robbo

Marky's topic on Silage virgins got me to thinking about the arable side of things. The cowkeepers have had their say, now it is the turn of the dirtscratchers ;D ;D When I was last in the business if you wanted to grow cereals you just chucked on 3 bags to the acre of 20:10:10 in the autumn and then another bag and a half of Nitram (34%N) in the spring, sprayed it with MCPA for broad leaved weeds and then maybe a fungicide for Rust. Is that still the way to do it or have things changed and become more scientific? The dioramas have to be realistic so we need to know ;) ;) robbo

Its really easy if you have a photobucket account upload your photos to Photobucket and then post the links like here http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=17487.0

Cows don't like the stalky bits \ \ and they yield more milk if they eat more leaves, cut off the stalks and the grass plant produces more leaves, more palatable, cow eats more, produces more milk.... result happier farmer :D :D robbo

I soooooo want that model but Mrs Robbo has said NO MORE at the moment, need to find Uni fees for my daughter who starts this September, I suppose she is right really \ \ \ \ \ \ robbo

Just to go on a bit more \ \ there is an ideal time to cut the grass which is 50% ear emergence, this maximises the dry matter/sugar ration. If you harvest it before that you will get higher sugar content but less of a yield, after and you will get a higher yield of dry matter but the silage will contain fewer sugars, be less palatable and give a lower nutrient content to the cows....... leading to less milk per cow

\ \ \ \ \ \not bad memory for a copper who hasn't made silage for over 25 years \ \ \ \ I must have listed when I was at college ;) ;)

OK Marky, I apologise if this seems patronising but you did ask and I don't know how much you know. \ \ the idea with silage is to preserve the grass and the sugars and nutrients it contains. Fresh grass contains a great deal of water so if the crop is wilted then some of the excess water will evaporate and not become foul smelling and polluting effluent. :o :o Silage effluent is probably one of the worst pollutants that the average farm will ever produce, it's horrible The grass must then be compressed as it it better preserved if the fermentation process is anaerobic, that way the acids in the grass will act as a preservative. If air is allowed to get in then the aerobic bacteria will cause the silage to rot and become brown and smelly phew :( :( not good, you have just wasted all the time and effort it took you to get it in the clamp. The best way to think of good silage is that it has been sweet pickled ;D It is chopped short but not too short, to release the sugars and make it more palatable to the cattle, it is also easier to compact and expel the air with short cut grass than long stuff robbo

I just laughed out loud at this and then read this post out to Mrs Robbo and she said "I know just how she feels, you are all sad" :D :D :D yes but I'm happy was my reply ;D robbo

Does it tell you have to change the oil ;) ;) ;) I don' think you will need to remove the sump plug, is comes out all by itself ;D ;D ;D :o :o :o robbo

Jason don't do this to me :( :( :( , what is the SAME next to the Belarus robbo

Great pics once again Bill, thanks for posting them robbo

Has it been tweaked? :o :o I seem to remember the 3040 was 90hp and the 3140 was 100hp or thereabouts. When I was contracting in the early 80's we had a 2140 (82hp), 3040 (90hp) 3130 (97hp) and 3140 (100hp), fantastic bomb proof tractors, better than anything else on the market at the time

Good luck Gav I hope you get the job, fingers crossed for you robbo

Looking forward to the SAME pics Pudds but some good uns so far keep it up robbo

No Peppers don't need as much water as the tomatoes, as a rule of thumb water them when the surface of the compost dries out otherwise the roots will become waterlogged and will be unable to breathe. You start to feed them when the first flowers start to appear, tomatoes need to be fed every two weeks if not more but peppers will only need one or two feeds in total. robbo

Andy the problem with garlic is that it has a very long growing season, the sets should be planted before Christmas ideally in early December. As for tomatoes and peppers they are both best grown under glass, tomato skins tend to become tough if they are grown outdoors. The heat of the greenhouse also helps growth and fruit set especially during cooler years. Either tap the flowers gently to release the pollen or use a small soft paintbrush to transfer the pollen and aid fruit set. Some of the best advice you can get is from the "Expert" series by Dr Hessayon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vegetable-Herb-Expert-D-G-Hessayon/dp/0903505460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212161897&sr=8-1 best of luck and post some pics when it all comes to fruition ;) ;) ;) robbo

I got a bit stressed waiting for this months issue \ \ \ \ The mag is normally in the shops on the last Friday of the month and subscribers get it normally about 5 days beforehand, but it didn't appear :( I have been checking the post every day since the weekend but it finally arrived on Thursday. Rory don't do this to me, I am getting older these days and I am not sure I can stand the suspense ;D phew robbo

Some of you may have seen this on page 18 of the latest Classic Tractor mag but for those of you who don't get it there is to be an inaugural North West of England tractor show at Myerscough college, Bilsborrow, near Garstang, Lancashire on the weekend of 28th/29th June. As well as the main exhibits which include a full range of the MF 500 series tractors I believe that G & M Farm Models will have their wares on display. Having been a student in the past at Myerscough I am sure that there will be many other exhibits and stands and it will be a great weekend. I will certainly be there on one of the days, probably the Sunday, as it is only 45 minutes from where I live robbo

I hadn't seen this topic before, I am now stunned :o :o WOW what a collection, I can only aspire to something like that robbo

The 472 is also a bit of a rarity, would be very collectable these days 8) 8) 8) robbo

Give you a tenner for one Mandy ;) ;) ;) robbo

To answer my own question....... the website has now been updated http://spaldingmodeltractor.com/index.html The show models this time are Renault and Claas ;) ;) ;) robbo

I bought and paid for a new model on 13th May and I have just had an email saying that it will be posted next Wednesday (28th) and it should be with me for Thursday or Friday \ \ \ \ Now that is a long delay, 48hours... yes please....... more than reasonable robbo

Yes I like the forklift but not sure about the Hanomag/Lanz combination \ \ \ \ \ \ robbo

As a matter of interest what does 650SEK equate to in GBP? thanks Robbo