Niels Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 And the end of the onion saga 2011. Let's hope this year will be a better one! It was a nice excuse for me to do some ploughing. The Deutz handles the 3 furrow with great ease. With todays fuel prices you want to go 1700 rpm and steady. Plus, any litre spend extra is more costs to last years crop! We won't crop the field this year as it's owned by a dairy farm. Part of the deal was that we could spread the onions, along with some of his grass clamp waste, and plough it for free in exchange. Not 100 percent straight but will have to do for me! Now the plough can get cleaned and greased up. My mate started planting the first potatoes yesterday. Variety is Frieslander. A fairly early variety which we lift from July onwards. About half gets lifted by 'hand' and sold directly. The other half will be done with the Standen and stored in boxes where it is also graded, packed and sold until we run out in the new year. The Renault and planting rig is hired from another farmer. We haven't got our own planter, yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Bad news about the Deutz-Fahr. Although it was new in 2010 they had to take her away on a low loader away. A seal went inside the tractor and all the oil in the backend was pumped into the engine compartment! Oil was squirting out of the dipstick even. They will take her apart and see what the damage is. Meanwhile this tractor, a slightly larger K100 will come to help out: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toyfarmer Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Whilst it's a shame to hear about your crop problems, it's very interesting to read about your day to day life on the farm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted April 8, 2012 Author Share Posted April 8, 2012 Thank you toyfarmer. So people do look on here! I wondered I try to keep it as up to date as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BK741 Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 DF K series have engine driven hyd pumps, sounds like pump seal has 'popped' out allow back end oil into engine. Never had it happen on a DF but have seen it a few times on Manitou's. Great topic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Such a shame about the crops, Niels and the Deutz too!! Nice bit of ploughing though, not far off 100% at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdc Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Just what you don't need after losing those onions; a hefty repair bill for the Deutz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Niels im sorry to see your crops being spread back out onto the ground all your hard work last year sowing,growing and then lifting them its the same over here with spuds alot of guys here are just ploughing them back in I would hate to be standing behind that spreader the tears would be flying out of you ha ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 BK741: Same what the dealer said. They had it happen before but not on that Deutz model. They reckon the repairs won't be tooo bad hopefully. The tractor was shut down quickly after it happened so the engine hopefully survived. Deere-Est: Thanks! jdc: Warranty should cover it. The tractor is secured by a 'Shell warranty/insurance program'. BOB: Tears were indeed flowing freely! We never had it happen with potatoes before as you can easily found an outlet for them. Even for cattle feed. Only sheep can eat onions and we havent got any here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 Most crops have been planted now with only the maize remaining. One field of potatoes still need ridging but that's it. Now starting to look forward for the first cut of grass but with the current tempratures that will take at least ten days before the crop has grown sufficiently. Spreading fertiliser with the JD 2250 of a collegue farmer. The Amazone spreader is partly owned. Same story here. Spraying sugar beet at the collegue. His Renault and partly owned sprayer (45m Agrifac). With the rain lately not much was done outside. Today the DB 770 went back to it's normal track width. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 5, 2012 Share Posted May 5, 2012 That sprayer! Blimey, that would cover some ground in a day! You took a lovely photo of the little JD fertiliser spreading, Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 Thank you Deere-est. If you have large fields and low applications you can get a lot of acres done in a day. But folding in and out and filling it is what costs time. If you pushed it 250 acres in an 8 hour day is about the max. But the weather doesn't usually allow that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Blimey, bang goes the overtime then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 That's a whopper of a sprayer Niels, you would need some huge fields to get decent output with it. Any idea what width he drills with to get the tramlines at 45m? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 6, 2012 Author Share Posted May 6, 2012 The average field size of my friend depends very much on which fields he rents but i'd say it is no more than 5ha on average. At the other guy (who ownes the majority of the sprayer, plus the tractor) the fields are a little larger. About 10ha on average. They had a 3300L 33m before. My friend didn't want to go 45m but they sadly did. I take it you mean tramlines in cereal crops? We don't drill any. Put up flags (or GPS since this year) and just go through the crop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I would say our average feild size is about the same as yours Niels, but we only run a 20m sprayer mainly for weight reason. The gps sounds like a good idea and no messing about with a half bout in the drill as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Good topic Realy interesting reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 Jdeere: The main reason most people run such