Oakley Farms

Just come out of a meeting where we have been awarded to contract farm Frogmary Green and Wigborough Manor as from Sept, an extra 1100 acres, Bower Hinton we were unsucessful due to Andrew Palmer wanting to carry on for another year on his own which we respect. We have also reviewed farm plans pre harvest, we have dramatically reduced rape acerage next year from 1250 acres to roughly 700, a price plummet, challenging establishment year with no neonics, more spring beans and the way the crop rotation has worked out are the reasons. Another review was on potatoes, lengthy discussions took place as the market can only be described as dead on its feet with the future looking very bleak with news this week that only 45-55 sizing will be accepted from now, anything outside of that is wastage. We are unsure of how to fill contracts on a per tonne basis now as to fill a contract at only 45-55 sizing would mean growing more spuds with double the waste i.e stockfeed which is simply un justifiable. We simply cant just pack in spuds either which is what id like to do because of the money we have invested so one idea is to convert 3 of the cold stores into extra grain storage capacity which we will need due to the expansion of the contract farmed area, one part of the business that is doing well im pleased to report and then leave 3 cold stores and grow for processing which means spuds will go straight out of farm in bulkers leaving minimal storage, something will have to be done. One thing we did decide is to shut and demolish the packhouse which has been a white elephant, this area will then house the potato boxes being right next to the grading shed, we will then develop where the boxes were to into an office block and improve the biobed area with two liquid fert tanks.

Servicing is all go this week before our annual pre harvest inspection and BBQ, Paul is here from Vaughn's helping Steve set the combines up and the harvest student is helping Mark go through all the trailers in between irrigation, Phil is sat on the sprayer with Joe running the bowser to the field

Tell me about it Paul, the fields let me down, all space was used up with the farm

Mark is still on irrigation, caught up with him today rolling out some layflat pipe and pulling a reel out down a tramline

Desicating rape started today with Glyphosate and Pod-Stik, 196 acres up behind the farm on some steep ground, Bay Hill and Eames Mill next on the hit list

Looking at a 12 metre Horsch at the moment Niels until Mr Vaderstad pulls his finger out!

Today i gave a presentation on Oakley Farms Agri Business to 3 potential new contract farms that we have put in a tender for, Mr N Bragg at Frogmary Green Farm, Mr R Vaux at Wigborough Manor and Mr A Palmer at Bower Hinton Farm, the presentation went well with our vision of a true 12m CTF stubble to stubble system and the benefits of this along with our drying & storage plan, agronomy and marketing with Frontier Ag. Figures were talked and returns projected, lots of questions too. We will find out in the next few weeks the result, i do know who we are up against though, Bearly Farms, Barrow Agri and Hopkins Developments, i think the only one to worry about is Hopkins, with 5000 acres under their belt and a United Oilseeds grain store on site they are very similar to us however do not operate CTF and compaction reduction...time will tell if all our investment has paid off in attracting new customers to expand with. Back on farm and the Bio drill is now finished, all ready for drilling rape this season, we have fitted the tank onto the refurbished flatlift, then came deliberation about seed placement, at first we were simply going to just drop the seed straight behind the leg, but i was worried about keeping a constant depth. This year is going to be a tough challenge for growing rape with the banning of Neonicotinoid seed treatment, although i read today this ban maybe reverted as it shows no evidence to the decline of bee health, hopefully this will happen and more farmers grow margins for operation pollination for bees and also attracts then to pollinate crops in field. This ban will undoubtably affect yields so its all about autumn establishment, we have taken on this challenge by adopting this new drill, with the help of friends from New Zealand and Suffolk (Ol and Niels) with the idea of placing coulters behind the packer roller, this ticked my box about keeping constant depth and also allows us to accurately place the seed, this then allowed me to use a system available on Horsch drills (and others) to use PPF (precision placement fertiliser) which basically splits the hopper into 2, 60% for fert and 40% for seed, two sets of pipes then run to the coulters where the leading disc runs deeper placing fertiliser (in this instance it will be DAP Di Ammonium Phosphate) just below the seed, giving the seed the best possible start, also moving to 70cm spacings at lower seed rates encourages branching, less is more. Other benefits are single pass operation, minimal soil disturbance which will help control blackgrass on heavier land, cuts a pass with fert spinner reducing compaction there, and a 6 metre working width to fit between CTF however we will more than likely drill at a 30 degree angle to tramlines to bust compaction and also the sprayer driver will see last years tramlines for pre emergence, not that should matter with Trimble! We are still unsure whether to up seed rates slightly for insurance. Here we are fitting it to the Challenger C Now the drill is done we are looking a pre harvest servicing, combines have been moved into the grain store where there is more light and room, although new machines we need to make adjustments and the Vaughn Agri Claas combine service engineer Paul will be down to go through machines and run them up, we know day one in field will be a tedious day of setting up the combines with teething problems but the more we can eliminate now the less stressful and more productive we can be in field, next will be trailer servicing before we have a meeting with the local Police to sign us off as a road worthy outfit, this helps us by them leaving us alone during busy season!

