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Niels' Farm Blog 2012


Niels

Next years blog  

18 members have voted

  1. 1. What should next years blog be about?

    • The same farm, with the David Browns
      5
    • My father in laws farm (Fiat, NH, Steyr)
      7
    • My own job as a sales representative with New Holland
      6
    • None!
      0


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Sean: 0181 is also the number for the island Voorne-Putten. Ours is 010. That particular field is 0,4 ha or less. 3/4th of it is potatoes, the rest shrubs. Was all shrubs but we took most out. This is the second year it is growing a crop.

Jdeere: Thank you, I totally agree with you.

Olly: There are two remaining factory's in Holland. One in the far North and one in the South. Some of the beet is also proccesed in Germany. Beet has been around since the 1800s. Unlike the UK we didn't have as many colony's producing cane sugar.

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That depends very much upon the prices of potatoes and onions of course. This year (2011 season) it was with the high sugar prices and extremly high yields. But overall it has been a stable and good income for many farms.

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Thanks Niels.I've always had an interest in beet having seen them in Holland,Germany and Sweden.In the war years alot of work was done setting a up a sugar beet industry in NZ but for politcal reasons it was decided to be an importer of sugar can from Aussie.Fodder beet are popular here now,a friend grow 50ha this year with an avg yield of 35T/ha of drymatter with no irragation so beet do grow well here.

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And up and running as well. However, people that have planted early miss a lot of plants now and the crops are not very happy. I heard of fields where 25% never came up. It took the plants a month to get out of the ground due to the cold and wet.

No photo's from this weekend. We graded and packed potatoes as usual. Also the 1294 is on 2.25m track width to spread fertiliser on the onions but with the winds we are having we can't get out spreading.

Archive image from two years ago:

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The rims have since been painted in the correct colour.

Edited by Niels
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Finally another update after nearly a month! So, what have we been up to in the meanwhile? Not a lot really! Getting machinery ready for the upcoming harvest (potato harvester and onion loader). The last potatoes are now leaving storage but the quality is decreasing every week as the warm weather takes it's toll. It will be another 3 to 4 weeks before we will have any new crop ready. The largest tubers are now about an inch. As with any crop, they are much behind compared to usual.

Also a bit later than usual is the second cut of silage which was done today (30th of June).

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Trusty Case 1294 on the mower as usual.

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Mower and tedder in the same field. We are only mowing 15 acres as the clamp will be filled and it will last all winter. The remainings will be made into small bales of hay.

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DB 990 on the Deutz-Fahr tedder. Potatoes (Markies) in the back. Now flowering which mean they have started producing new tubers. These will be used for making into chips.

Edited by Niels
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Niels your spuds are doing well looks like a lovely crop.

That picture of your 2 DB's passing is a nice picture it must be nice working with this older stuff I would like to have a go tedding with that DB.

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It is quite a good crop although when you walk through it you are sometimes scared by the amount of plants that didn't come up. Has everything to do with planting early when conditions weren't ideal and the cld weather.

It is nice working with the older equipment but when you have to do a lot of hours it does take some strain on you. Can see why we have CVT, suspension, air-con nowadays! But for these little jobs they are fine. Best of all they cost nothing, require little repairs and are, very importantly, very economical on fuel!

The second cut went in the clamp yesterday. It rained Sunday, unexpectedly, so rather than at 8 am the contractor came at 2 pm.

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Sod's law of course. First the swath board and later an arm snapped off the Deutz-Fahr rake. Rather than p*ssing about welding it up we got the exact same machine from a neighbour and used the 1294. Usually an 885 job.

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Has been shown on here before I believe. Contractors Deutz M620 and Deutz wagon (Schuitemaker really).

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MF 6475 doing the spreading. 15 acres was clamped and now the clamp is full which will be sufficient for all winter. The rest was baled in round bales and wrapped up but I didn't get any pictures.

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are you getting much of this bl**dy awfull weather we are having in the u.k niels. our winter barley is about 3 weeks away from the combine, which usualy gives a feeling of excitement, but this year, looking at the forecast, it fills me with dread.

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We were spared from the worsed really. Had about 37mm last Friday night and another 3-4mm this weekend. Fair bit but the crops and fields will cope. The forecast however isn't very bright with lots of clouds and mixed showers with a bit of sun thrown in for good measure. We don't grow any barley but the wheat is about 4 weeks away i'd say.

I will be coming to the UK in two weeks to help out with the harvest. Hopefully the weather will improve soon!

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Yes Suffolk again. Trusty Suffolk will do for me ;-) And a bit of Norfolk sometimes. Plus Essex and Cambs every now and then! I will be staying near Eye. Hopefully do some combine driving if it ever dries out! Got a bit of barley and plenty of rape to go at.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have loaded up the last potatoes from harvest 2011 last Friday. A book best closed quickly! It has been a dreadful business. Let's hope this season will be a lot better.

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The machine we hire from another farmer. Works well, better than a front loader or forklift, as it bruises the tubers less.

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The crop is put into one tonne boxes and left to dry out for a day or two. It is then graded and packed. When this last load is gone we'll make a start lifting the new crop. If it ever dries up a little that is!

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