Oakley Farms Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 (edited) Oakley Estate Farms is a 5500 acre arable farm based in Somerset. Cropping consists of 300 acres of potatoes - 250 acres maincrop and 50 acres salads, oil seed rape, winter wheat, and Spring Beans, 400 acres of woodland, lakes and parkland. The farm rent 50 acres in nearby Hinton Park (about 5 miles away) for growing salad potatoes and also rents 400 acres called Bondip at Ilchester (18 miles away) for growing rape and wheat. Approx 3500 acres is owned by the home farm and the other 1600 acres is tied up in contract farming agreements with local farmers. Aswell as its own farm the estate also owns 3 other farms, 500 acre arable farm, and 400 acre dairy milking 300 cows, and a 120 acre dairy milking 180 cows, all of which are tennanted out. The farm employs a farm manager and 5 full time workers, Joe (under manager) Steve (head tractor driver) Mark, Maurice and Tim, and harvest students and casual labour in the summer for grain hauling and potato grading. Rotation on the home farm consists of Rape, spuds, wheat, rape, spring beans, wheat then returns to the start of the cycle allowing spuds in the same fields every 1 in 6 years, on rented land it mainly consists of wheat and rape. Oakley Farms is a complete agri business on the Oakley Estate based upon light silty loam soil. The manager is passionate about all things arable, attention to detail, 21st century farming, soil compaction, GPS RTK auto steering systems, a clean and tidy company image that spreads across the whole farm from buildings to machinery, increasing efficiency and profitability. Investing in the best kit on the market and keeping it regularly maintained and replaced combined with taking on some of the best employees in the industry delivers the best results. Oakley hall sits in the middle of the estate with ancient parkland surrounding it, this is the land owners residence, two business parks are also situated in the estate called Eaglewood and Ashwell along with Putcombe Sawmills conserving the estates woodlands and supping timber, fencing stakes etc and Christmas trees to the local churches, schools and villages. Edited December 16, 2013 by Oakley Farms 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 any pictures mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Will be keeping a eye on this cant wait for the pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manor Farm Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 where are you based in somerset? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Large set up, going to need lots of equipment to run this. When will you be adding pictures? Is this something your just starting to build or something you've had for some time?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 This is something i have had planned for a long time but am struggling to find somewhere to build, i have alot of the kit already to go so i can post some pictures of current kit soon, i am based in Ilminster. The estate runs a fleet of John deeres, a 2008 8530 is the main work horse towing a 6 metre vaderstad rapide drill, vaderstad 4mtr topdown, grimme triple bedtiller, folding mcconnel shakerator, and triple grimme ridging bodies, there is then a 2010 6930 used for carting wheat and spuds, running seed around, slug pelleting and discing with a vaderstad carrier 500. Two 2011 6830's with different front linkages, one with siku, the other with high detail front linkage, both have a set of row crops for destoning and harvesting potatoes and can be changed back to there normal tyres when desired, main duties include towing a grimme combistar destoner, a grimme gt170 harvester, irregation and grain carting. A 2006 john deere 6620 completes the fleet which is mainly a spare used for the self employed staff and harvest students, it is used on the spud planter, a grimme gl32b so therefore also has a set of row crops which are then changed back to normal tyres for grain and spud carting. There is then an odd ball in the Oakley tractor line up, a newholland t7.210, chores include fertilising with a trailed amazone spreader, hedgtrimming with a spearhead trimmer, rolling with 10mtr rolls and hauling when combining or digging long distances away. We have 2 telehandlers, both jcb, a 531-70 and a tm310s, current trailers include x2 marston 12tonners and have just taken delivery of x2 richard western 14tonne rootcrops, we have planned to replace the 2 marstons as they are slightly old and seen better days so on order are x2 bailey rootmasters and a richard western 32ft flatbed to go with the 25ft flat we currently have. Finally the estate have taken delivery of a new combine this year, claas lexion 770tt with 12mtr header, previously it was a lexion 600 with a 9mtr cut which was 7 years old and it was decided to go bigger so to cope combining and digging spuds at the same time. Just an insight into some of the kit ready for the display, hope to get some pictures of the stuff iv mentioned on soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 (edited) 6830 + Grimme destoner Edited April 24, 2012 by MrMills 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 (edited) Seem to be having trouble uploading