Here are some "behind the scenes" secrets to how i "keep it real" so to speak, first of all although Oakley is based upon three farms plus my own ideas and all pulled together as one the land farmed is real, all blocks of land are within 20-25 miles of me here in Somerset, all the land owned and rented by Oakley is an estate in Ilminster where i grew up and also was a harvest student so therefore i know the field names, soil types etc. the contract farmed areas are all neighbouring farms to this estate so again i have knowledge of the fields. Next up would be the cropping map, and crop rotation plan, produced on the computer these are for the real fields here in Somerset that i work into 1/32. These maps have all accurate field sizes in hectares and acres, this is helpful to work out timings for how long operations will take, for example its easy to say when you start and finish harvesting but i work out how many acres a day workload and work my way around the estate, with bearing the weather in mind too it makes the whole operation real life. Finally i write out plans of where to start and finish jobs, all fields are divided up into blocks and are block cropped as this makes logical sense and is efficent farming, so already written out is where harvest will start this year depending on the date drilled and variety, all brings Oakley to life and makes it run like a well oiled machine, many 1/32 farmers would make up when they start and finish but here at Oakley we start and finish based upon real life, stopping for rain, breakdowns, and if crops suffer here in Somerset so they do at Oakley, we try not to look at everything with rose tinted glasses such as our break ins the other day, also saying you achieve outstanding yields/ha is un realisic year upon year. I hope this gives an insite to how i do it and when you follow this topic now such as this coming harvest you can understand it is all related to exact real life timings, some may say its a bit overkill for a model farm to go to such lengths but it gives me a great buzz running Oakley Farms, just like running a real farm which i aim to do in the future, i hope you all keep enjoying reading it

Thanks Jon, im touched by the comments on here, at the end of the day this is my hobby and i enjoy it a lot and it gives me a real buzz posting it on here and sharing my passion. I run it just like a real farm and will be sharing some "behind the scenes" secrets to what makes it work soon. I plan on keeping it going as when i started out i had a vision of what i wanted and needless to say I'm past that now, farming is constantly changing so therefore Oakley will be too to keep with the times and be competitive at the best we do. Im a very fussy person when it comes to my models, i know what i like and don't like so id imagine i can be a model makers nightmare but i think it shows having attention to detail and have been lucky enough to deal with a niche few builders that I'm very happy dealing with, as the the future, expansion is still on the cards.

