Oakley Farms

After waiting nearly a year our new Jcb Loadall arrived last week, just in time for wheat going out of store on November contracts, 9 lorry loads going out this coming week. Again thanks to Alan for the transport who looked to have an old Newholland TM150 on board heading back to Wales. Today (Monday) Colin has been hauling chicken litter out from a nearby poultry site along with John who has come in to help out with his Claas as we are currently down to one tractor - Colins 6195r is poorly with engine trouble. After pumping up a soft tyre on one of our older trailers John joined our 6155r for the day.

The Demo of the 8rx went really well, impressive tractor, really well thought out, pulls reasonably well and economical. Tried it out on both the Demo drill, our Rapid Drill and then the Horsch Tiger. We are probably thinking the Spirit drill won’t be for us though, it’s good points are the larger staggered wheels, large tank, ability to put fert ahead of the seed. What we didn’t so much like was the lack of direct drilling ability, coulters didn’t cope that well with trash and not sure it would cope with our heavy land at Bondip, but the dealer is going to bring it back in the spring for us to try Spring Beans on some clay. Simon is to sit down and work out if he can afford an 8rx and see what package is available. Having these demos allowed us to get the drilling into a corner and completed before this rain. We didn’t however manage to get all the pre emergence sprays on. We are now having a re organise in the yard, washing down kit and putting away, having a good tidy up. Collected the new grain bucket too

Do like watching Andrews weekly updates

Since changing over to Deere earlier in the spring ad buying second hand, our local dealer has been pushing hard to get demos into us, aware of our ageing Claas they have brought over an 8rx for us to try out, looks very exciting. Since they are also Vaderstad dealers they managed to bring a new Spirit drill too, a slightly different concept, with the ability to pre place fertiliser ahead of the seed. Looking forward to trying it all out on Monday.

So many replacement options, only just started to look really, The Claas is very reliable and pre ad blue so has real grunt. Will have some things in demo coming up but over spent this year so won’t be for a bit

Doesn’t it just, so glad I did it, it’s subtle but enough. Do love the Claas but will be time for a change at some point

Started the autumn drilling campaign this week, winter wheat has gone into Knott Oak, Bay Hill and Bondip North so far, good conditions. Had rain overnight so Bondip hasn’t been rolled which is a shame, its heavy ground a suffers from blackgrass so will be applying avadex once rolled. Got the Horstine applicator out the shed today to rig up. Tomorrow we are on hauling chicken litter from Newport Manor Farms which will be taken over to Bondip for spring spreading. I believe a wet weekend is ahead so might be it for drilling until next week

Alan has been out trucking again in his Volvo and kindly brought back our flatbed trailer that has been reconditioned before he headed back home to Wales for the weekend

September Update With harvest well and truly behind us now, attentions turned to autumn cultivations, Colin wizzing over the ground destined for winter wheat with the Catros and also the Horsch tiger too. With the odd wet day the combine has been washed off and put away, we have applied some slug pellets to the OSR which were being nibbled particularly at Bondip. Now looking at secondary cultivations this week as hope to start the drilling campaign next week. We have a new drill coming on demo which will be interesting, a slightly different concept than the rapid, hopefully that will be here next week

Harvest Log Days 15-18 Back on harvesting over the bank holiday weekend after finishing putting the pre emergence spray on the Rape. We had Alan visiting from Wales over the weekend so took advantage of this and got him on a trailer to help with the longer haul from Bondip North. Spring Beans are very disappointing this year, averaging 1.5t/ha if lucky. Making for quick harvesting though, so far we have cleared Bondip, The Meads and now are on the 3rd day down in the Park. A few later nights have been had as heavy dews in the mornings preventing us from getting started. All being well by Saturday/Sunday harvest should be finished. Our local John Deere dealer has been in to fit Greenstar on the second hand Gator we bought, ready to put some slug pellets on if needed. Now the new trailers have done a bit of work we thought it was a good idea to check the wheel nuts and tighten any just to be safe.

Still in the harvest interval between wheat and spring beans, it has given is chance to spray off the beans, which I have to say are looking pretty poor, it’s mainly the greenery in the bottom that needs tidying up to make for easier harvesting. Before that we cleaned up the stubbles ahead of drilling OSR which started last Friday, covering Selvinge, Ilford Bridges, Blackdown and today moving up to Bondip East, tomorrow should see all of that in the ground with good moisture after the recent rain, definitely has paid to hang on a bit and get it into general good tilth with the Rapid. Colin has been following with the rollers although had a bit of a problem yesterday when unfolding, one of the shafts snapped that hang the rings on, when back in the yard just weighing up whether it could be welded or a new shaft is needed.

I do love a Vaderstad Rapid

In the last week I have changed over the wearing discs on the drill for new ones, with the ground being so hard at the moment they had worn when putting in the cover crops. Three Oaks Farm Contracting are just finishing mopping up the last of the bales before heading home, we thank them for their swift service and clearing the fields to stacks to allow for drilling. A new topper was collected from Halses on Friday, good to be able to tidy up some field margins now.

Harvest Log Days 12, 13 & 14 From last Friday and over last weekend saw us complete the wheat harvest, the earliest on record I think, chopping through Blackdown on the Friday and then two days up at Bondip East. The plan was always then to stay up there and cut the spring beans but they are all a little way off so we have a little harvest interlude whilst we wait. This however is great as it has given us time to drill all the cover crops and roll, lightly cultivate all the ex OSR ground to get a chit to spray off the volunteers and get ready to drill next years OSR, which will possibly start next week if we have some showers that they are forecasting. Then we will look at some beans. John has the hedgecutter back on his tractor after successfully getting the derogation order to cut hedges ahead of next years OSR.

