mounting the N sensor to the 724 and work out how to get Trimble talking to it, and hopefully get the spreaders going again midweek along with the topper, be nice to think this time next week we will have some ground ripped up, tune in to find out

Good to see things moving again now another season kicks off, forecast doesn't look too brilliant so looks like a weekend off! New forager looks like it'll fit in well, keep the updates coming!

Always a pleasure guys, glad you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy posting