pictures, any ideas where im going wrong? Edited April 24, 2012 by MrMills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Had same trouble myself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 It should be relatively easy, the old software was a bit restrictive but this new system should make it a lot easier. Click on More Reply Options. Click on Choose File. Choose your file. Click on Attach This File. Repeat. Alternatively use a photograph hosting site such as Photobucket and juat copy the links across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 Just a quick update, Still having trouble uploading pics, says im not permitted to upload this kind of file! Anyway, all potatoes are now in the ground after a delayed planting season due to heavy rainfall, so laying of irrigation pipes has begun, and herbicide applied before the spuds emerge. The wheat has now had all of its Nitrogen and T3 sprays are being applied between showers! Oakley are looking into renewing the sprayer, currently they have a John Deere self propelled which is around 4 years old, they have had an awful amount of trouble with it and as there arent many around in the area replacement parts are an issue, therefore a Challenger Rogator has been looked at and a Bateman RB35, both with biiger tank capacity and 36m booms, they would have a Bateman tomorrow after previously having a HI-LO before the JD but there is a long waiting list, and the farm is very cautious about the Rogator as again there arent many in the area and dont want the same issues as they had with the JD, so as it stands they are undecided. The OSR has finished flowering with harvesting expected to start towards the end of July however the new Lexion 770tt hasnt been delivered yet, it is somewhere between Germany and Oakley! With the crossover to tracks on the combine, soil compaction is an issue the farm are taking seriously, espically with the light soils after potato crops, the next tractor to be replaced is the John Deere 8530 and a Challenger MT765 is being looked at however they are nervous about changing due to a newly appointed dealer, different hitching system and it doesnt have a vario gearbox when bedtilling for potatoes, however watch this space! Finally a few other things going on around the farm include a general tidy up for Open Farm Sunday when the public can visit the farm with various activities such as guided tours and tractor rides, and Tim has been busy applying slug pellets to the potatoes in the T7.210. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Just finished fitting a mocap applicator to my Grimme triple bedtiller 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Thats a fair piece of kit... whens the rest of the photos been loaded?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Heres one of my Bailey Rootmaster 14 tonner in yellow 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 My pride and joy, John Deere 6830 and Grimme CS1500 destoner 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Nice big photos to look at, some nice models on show so far. What is the story with the bedtiller, did you make that yourself or buy it and then modify it for the new applicator yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Took awhile with the pics i know, some upload and others are too big, the bedtiller i bought, put the Grimme decals on, the number plate and beacon, then i bought the platform handrails and steps, painted them up in vaderstad red which was a good match to the grimme red, fitted that on, then i bought the resin applicators and white pipework, fitted the applictors to the platform and drilled some small holes in the front for the pipes to be fitted allowing the mocap to be distributed ahead of rotor blades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Looks a good model, what tractor gives this the grunt it needs then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 I use a john deere 8530 made by ertl prestige, its a good match, great model too, very highly detailed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 Nice. Proper beast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 nice to see a few pictures coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MF-ROB Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah some more pics would be the bomb as the ones I've seen are great maybe the busy lifting spuds and don't have time to post pictures Edited November 5, 2012 by BOB3085 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted November 24, 2012 Author Share Posted November 24, 2012 Finally found somewhere to build my diorama today so exciting times ahead, starting next weekend with collecting timber for the base, watch this space! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Having a play around with sizes today to get an idea of space so iv assembled my grading shed and packhouse with lorry loading bays beside it and chucked a few models in there to show what its going to look like when completed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 2, 2012 Author Share Posted December 2, 2012 Another view of loading bays 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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