Gav836

Been into work and baled the last bit of spring barley we cut this week on the land we contract farm, crop was so poor we cut everything of our own first and left that till last.....25-30 tons and 37 bales off just over 20 acres, then blew down the baler and gave it a quick blast with the pressure washer before it goes away until next year

I've not taken it more than 50m on the road yet Colm, the field is only across the meadow from our yard. Will try to get a road trip in tomorrow if I can

I think the Valtra would just about get a 6 or 7 out of 10. The New Holland is a much better tractor in many ways, ease of use being one of them, not that the Valtra is a bad tractor, I just don't find it as operator friendly as the New Holland is

Yes whatever tractor we buy will have front linkage and front pto fitted due to the haulm topper Sean

Got it until at least Friday, I think the Case Puma is next followed by a Fendt 718

A few internal pictures now Dash display with hours, speed, rpm, fuel and temperature readout Armrest with spool controls, hitch controls, engine management settings, headland management settings and tractor computer Right hand switch panel, switches for transmission/engine/hitch management and dials for hitch and engine/transmission management

I've had the first demonstration tractor of the autumn out today, its a Valtra T172 Direct which is Valtra's CVT transmission. Its not a bad tractor to drive once you get used to it, its quite economical, pulls well and is quiet and comfortable in the cab. Not sure on the metallic white colour scheme though

Yeah, they are still going at the moment, another 45 acres and we're finished. We do have 40 acres of straw on the deck but thats all for silage clamp walls and lining the spud store so we're not too worried about it. Once we have enough done for them I'll wrap the rest up in rounds, have done 1150 so far this season for us and another 250 for us on our neighbours

We've also had another local farmer in to do us some big bales for the silage clamp walls, JD 7810 and NH baler

Here's a few pictures from work today of us combining one of our last bits of wheat, had to have the dealer out to the combine today though as its had some water get into the electrics over the past week so been doing silly things

I would say that that would be sufficient, just depends on soil type, soil moisture and whether or not the press has leading tines and if so how deep they are running

Its based on the 4m machine

It was a 3.3m double press with leading tines, when used separately it was usually pulled by a JD 6900 on wide low profile tyres, think it might have gone on a Ford 8630 a time or too as well. It was more often towed behind the farms 3m Simba 2b discs though, when I first done work there they were pulled by a JD 6900 which wasn't really up to the job and in later days a JD 7810 which could really make the set up work to its full potential. To make full use of a Solo 330 you would need 200-240hp, I have pulled one with a TM 175, an 8770 and unbelievably a TSA135 :of so I would imagine that 300-350hp would be needed to pull a Solo and trailed press to get the best out of it

Nice pictures I would say that those oats were a tad on the damp side by how they are sitting in the trailer, would I be right?

It can be pulled seperately as well Paul, have done so several times in the past for things like pressing ploughed headlands

Picking up the 6810 this afternoon after having a new track rod end and new brakes fitted......it will actually stop when you hit the brakes now. 8350hrs on a set isn't too bad I suppose ;D

33mm of rain falling between 4pm yesterday and 3pm today and its not stopped yet, too wet to even go straw carting at the moment!

Had my work mate and myself creased up laughing at work today, we also have one of the owners sons helping us at the moment and he was saying that he was tired after lunch so while I was unloading the straw trailers he decided to lay 5 bales back on top of the bottom layer for a doze. My workmate gestured that he was there so I picked two bales up with the JCB and rammed them hard against the front of the stack on the bottom layer giving the whole row a hell of a jolt......I can't remember the last time I saw someone jump so much ;D ;D He said he thought the stack was falling down ;D

What size machine are you looking at Will? Our contractor has had trouble with 6/6.5m machines from the 3 main manufacturers, the Spearhead was one of the worst. He has been running a Shelbourne Reynolds machine for the past season and it has been faultless short of one bolt coming loose in over 1000hrs of heavy use, he's so impressed with it that he has now bought a second one to replace his aging Orsi machine which too was more reliable than the McConnel, Bomford and Spearhead machines he's had, only difference is that this one is a telescopic machine, might be worth a look if you haven't done so already

He didn't notice it until they were putting the last tank full on it but that didn't stop my boss from filling it as full as possible saying that it would be ok, mate had a bit of a shock this morning when I told him to look at the rear hanger but its not his fault as he's new to the job and still learning the ropes, one big bounce and it would have been in a heap on the floor. We would estimate that there was a good 16t of wheat on that load if not more as our 20t bottle jack was struggling to lift it!

Had a text from my workmate last night after he'd gone in to swap trailers for our boss who was combining wheat to say the drawbar mounting pin had moved on one of our 14t AS trailers.......he wasn't kidding Got in this morning and had a look at it and the main pin on the drawbar was only in the bush by about 1/4 inch on the left hand side and the back plate had completely come off the top pin allowing the drawbar to move across about 4-5 inches to that side. Wasn't easy to get back together as the trailer was slightly overloaded so took some supporting, took about 2 hours to sort out though

Had a few issues with the baler and 6920s yesterday as mentioned elsewhere on here but the incident in the pictures that happened yesterday is the most annoying.......a hole smaller than a 10p coin appeared in the back wall of the grainstore just inside the fan house, unfortunately the fan was running at the time so it done a good job of blowing it up the tunnel, through the louvre walls and ran out round my mates feet when he opened the door to investigate.....it took the two of us 8 hours to clear up today, there was about 3 tons of wheat in there and about 150kg down the tunnel to hoover out

Not the most detailed of pictures but managed to take these two of our neighbour cutting his spring barley with their Dominator 204 yesterday while waiting for the tyre fitter to arrive This was the view in front of me when I got going again, luckily that lot missed us..... And one from the other night just after we got some rain

Been one of those days today, still managed to get 220 bales done somehow but had 4 incidents today that resulted in raising my blood pressure..... 1) At 8am my 6920s decides to yet again develop injection pump trouble making the engine hunt and derate the fuel supply in the process......has now been traced so hopefully will be fixed once and for all once the bits come in for it. 2) At 11am on the first round of the field with the baler the right hand packer tine arm self destructs and flies apart under the pick-up, part not in stock at the dealers so been running it without all day 3) At 1pm one of the expansion springs on the bale ramp snaps and comes flying against the back wheel of the tractor, again part not in stock so been using it without 4) At 3.30pm baler gets a puncture, regular tyre company can't attend till tomorrow morning so the other company we use come and fix it and we notice the wheel bearings are loose in the process so they're now on the list as well 5) Tractor decides to derate fuel pump just as baler takes a large lump of straw in causing revs to die and blocking the baler solid in the process just as it starts to feed the net in......not once but two bales in a row leaving me two burst bales to push out and re-bale Could have done without these hassles today after finishing baling at 11.30pm last night, never seen so much straw on a wheat field in all the time I've worked on farms!

Slip clutch went off and set fire to the bits of rape stalk laying around it, clutch plates look like charcoal ;D