Light Land Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 How often do you have spuds on the same land? 1 in 7 like kiwi? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) I wish we could but sadly not! 1 in 4 is what we aim for but 1 in 5 would be better. A typical rotation would be potatoes, wheat, sugar beet, wheat and then potatoes again. Or the beet is replaced with onions. Sometimes we also follow potatoes with onions. Problem is we only grow 2 acres of sugar beet and 40 acres of potatoes so it is normally split. Sometimes growing two wheats in succession. About half of the land is rented and the other half is owned. With hired land it will usually be potatoes one year and onions the other after it has been cropped with a cereal. Edited July 19, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 It has been a long while since there has been an update in this topic. Hopefully you like to see another update. A lot has happened since July. The winter wheat was cut and the straw baled in small square bales. Combining is done by a contractor. The baling and bale carting done by ourselves (DB 990 and DB 885). After that the really busy season begins. A contractor harvested the onions and we loaded them up, followed by the potatoes which is all done by ourselves. We have also been lifting small amounts by hand from July onwards after we ran out of the main crop. The crop for selling has now been stored in boxes and will remain until Januaryish. After that we'll switch varietys. So far yields have been excellent. Wheat was down a little but still did a respectable 3,6t/ac which is not bad for this year. Sadly one field was hammered by rooks, geese and slugs. It cannot be counted as a succes! Yield on there was more like 2,4t/ac. The rest was good though. Yellow mustard has been drilled in the stubbles as a cover crop. The onions have done well, all things considered, and so far potato yields are also looking promising. We had to sell a few loads of each crop straight off the land as it wouldn't fit in the shed. The onion yield will be in the region of 70t/ha (28t/ac) and the potatoes around 65t/ha (26t/ac) for our biggest crop, Victoria. We currently have 3,7 acres of Victoria, 5 acres of Melody and 10 acres of Markies left in the ground to lift. The Markies will get sprayed off next week and it looks a promising crop to. Now for some photo's! No photo's of the cereal harvest or baling i'm afraid. Here is loading the onions from the swath after they have been left to wilt for a day or two. The loader is a Krakei (Dutch makes, sold by Hoekstra in the UK). We extended the elevator this year so it would fit into larger trailers as well. View from my workhorse, the DB 1410. The 1410 with a 13t Miedema trailer. She handles it very well but the turbo only kicks in at 1800rpm so if you drop the revvs below that you significantly lose power. One of our fields with potatoes is neighbouring a maize field. We had expected the maize to be gone this time of year so the field was planted with potatoes right up to the edge. However, the maize isn't so we had to lift some corners by hand and this DB 996 and Thyregod lifter to make some space! Not a bad crop for the headland. This is Victoria. What would we do without the DB 770! Without a doubt the best tractor on the farm. You do have to steer out out of the field by the brakes as the wheels tend to go up quite a bit when she's full! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 This is how we lift our main crop potatoes. Deutz K90 (chipped to 120 hp) on a Standen Status 1750 and topper on the front. DB 1690 carting which sadly broke down. A nice view but not one I like seeing when we are harvesting! A much better view! Victoria's again on some nice land. We bought the Standen last year and have been very impressed. It replaced a Grimme from 1998. After dumping a load of waste soil the old man decided to do a little load himself with the 990. The carting team, allbeit a little modified. Usually the Case 1294 on the 10 tonne trailer but that broke down. The 1690 did as well so we hired that Renault you see. Working on Sunday never goes well! A bolt on the unloading elevator snapped off so we had to drill it out and fit a new one. Downtime of a good hour and a half! That's all. Sorry for the quality of the images as they are all taken with my iPhone. Will try and get some better ones up soon. If the weather stays decent we'll continue lifting tomorrow. Then it's just sugar beet, fodder beet and forage maize left to harvest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Just had a long overdue catch in topic, Neils. Some wonderful silage making photos earlier in the year, the two DB's look great out there in the sunshine. Nice bit of grass too by the looks of it. You may well have said but how many head do you have at home for the silage to be fed to? Is the forecast for the onions looking better than last year and the unfortunate luck you had? