The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Here's my small photographic account of the final few acres of Sugarbeet ever to be harvested at my friends farm near York in the late Autumn of 2006. The announcement in July of that year that the York factory was to close meant the Sugarbeet acreage on the farm for 2007 would be replaced with Oil Seed Rape instead. Local Contractor Roger Kay was on hand to speedily lift the final field with his massive Vervaet 6 row harvester which I believe was sold down to Norfolk not too long after this. I was rather pleased to have the day off work to capture some of the action. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/articles/2007/02/12/british_sugar_factory_closure_feature.shtml Starting with photographs taken back at the yard, on duty from the farm were the Massey Ferguson 3085 and AP cabbed Ford 6610 and JCB 3CX busy tidying up the clamp: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Out in the field: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 The monster in action: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ма��u$*2k9*kid Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 nice pictures lad love the monster in action Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryh141 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Great Pictures! That is one beast of a machine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy140 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 great pictures. that vervaet dwarfs the 66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 nice pictures lad love the monster in action Thanks Marcus, very pleased to have found one to photograph in action. Great Pictures! That is one beast of a machine! Thank you Harry, it certainly is an impressive looking machine. great pictures. that vervaet dwarfs the 66 Thanks Will, appreciated, the Vervaet makes the 6610 look like it ought to be sat on a shelf or in a model cabinet rather than in the field. It was only a short trip for the trailers back to the farm across the road, so nothing bigger or faster required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archbarch Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 great pics what does that contractor do now instead? There are a few contractors around the fens that only do S.Beet work drilling and harvesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murray Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 fair machine alright 6610 looks lost next to it :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashmach Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Both the 6610 and 3CX are minters - real credit to their owners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masseyjack590 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 what a beast it's a shame when the sugar factory's close Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 great pictures what does that contractor do now instead? There are a few contractors around the fens that only do S.Beet work drilling and harvesting. Thank you Archbarch, as far as i'm aware he still does cultivation and seedbed work for cereals and also has his own large farm to look after, but a lot of equipment was sold off due to the closure of the York factory. There are still a very small minority of sugarbeet growers close to me who can justify hauling the beet to Newark, but the majority of contractors 6 row self propelled tanker harvesters have now disappeared south. fair machine alright 6610 looks lost next to it :D Certainly is impressive mate, wasn't much chance of getting past it on the roads next to the farm. The chap who ran it used to have a brand new machine from Vervaet for the start of every season. The 6610 is certainly a little different leading from a machine like the Vervaet compared to the modern fleets often seen keeping them going, still a very capable tractor for their needs. Both the 6610 and 3CX are minters - real credit to their owners I'll pass on your kind words Colm to my friends Neil and Robin who run and look after them both, they're still in decent condition and the 6610 is still used every day for looking after the cattle on the farm, rarely misses a beat. It was bought from Lesters Farm Machinery of Burn near Selby after it was advertised in Farmers Weekly. Here's the most recent photograph I took of it at harvest time this year: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 what a beast it's a shame when the sugar factory's close It certainly is Masseyjack590, I was lucky enough to have a full tour of the factory back in 2003 when I was at college, had a brilliant day, I do miss the factory's sweet smells when it used to operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 nice collection of pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Nicely caught, not only is it a shame for the machinery itslef to dissapear but the affect on businessess when factories close can be catastophic. Nice ot know the contractor switched things around for the workload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Sound pictures of an area that is gone for ever in many parts of the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share Posted October 17, 2009 nice collection of pictures Thank you Pete, appreciated mate. Nicely caught, not only is it a shame for the machinery itslef to dissapear but the affect on businessess when factories close can be catastophic. Nice ot know the contractor switched things around for the workload. Thanks Tris, had a very enjoyable day. It certainly was talk of the farming fraternity around here when the closure of the factory was announced, it definitely affected a lot of farms and contractors in the area I live, and from a machinery enthusiasts perspective I do miss seeing the machinery involved in Sugarbeet production. Even in the '90s there were many farms still harvesting their own sugarbeet with Standen Rapide type harvesters and similar small trailed machines around here, the only big self propelled machines I can remember seeing before the massive 6 row tanker lifters came along were Matrot and Moreau GR4 machines without the really big tanks and cab positioned at the very back. Sound pictures of an area that is gone for ever in many parts of the world. Thank you Ol, appreciated, real shame it's disappeared from around here along with the machinery involved. ......Had another delve into my wallets of photographs tonight, perhaps I should have posted this little lot first, almost a full cast of tractors from Ellers Farm involved in the planting and preparation of the last crop of Sugarbeet: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share Posted October 17, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 I used to live in Selby but I went back there recently and the once great sugar beet factory was a dilapidated shell, a great shame and one which seems to have been repeated across the region \ \ \ \ \ \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 17, 2009 Author Share Posted October 17, 2009 I used to live in Selby but I went back there recently and the once great sugar beet factory was a dilapidated shell, a great shame and one which seems to have been repeated across the region \ \ \ \ \ \ Appears to be that way Mike, just had a little nosey on Wikipedia and found it very interesting and eye opening to discover about the amount of factories that have been closed since the early '80s, Selby being one of four to be shut down in 1981. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Sugar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 nice additions , when i was younger one of my haunts grew sugar beet, only a little unit of 150acres and normally had a couple of fields. Always nice to see the machines used especially at lifting time. Are they still on the same fleet , is this only a small unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 nice additions , when i was younger one of my haunts grew sugar beet, only a little unit of 150acres and normally had a couple of fields. Always nice to see the machines used especially at lifting time. Are they still on the same fleet , is this only a small unit Thanks Pete. It's 700 acres of rented land spread across 2 farms ran by two brothers, my good friends Neil and Robin and their Uncle. They have herds of Beef cattle at both farms and grow cereals, beans, oilseed rape and grass for round bale silage. Both sugarbeet and potatoes have disappeared in recent years, however carrots and potatoes are still grown by two much larger farming companies on land that the brothers run. Their current working fleet consists of the following: Claas Dominator 98S combine harvester Frazier Agribuggy sprayer Manitou telescopic loader MF 6290 MF 3085 Ford 7740 Ford 6610 AP cab Ford 5610 III with Farmhand loader MF 35X and associated implements and equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IH885XLMAN Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I blame the goverment they seem to want all our produce farmed out in countries across the EU Its bad because you now have sugar with a bigger carbon foot print and the same can be said about milk wheat etc this common market doesnt work anymore and we should be scared for the future we should never take food for granted and go for the cheap option we should never put all our eggs in one basket > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick a Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I blame the goverment they seem to want all our produce farmed out in countries across the EU Its bad because you now have sugar with a bigger carbon foot print and the same can be said about milk wheat etc this common market doesnt work anymore and we should be scared for the future we should never take food for granted and go for the cheap option we should never put all our eggs in one basket > > i couldnt agree more the uk has never ever over produced we have never been self sufficient in production especially milk. there have only been milk over production, cereal and butter mountains due to overall eec production. yet our arming industry has been decimated and we rely on imports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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