tractorboyjules1977

a chance to get out today and get a load of fertaliser and as typical timing the tm decided to break down in the middle of feeding this morning , a quick ring to smarts and they were up to rectify the problem,also had a chance to label up some potato boxes a job weve been putting on the back burner for a while , we have now sold the 2 year old lexion as couldn't justify having all that money tied up all year round for just 1000 acres , so will be on the look out for another combine in the next few months or maybe have someone in at harvest time

a short return for the boys between the Christmas and new year break , customers on the phone since boxing day wanting spreaders and umbilical kit asap due to the few days of frosts making it ideal to get on with some of those winter jobs , meanwhile back at home we decided to put the plough to work today and turn some more stubble grounds over just as the frosts kick in and let nature take its coarse over the ploughing

just a little update to whats been going on down at the AD plant site , were ahead of schedule at the moment ,the site is all hardcored and the underground piping systems are in , the 3 silage have nearly been finished but are all in situe just a few more rsj"s to go in and safety rails and there all done leaving us to turn our attentions to digging out the dirty water pond and organising delivery of the feed elevators and the digeste elevators and the tanks themselves , myself and alex very pleased how things are all coming together, but all in all somerset agri power is now starting to take shape and bang on for operation around june all being well ,

good job mark .looks hell of a lot better now , ive just done the same to a britains 7280r , look bloody awful before ,makes it a lot better looking tractor now

no problem ol , but for us to stay competitive we need to keep reliable and tidy kit and keep up with new technology

I sold a claas liner last week in a dealer box had a job to get 50 quid for it ! also sold a cougar the other week made 80 quid , I feel its all ups and downs on ebay at the minute !

constructive discussion from orchard farms point of view the 880 acres we run at home is all fairly sustainable for the environment we have here , the dairy is milking around 300 in milk at the moment with another 80 in calve heifers due to calve in February onwards , so they will be going straight into the parlour to boost cow numbers , also with a constant supply of young heifers year round we are always looking to push the dairy onwards and upwards as long as we have enough acres without having to buy in food as of the moment we don't have to .having taken on another 1050 acres of nearby ground mostly for arable useage we feel we can cope and justify what we do ,as with other farms having to rely on buying in x amount of straw and silage and maize , with working closely with alex at Oakley we felt it was to both our benefits that Oakley takes on haulage and storage of all our grain except for the 100 acres of barley which we use ourselves for milling for the cows and youngstock .we feel it is better to have a irons in the fire rather than put all our eggs in 1 basket so to speak . As for the contracting side that's is a separate enterprise from the farm and seems to expanding at a rate of knots probably due to the fact that a number of local contractors around this area have since stopped trading , we wont go into a job unless the jobs right for both parties ,theres no point doing a job at a cut price just to keep machines moving , also providing a good and efficient service has served us well so far and we aim to continue this service for as long as feasible to do so , .Now as for the AD plant that is a joint venture between myself and alex with orhard and Oakley supplying various degrees of input ! I hhope this has some what helped in what we are doing and what the future holds for orchard

the little things make all the difference I reckon , ideal mark

that's some outfit coming on there dave , cant wait to see the next instalment of improvements , top job

quick update with a few pieces of kit arriving and some old going back in part x , also smarts have been out to do there 250 hour service on the last new 6210r ,and finally our new 724 arrived Saturday morning after weeks of waiting due to spec requirements ,also our 2 new Richard western 14 tonners have arrived as an out of season deal and 2 west trailers gone back .meanwhile on the ad front myself and alex from Oakley have been eyeing up kit ready for next year ,

the boys having the unenvious task of a bit of maintenance to the solar panels , a wash and a general check over , also full steam ahead with cleaning out the youngstock sheds

work flat out this weekend with umbilical work , good to see the refurbished slurry kat back on the job after a couple weeks in the workshop , just in time to move out to the next job also the continuously never ending job of hedgecutting continues

looks a bit different ! were have to play it by ear but we wont be short of a machine to keep compaction to a maximum , luckily this year our silage pits haven't got that much waste on top of them ,

that's a cracking looking cubicle shed you have there dave , hats off to the build

cracking on with the site for the digester , the 1st silage pit will be going in next week fingers crossed , back in the yard our latest 2 new bits of kit our joskin tanker and injector unit has turned up replaceing 2 hi spec tankers , and just been down to smarts to pick up the new 6210r complete with custom painted wheels ! the 69s decided to break down now , so as fast as we got back to the yard with the new toy we were closely followed in by smarts for a diagnosis , should be the start of a bit of new kit arriving in the next few months

just a quick update the digester has now been passed so its full steam ahead getting the site prepared , the lads been off down to Oakley to fetch up alexs slew on there low loader , many thanks alex ,hopefully by next week both slews will be flat out and things will start moving at pace

another day another dollar ! middle of the week and its been non stop meetings with more due at the end of the week , we have just got the go ahead for the digester so preparations will start end of the week with alex from Oakley bringing up his slew to work along side our own , glad to have alex in on this joint adventure with his wealth of knowledge being essential , also just managed to secure 800 acres from nearby hinton estate which will mainly be wheat grown , but also a chunk of maize to be grown to feed the digester , meanwhile in the yard not a great deal going on as we have been constantly hampered by rain so just doing some tidy up jobs in the workshop and maintenance , lastly a meeting at the end of the week with local contractor / farmer stew Elliott to see if hes interested in our digester project !

end of another work at orchard and weve just finished all the wheat drilling just in time before the bad weather rolled in , time now to wash off the drill and pack away for the winter , the dung spreadings still going on , but conditions getting worse and worse each day , but customers don't mind so were keep plodding on , back in the workshop the 69 has decided to chew his brakes up so weve started to take him apart and just put another farmicom on the 74 cracking bit of kit from our northern friend designed and manufactured in durham ! hes gone on out spreading to join the others now , hopefully by next week were know if weve got the go ahead for the digester !

cracking photos , good work there gary top job

the lads been busy over the weekend getting the umbilical goin and removing some much needed space in the slurry pit , also we"ve had 2 spreaders out at the farm close in behind getting rid of the more solid dung from the pit , hopefully finish off by tomorrow night as looks like the spreaders are goin to be out all week venturing around local customer farms

thought we"d keep the drill going over the weekend as didn't want to miss this dry weather , we've knocked a fair whole in the drilling now ,which is going along quite well , also grass grounds are good to travel on so taking advantage of this by sending out the injector kit , also hedge cutting rolling on well

at last weve just finished maize harvest 2014 ! , the last loads left the field this afternoon ,now just got to sheet down the pit and start pressure washing the tractors ,trailers and the forager ready to parked up for winter ,another job ticked off the list with very few problems .just a chance now to start servicing up the tractors and a general good health check , roll on next week and we can get stuck back into some more drilling

watch this space paul , there could be one coming in the pipeline if we can get the demo sorted !!!

looks fantastic so far , cant wait to see the finished article !

a very productive meeting with alex and stew Elliott yesterday saw us put a joint venture to bulid a digester , so with plans being submitted it was time for a walk around the yard and see where we could fit in the plant , meanwhile the lads have been out tanking and on the umbilical , back in the yard weve been tinkering in the workshops putting on the new gps system ( farmicom ) at the minute weve got 2 installed so far , also been doing our bit to support the british farmers by stickering up the trailers ,