Harvest Log Day 11 Back cutting winter wheat again at Eames Mill, nice to get that wrapped up yesterday, across the road today into my favourite block at Blackdown, sits high above the town with views all round. Just shy of 130 acres to do up there. On Wednesday we started to drill cover crops at Atherstone and taught Ashley how to use the drill whilst I’m on the combine, Colin had a go with the Amazone discs up above the farm on the rape stubble to get a seed chit before drilling wheat in a couple months, a good use of a damp day. John Webb is in with his Claas to roll the seedbeds.

Harvest Log Day 10 Breakdown! Just as moving the combine to start the next field, cemos kept flashing up the overheat error, further investigation in the engine bay discovered a reducer off the radiator system had split and sprayed coolant all down the side of the machine. A call to Claas Western who luckily had one in stock and Paul was out after lunch to fit the new one for us. Got back going again at about 3pm and worked on a little longer to clear everything at Selvinge. Brought the combine back to the yard last night after it’s been kept out the the fields overnight for a week, needed to wash off the coolant in the wash bay and then fuel up ready to go again. Bit of a damp day here in Somerset today so time to make a start drilling some cover crops. Lots of people I see have started to drill OSR, we are going to hang fire a bit until there's some moisture or at least some rain forecast, it’s incredibly dry!

Harvest Log Day 9 With a nice warm sunny day we were able to crack back on with the wheat, although we had decided not to cut anything over the weekend we wouldn’t of been able to anyway as the moisture only got down to 16.6% with a driving wind. We finished up at the bottom end of Selvinge against the river and now started to make our way back up Selvinge track towards the road tomorrow. Looking like we are heading to an 80 acre block in 8 fields with a header change in all but 1. That will probably take us until the end of Wednesday. The contractors were busy over the weekend baling and stacking Atherstone which is almost cleared, the baler is now chasing us at Selvinge.

Harvest Log day 7&8 We finished the block at Atherstone on Thursday evening, Friday we went across the road into a block called Selvinge, this runs from Atherstone down to the River Isle, the ground furthest from the river was ok but yesterday evening in a field called River Ground its just and just fit so pulled a stop on it. Struggling to find anything ripe now for a few days, Pump House, and Ilford Bridges fields all all hanging on, the block at Blackdown isn’t ready until next week, Bondip East isn’t ready due to heavier ground hanging on. There’s 80 acres at Eames Mill in lots of small fields we could have a go at for a day but for now its a weekend off! The contractors have taken up camp in a corner of the yard for baling straw, this year we are using Three Oaks Farm Contractors, running a 936 on a Krone baler and 2 724’s on HM bale trailers removing the bales. Alan is also back now with his Volvo, he has a job with us to move all the OSR over to Hopkins grain store for United Oilseeds.

Harvest Log Day 6 After changing the side knives and putting the dividers back on the header, a change over and clean up in the grainstore to get rid of any traces of OSR in the pits and elevators and we were ready by mid afternoon to try some wheat. Cleared just under 50 acres yesterday evening in 4 fields and will probably be in this block for the rest of today, with 2 header changes and 2 moves to clear this area up. The contractors are booked to be in on Friday

Harvest Log Days 4&5 The OSR up at Bondip harvested in 2 days which sees the 2022 rapeseed harvest wrapped up and in the barn. Bondip is rented land and is split into 3 blocks, North, East and West. Heavy ground but great for harvesting, going from field to field largely without taking the header off. We have to travel back up here for the wheat and spring beans but not ready yet so its back home to take the side knives off, a bit of a service up and see what Wheat is ready, there’s a block at Atherstone which followed potatoes last year that was thin on establishment and on light ground so has died off earlier, looking like this could be the first on the list. Baling contractors will be primed for moving straw. We also now need to book in haulage to move the OSR to the nearest pool store so we have room in our own store for all the wheat and beans.

Harvest Log Days 2 & 3 After a break for the rain on Friday, we hit back on the OSR finishing the block above the farm on Saturday Today we have been up to Moolham and cleared a 100 acre block in some nice sized fields. Ready to move up to Bondip tomorrow morning for 2 days, will have John Webb in tomorrow to help with the longer haul and part time help Ashley to drive the 6155R whilst Simon runs the dryer

Harvest Log Day 1 21/7/22 …..and we are off! Harvest starts at Oakley Farms, after not getting to it yesterday because things just weren’t ready. Into a block of Oilseed Rape just up above the farm, cleared around 70 acres today which isn’t bad at all considering everything had to be set up, from the combine to the dryer, feels good to now be harvesting

I may have done 🫣

The first of two new trailers arrived yesterday. Our friend Alan went up to Lincolnshire to collect it direct from Bailey Trailers in his new Volvo. These are 18t root specials, as we feel these ride better with the lower centre of gravity and easier to see into for loading. Went for 18t so we can carry a sensible load without having to heap up above the sides. With the new laws about unsecured loads these have sheets for the longer haul back from Bondip along the A303, A Vosa hotspot! They will join the 2 older 14 tonners already in the fleet. Thanks to Alan for collecting and well will be seeing more of him soon!

The last push is being made to make sure the grainstore, dryer and handling equipment is finished and up and running. The OSR is now ready for harvesting but we have held off due to the extreme temperatures, the moisture is too low and in this heat there’s a real risk of fire and with a brand new combine and chances of a replacement combine zero the risk is just too high. So we plan to make a start tomorrow/Thursday when it’s cooler, get everything setup and iron out any problems with the machine and the grain handling. This will mean the return of Harvest Log, where I will post daily updates on progress of harvest across the farm over the season.