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 22, 2012 Author Share Posted October 22, 2012 Thank you for your kind words Tris. Grass silage was good this year and we had plenty being put into bales again as the clamp was filled very soon. With the warm tempratures we are having now (20+) there might as well be another small 5th cut of grass. The farm only has around 25 dairy cows plus some heifers and calves. Not many farms left of that size! It is feizable as long as my mates parents are still at work and enjoy taking care of them. They're more expensive overgrown pets than proper money making machines . But they do give a steady income and their muck is valueable. The forecast for onions is MUCH better than last year due to the bad situation in the UK/Germany/France/Belgium. We are having good yields and good quality. Almost all onions in the Southwest have been lifted, loaded and stored. In the North there's still quite a bit left. At the minute you can get €130/T dry, out of the store. The break even price is around the 90/100 euro mark so that is not bad. We'll probably sell one or two loads now to cover costs. It's not my own farm or my parents by the way, just from a good friend of mine. We have a few acres of potatoes left in the ground but hope to get lifting this week. Problem is they are on heavy clay soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Heavy,rich wonderfull looking soils you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 Appreciate your informative reply, Niels I'm glad to hear the onion market is looking more buoyant for the farm, even if is is at the expense of the UK's market! That is just how the markets work though so I expect our turn will come again. I should think there is more personal pleasure working on a small farm with all sorts than just plugging away over thousands of acres with a cultivator? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) No problem Tris. It is a shame for the UK growers but your weather has just been terrible which results in a lot of import from over here. It is only 3 hours by lorry to get here. Prices have reached € 300/T this week for potatoes! Your right it is much nicer helping out on a small family farm. At least I think so. It is nice having a go with big kit on big fields but only for a little while. The farm in the UK I worked at was only 500 acres as well. A perfect size if you ask me. One small farm update: We finished liftign potatoes yesterday! It was wet but we got it done. Fields are now ploughed and being drilled. Now its just the fodder beet left. Edited October 27, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Should be good for NZ onions as well,this year alot of extra onions have been put in a few weeks ago.Some is onions after onions I see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) An update from lifting the last potatoes. Probably the most difficult harvest we ever had! Last Tuesday we started lifting one load to see if it would go. The whole dahlmann rollers packed up and we had to spend all afternoon, evening and night to get her running again. Also took all of Wednesday. By the time we were done we had a power cut! Very handy if your trying to store your crops and milk cows.. An old PTO powered generator was hired to get electricity to milk the cows. Friday morning this packed up as well! Luckily the contractor we loaned it from had another present. It took the electricity company two days to find out what had gone wrong! Turned out two wires had melted together and created one massive bundle of electricity. In its turn this killed most of the lights, tools and household equipment. A few thousand € damage! Starting with the final field of potatoes. Variety Markies. Things weren't going to well on Thursday but Friday it went much better with plenty of wind and sun. We had fitted dual row crop wheels to the tractor to prevent her from sinking in and getting more grip. Worked well. DB 1690 and Mullié 12T trailer. The field was next to the farm so two trailers could easily keep up with the harvester. Lots of haulm on the Markies but our little old topper did a good job of getting rid of it. DB 996 and Beco 10T trailer. Edited October 29, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) The contractor came out immediately to clean the ditches. Or dikes, if your from Suffolk. And then trouble really began.. Due to the power cut the lights in the cow shed had 'exploded' and one of them caught fire. It wasn't a big panic but we decided to call the fire brigade anyway. The police also came to have a little look. It didnt go to much better in the field at times.. The third combination was the DB 1410 and Miedema 12T trailer. Luckily we got everything done. With a good yield and a good price to look out for all in all we're quite pleased! The field has already been ploughed and drilled with wheat as well. We now have just the beet to lift. Another picture from our contractor that came to chop the maize. All clamped now and covered with chips waste. Edited October 29, 2012 by Niels 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 na they are ditches in suffolk to, well thats what i called them along with the familly, dikes are something completly different neils :laugh: :laugh: spelt different to are they your trailers then?? or do you rent them in when needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Great update Niels, it's a great topc as well, the way you talk through what you're doing on the farm and with the pictures. We call them dykes in Yorkshire as well. Any idea why they open up by reversing round the field? Instead of putting the trailer on the forager or blowing it over the cab? