Niels

I wholeheartedly agree with you Gav! Think I have said this before. We went (a good friend of mine) from a Grimme DL 1500 harvester to a Standen Status and it's miles better.

I guess Grimme has the name and Standen does less so? Also perhaps better back-up and resale value? Big farmers have Grimme planters and harvesters etc.. so why not get a destoner from them also.

If BS can offer a decent contract and load them in good time people can make a good margin but the way they are playing at now the crop won't last another ten years in the UK. More like five. I don't know what they're playing at.

Shame to hear that Gav but probably for the best eh? Good luck with the new job and do keep up posting some pictures every now and then!

That certainly is an issue indeed. If you chuck the packer roller off an TopDown and modify it a little you can fit some ridging bodies on the back! Would need a 7,2m machine for that though. I take it you would Topdown the wheat stubble after harvest, leave and plant potatoes in the spring? Maybe widening bed size from 180cm to 300cm would reduce traffic also? Can also use a windrower and chuck 2 beds into another one. Lift 6 at once? Though it would require new expensive machinery. Yup, chucking out is best. Why would you grow fodder radish after rape, 2 brassica's. Maybe yellow mustard or a Pedders mix is better?

Local Deere dealer having a clear out Paul?

True Alex it does very much. My father in law drives an 8420T and that is utter rubbish. In the field it is ok but on the road a nightmare. An Challenger 765B and 8345RT were tried and the Deere was far superior. Maybe in ten years time Why would you go to the 875E, to run a 12m drill?

Don't think I would agree with you there! Deere's 8RT is probably on top of Challenger with their suspension, good cab and CVT transmission. The older machines are horrible though.

I see, wealthy old boy then! What does land cost around your place then, must be in the regio of £6-7000 per acre? That's still 12-14 million, big sum! Don't know if the farm also contains buildings, storage etc.. Hopefully cereal and rape prices will rise for Mr. Lord ;-).

In my mind I can imagine you being picked out at the customs and you had to explain the whole story to some airport guy Would have been hilarious.

Surprised your spreading fertiliser Alex. How is the weather now in Somerset with you? What soil types do you farm, must be all light land? 2000 acres is a lot of land. Are there external investors behind Oakley Farms, how is all finance dealt with?

That sums it up then, thank you for the explanation! Looks a nice farm that you work on, good friend of mine also has arable and chickens. The maize cobs seems a nice idea, i'll show him. Why do you want the Challenger Rogator, because it's to heavy or you just fancy a Bateman?

So I understand just I don't think i've ever seen it.

Loving the Allaeys sprayer Sean. Fantastic!

Always a nice read about Oakley Farms. Have said it before but will do again it's the lifelike story's that come with the models that make it interesting to read. Where do you get your information from Alex? Do you work/live on the real life Oakley Estate or is it all made up in your head? Hopefully spring work can start shortly with N and sprays on rape and wheat! What sprayer is used on the farm, is it the Challenger Rogator?

Sean, time moves on... How many people said they'd never have a mobile (smart) phone and now own one? Even the 70+ people. Plus you can always print out the digital brochure if you want to read it. A lot of money goes into printing brochures I can easily see manufacturers ditch this at least for as much as possible. Well, that is already happening especially to brochure hunters at shows. They have some papers lying about behind the desk for the really interested. That is my general idea anyway. Called progress I guess.

Won't be long before you only get disc's with brochures on them.

That was my worry as well if you'd use acetone or nail varnish remover you will take the paint off as well?

One via The Farming Forum: Zetor in Finland.

David, I don't think there are any Kirovets in the UK? Were never sold. I believe UMO imported a later K744 which went to New Zealand? Joe, it's a lovely model. Could you peel the ZT-Schmiede decal off or is it laser printed on?

Some pictures that I had left on my computer. A white Massey Ferguson 7624 in Denmark. Doesn't look to bad does it! A pig to keep clean though. The Black Challenger MT775E Stealth when dealers TNS had it over and a red JD 6R in Germany.

If Claas would make their brochure a bit smaller you could save a few forests on planet earth! I wouldn't know of a single manufacturer that produces so much paper and can do a 56 page book on 2 new nuts and bolts.

Despite a promise to myself that i'd keep quiet for the end of the year I added 2 models to the collection. UH's Case IH Maxxum 5150 black 50.000th edition Schuco's Kirovets K700A. Now I am really looking forward to this excellent model! One of the most exciting buys for this year by far. Expect a full review with pictures and tekst on the forum soon

Here are the newest New Holland brochures in my collection Paul. T4 (not the Powerstar version). The T5 Electro Command, T6 Auto Command, T8 Auto Command (including the T8.420) and the new TC5000. The bigger CX Elevation and CR combines I haven't got yet sadly.

My Zwolle list: Brochures JD 6190R show model from the LCN (Siku) JD 3050 (Britains) JD 3350 (Britains) JD 3650 (Britains) White Field Boss NFTS model (Ertl) Case IH Magnum 7130 (Ertl) Ford TW 10 (Britains) Case IH Maxxum 5140 Pro (UH) Case IH Maxxum 5150 Plus (UH) JD 7810 (Schuco) JD 2850 (Martyn Reeve)