wide sprayers here is because they all grow potatoes, onions and other vegetables. In a 'bad' season these can require up to 25 applications with the sprayer. So even if you only have 25 ha. Multiplied by 25 that is still 625ha. You don't want to be messing around. If we only grew combineables and beet people would probably run a lot smaller sprayers. Plus we have flat fields, less tramlines means more crop and blight and mildew sprays often have to take place after it has rained. If it has been a 5mm shower it's not so bad, but if it rain an inch it is another matter. So wide tyres (650 in this case) is a must. Also for not sinking in and boom stability of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 We have barely forgotten last years missery or we are into more trouble! We had a fair bit of rain during the last two weeks. A good two inch I reckon. The potatoes badly need to be ridged up now. Luckily all fields have been done except for one 25 acre block. Sadly this is also one of the worsed fields Water has stood in some of the low spots making a mess. The Victoria seed potatoes are rotten after having been under water for over 24 hours. The oldest (1957) and newest (2010) tractor next to each other. We'll be mowing half of the first cut of grass for silage tomorrow. The other half of the fields is to wet to cut! Walked the meadows today and it's still like a sponge. Hopefully mowing will help them dry up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 Well we have been lucky, at last! Managed to get half of the first cut mown. We have done the highest and driest meadows. The rest will hopefully be cut Friday if it doesn't rain to much. All potatoes also got ridged up. Not in the best of conditions but better than nothing! Mowing with the 1294 last saturday. It's a good match for the PZ CM 185 mower (with conditioner) but certainly knew it was working in this fairly heavy (for us) first cut. Tedding it the next day. It was ted twice on Sunday and almost to dry on Monday! A job that the DB 990 always takes care of. Mowing the 1294 usually shares with the 996. No pictures of raking but here is the contractor getting the silage in with a Deutz M620 and Deutz-Fahr wagon. It's only 50 acres of silage so no point in buying your own forage wagon, let alone a chopper. MF 6475 with a Holaras 'grass spreader' on the clamp. Hopefully get the rest in the pit next monday! The little Deutz ridging with a four row (75cm/30") Baselier rotary ridger. Cleaning her down and end of the season! Glad to get it all ridged up. Plenty of farmers haven't yet and the crop is coming through already. They don't like being ridged up when they are already green. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav836 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Its lucky that we don't operate on the same potato establishment as yourselves Niels as with how our weathers been over here the potatoes would be through before ridging with that machine could take place this year. Its only really dried out this week and all of ours are now poking through in various places. Always good to see how things are done in other countries though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 I think exactly the same as you Gav . Our weather has been similiar to yours, albeit with slightly less rain. Potatoes are now poking through everywhere as you say. Usually the ridgers follow the planter a week or ten days. It's a great way of weed control and also the smaller ridges warm up more easily than the large ones. But in an unstable year it can be an issue as you say. Some farmers prefer to plant and ridge in a single pass nowadays as it saves on a tractor, labour and machines. But it is still a good way of mechanical weed control and mixing in fertiliser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 (edited) Most work is done on the farm. What is left is work around the shed, maintenance, grading potatoes and some crop husbandry. The sprayer will be busy for a bit doing weed control and then onto blight control in potatoes and mildew control in the onions. This is what we were up to today: The Krakei harvester which is being used to load up the onions (from the swath) is being modified. The unloading elevator will be lengthened so it can reach more easily into larger trailers and it will handle the crop more gently and also give more capacity. 'Dotting' potato volunteers in a crop of sugar beet today. It was 27c but a fierce wind made it a real pleasure to do. Gives a nice tan! Don't need to go sun bathing for that. You carry a little flask filled with Round-Up that has a red die added to it (so you can see which plant has been done and which not). Spray a bit of Round-Up over the plant and she's gone. It will also kill the tuber underneath so it won't set and create issues in next years crop. The result. Sugar beet not hit and potato is! Beet is a lot smaller this year. Last year at the same date they had closed the rows. In the picture you can also see two dead plants that were Roundupped during the previous round through the crop. Plenty to go at! This is probably a bad spot where I lifted the potato harvester a bit and some tubers were left behind. We cultivated the land twice last year and the frost killed most volunteers. Some still remain though. Edited May 25, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 (edited) Spraying field edges today with the 2250. Home bodge job by the collegue. Hydraulic cylinder on the right to make it wider or smaller. With last weeks weather the earlies are growing well. Will start harvesting in about six weeks. Massive field this is! Thats it for this week boys and girls. Hello, hello?? Anyone here?? Edited June 1, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 so hopw do you have a uk phone number on the sheild then neils?? 0181 is london :laugh: :laugh: and how massive is this feild then ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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