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Sean: Aha, well my friends in Suffolk always call them dykes/dikes, hence why. The Mullié trailer is ours. The Miedema (behind the 1410) and the Beco (behind the 996) are both loaned from other farmers. We also own the two small wooden 5 tonne trailers. Jdeere: Thank you! Always a pleasure. If you have a level surface you can open up whilst driving in reverse. It causes less spillage of the maize and its easier to pull out of the field as you won't have to back out. Plus if you hit a wet spot you can get out more easily as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Were due another update mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 Your spot on. Will put one on from the beet harvesting that we did last Friday and Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMB Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Any difficulty pulling those 10/12 tonne tippers with the old Browns Neils, particularly when full of potatoes? (sorry if I have asked this before but it amazes me that you still use David Browns as your frontline tractors!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted November 25, 2012 Author Share Posted November 25, 2012 No, not really. The trailers are quite well matched to the tractors. They won't tip them very fast but it does the job. Not needed with potatoes or onions anyway. The David Browns are old but they use little fuel, are easy to repair and just great fun to use! The promised beet update: Lifting our sugar beet is done by a contractor with his 2003 WKM Big Six. A massive acreage of 4 acres so it didn't took long to finish. The beet didn't receive ANY fertiliser at all, so it was a cheap crop to grow! Yield and sugar seem good but they have yet got to be loaded. This field was a meadow until 2 years ago. Hence why no fertiliser was required. No DB for a change! We loaned this MF 7495 and Beco 20 tonne trailer from the contractor. Some viewers might recognise this tractor from a post I made back in January when we had muck spread. The field was a few km's away from the farm so we had 3 tractors running. The other being our Deutz and the DB 1690 with our own 12 tonne trailer. The 7400 series is probably one of my favourite tractors to work with when it comes to drives comfort and handling. The little 90 hp Deutz coupled to a loaned 18 tonne Mullié trailer. Tipping wasn't an issue but driving 40k on the road was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted November 25, 2012 Author Share Posted November 25, 2012 The clamp in front of the new shed. A mobile excavator will come to pick them up. The following day the fodder beet was also lifted. I didn't take any pictures, as it was the Zwolle weekend, but here are 2 from last year. A job the Case 1294 always does, coupled to the single row BvL belt lifter. We only had 2 acres of fodder beet this year as they have largely been replaced by forage maize. That is why over 25 tonnes has already been sold. Due to poor stock feed they are very much in demand this winter! The same afternoon we started topping and ploughing. This field was winter wheat and sown with yellow mustard as a cover crop afterwards. Since it was to tall (100cm) to plough the DB 885 and Schouten topper were used to slash it down a little. It took a creeper gear and slow speed to keep her going! Despite a wet summer the mustard did well! Potatoes will be grown on the field next year. Meanwhile, the Deutz was spreading some ditch waste (reeds, grass) over the field that came from the ditch/dike. It was then ploughed. Currently there is only 1 field left to plough (light land). The beet/maize land will be ploughed in January. Now there is time for maintenance, potato grading and cleaning stuff down ready for 2013. Thats all for now. Probably the last update for 2012. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Awsome pictures of the beet harvest,thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillview Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 Excellent topic Niels. I really enjoy reading your updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 (edited) Thank you all! I am wondering if I should do another blog for next year or maybe another from my father in laws farm. Edit: I have decided to let you decide. Would you like to see a new blog from January 2013 onwards or not really? The options are: 1. The same farm as you have seen this year. 2. The farm from my father in law in Flevoland. He has a Fiat 1000, NH 7635 and Steyr 9105. Some of the work is carried out by a contractor or collegue. 3. My own job as a sales representative with New Holland. Please let me know! Edited November 27, 2012 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractortim Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 is there an option for all three? maybe Niels year in photos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 How about four blogs. One like this year's, one from Flevoland, and two about your adventures with New Holland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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