Also this week Maurice and Phil have been hauling chicken litter to field locations ready for spreading ahead of OSR However today i have pulled Phil of this job and put him on the hedgetrimmer to tidy up all verges and to side up hedges by gateways to make visibility better at harvest which is fast approaching, desiccating rape will be Phil's next job. Joe has taken over from Phil hauling with the Unimog Yesterday Mark picked up the new irrigation pipe trailer which we had specially made, we were fed up with strapping pipes on the flatbed so now we have a specific trailer to do the job safely and will also store all the pipes at winter, this is a full time job for Mark at the mo however he will get a hand next week when the harvest student starts

Word has gone round locally that we are running two Challengers now and it is correct, we got hold of one of the last MT865C's and are running it alongside a new MT875E, we will see how these compare, one will be on the chaser at harvest and then swap to the drill while the other will take care of drilling rape and cultivations....so its goodbye to the little 765D

Sneaky peek 2

Perfect, thanks Joe, this sounds a better idea for more accurate depth control whilst still being able to seed behind a subsoiler leg and at 70cm row widths, food for thought defiantly. More news...here's a sneaky peek of something new in the yard, phase 2 of CTF beginning

Nice idea lads, like it alot, just trying to work out row widths, pipe outlets, and weed management post drilling

Thats correct, we are in talks currently with Techneat to work out how to keep a contastsnt seed depth as we want a narrow band rather than broadcasting it, then a roll in. One of the new Challengers will sit on the front of it, with the bigger legs and feet on it, 6 metres will take some hp at depth

Steve's in the workshop this week, we have given the flatlift a respray and retro-fitted sumo type legs with different feet, feet that create lift and bust compaction but dont bring as much soil to the suface, this should help land we have a problem with resistant weeds such as blackgrass when drilling rape direct as it doesnt allow seeds to germinate, less surface soil disturbance. Here we are trying to fit the bio drill tank on

Meant to be putting flowers in the top of them to make it look nice but at the mo they are full up with gravel to block the gap between the gates and the trees until we have a fence put up

What a great comment, cheers Jon

Cheers Julian, not something we will do every year, possibly every other

Pictures from Open Farm Sunday Tesco and Greenvale advertising in the entrance Our main entrance Smart Agri Services had a stand just inside the gate raffling John Deere scale tractors and merchandise Next up was Tractor Ally where our fleet was lined up for all to sit in and have photographs taken Guess the weight of the lorry competition courtesy of M Way & Son Guided tractor tours around the estate including Oakley Hall, The Park, The Lakes, Wild flower margins and the different crops. Home made steps for access to the trailer complete with mini straw bales as seats Curtainsider came in handy as a stage for The Wurzels tribute band Branston Potatoes had a stand with Potato Tasting which was a hit along with Mark Bonnings lorry for sitting in Next up was the story of Wheat from Drilling to Spraying and Harvest with the kit and information posts with the operators to explain how it ends up on the table as bread Final pic was the Frontier Stand who help sponsor the event Other attractions included "Crafts in the Coldstore", nature trail and quiz for kids, learn to weld in the workshop and a thrashing demo in the grainstore along with some cows and sheep from a neighbouring farm

The sprayer is busy with T3 sprays completed last week and weekly blight spraying continuing, chatting to the agronomist yesterday reckoning dessicating Rape in around 14-20 days with Glyphosate and a Pod Stick. Crops are looking well with some of the best rape we have grown, great Autumn establishment, flowered very well in spring, nice and tall, has branched out well and not much weed, all set for a good harvest. Elsewhere on farm the wildflower margins sown in March for Leaf and Operation Pollination for bee's are looking stunning! This week we had an outing to Cereals in Cambridge, always a great day, spent time with Bateman, Horsch, Vaderstad, and free lunch in the Frontier stand! Meanwhile back on farm i have finally got round to cladding in the last shed to finish off the buildings and tie it all in with the rest of the farm, the machinery shed with added sky lights

Agreed however there are only 3 12 metre drills currently in the UK, a tricky and complex build for sure

We are looking at a 12 metre Horsch Sprinter or Pronto DC, the only 12metre drills currently available to UK spec

We have a few irons in the fire, two local contractors have applied for the contract which i need to get in touch with but both have no bale chasers, at the moment its looking like local man Peter Thomas will complete the bailing with his Fendt 724 and Krone Bigpack, spreading will be undertaken by Bragg Agricultural Services with a 939 and Strautmann spreader, the collecting of bales is still to be sorted, would be nice if i could keep to one contractor to do the job lot

Yes we do, it fits on the bucket for the JCB, good for the yards and grain store