Guest Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 Like lots of stuff here in the UK food , coal , gas if they think that they can get it cheaper from abroad then they ll happy shut the beet factories , both sugar beet factories closed near me i think Newark will be the close es to us , any way back to carpet farming all looking good down there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 Wet day here at Oakley, the planting total is currently at 135 acres with 233 left to go. It was due to be higher than that with more acerage at Knott Oak dairy, and 75 acres at Sparkford which we have turned down, and let the dairy have the fields we didnt want back, the market is dead on its heels at the moment so we took the decision to sell on the seed rather than put it in the ground leaving us with a more comfortable acreage. It doesnt leave much inspiration for investment in the spud job at the mo, looking at trying to fit CTF into it and more efficient planting and harvesting techniques. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jdeere6910 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Such a good back story to this topic Alex, I'd guess I'm not the only one that has learnt a bit about tattie growing from Oakley 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 23, 2014 Author Share Posted April 23, 2014 Thanks chap, very kind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 Had the transfers put on the new Lexion 780 today, ready to rock and roll now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractorboyjules1977 Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 looking nice alex , how many combines you running now ? where you get your decals done ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 Running 2 Lexion's, 770 & 780 both tt, pete hardy did the decals for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 how does Peter get white on a clear background Alex,i asked Henri Walker to do some and he said he cant print white on clear,combine looks smart with them on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 That's interesting Paul,I was going to ask him for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 how does Peter get white on a clear background Alex,i asked Henri Walker to do some and he said he cant print white on clear,combine looks smart with them on Bit out of my depth here but from what i gather, a normal printer prints on white paper, when its asked to print something white it simply leaves it blank allowing the paper to bring out the white colour, to print white on clear i believe you have to have a special printer, possibly laser??? Pete would tell you exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 okay,thanks Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 Mid May update, spud planting has been slow progress to say the least with irritating heavy showers getting in the way, a break in the weather this weekend will help the team to make some headway, we have two fields left at Atherstone totalling 32 acres then over to the final block of 52 acres at Knott Oak, with a dry week we would finish. All fertiliser has now been applied at variable rate and Phil is now bashing on with the critical T2 sprays on the wheat, this will be complete by sunday evening all being well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 In other news our partners Cadbury Park Farm/Barrow Agri has fallen through and pulled out of the shared farming agreement along with the services they provided, leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. Oakley will continue with the shared block of 500 acres on our own for this year as it is completely cropped with spring beans and re address the logistics of this area later in the year. Bigger problems leave us with no baling contractor or spreading services, therefore we are looking for a contractor to take on this important role for the estate and our clients, the outfit must be reliable, efficient, driven to achieve the results, starting as soon as this years harvest with the baling of all wheat straw, balers must keep up with two Lexion 12metre headers, then clearing the bales with speed is a must, preferably with a chaser to selected concrete pads around the estate, the importance of this is high due to the critical timing of drilling rape, more than likely the Challenger will be chasing bale handlers out the field. Must be adaptable to baling and collecting bales using CTF as from 2015. The other gap is a spreading service, compost and chicken litter is spread in spring and autumn and must use GPS RTK accuracy. If anyone is interested in this opportunity to work with Oakley get in touch to build Bridges between model dioramas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted May 17, 2014 Share Posted May 17, 2014 I'd happily do it but my rag tag fleet that's a mirror of the owner would some what lower the tone of the place. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 18, 2014 Author Share Posted May 18, 2014 Ol thats made me chuckle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted May 18, 2014 Share Posted May 18, 2014 That said Alex your on to meet list, it's nice to read of people that are really into farming and the hobby. Be it real life or 1/32 everyone plants the same crops more or less but only a few let the crops express there full genetic potential through a desire to understand what makes a crop grow that extra tonne/ha crop more than next door got.Keep it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 (edited) In other news our partners Cadbury Park Farm/Barrow Agri has fallen through and pulled out of the shared farming agreement along with the services they provided, leaving a nasty taste in the mouth. Oakley will continue with the shared block of 500 acres on our own for this year as it is completely cropped with spring beans and re address the logistics of this area later in the year. Bigger problems leave us with no baling contractor or spreading services, therefore we are looking for a contractor to take on this important role for the estate and our clients, the outfit must be reliable, efficient, driven to achieve the results, starting as soon as this years harvest with the baling of all wheat straw, balers must keep up with two Lexion 12metre headers, then clearing the bales with speed is a must, preferably with a chaser to selected concrete pads around the estate, the importance of this is high due to the critical timing of drilling rape, more than likely the Challenger will be chasing bale handlers out the field. Must be adaptable to baling and collecting bales using CTF as from 2015. The other gap is a spreading service, compost and chicken litter is spread in spring and autumn and must use GPS RTK accuracy. If anyone is interested in this opportunity to work with Oakley get in touch to build Bridges between model dioramas. Having recently invested in a four wheel drive Fiat 640 and Claas Markant baler I might be able to meet your requirements . I do offer a unique low ground pressure! Joking aside it shouldn't be particularly difficult for someone to come up with a fleet? Plenty of tractors and balers about. Would need to check track widths to match 3m I think? Then you have to build yourself a bale chaser I think! Or one of these would have quite some capacity as well: http://www.bouwmachines.nl/public/image/verschoor3(1).jpg Depends how far the concrete pads are around the estate? Aside from the fact that i'm based 490 miles from you my building skills cannot come up with a bale chaser or two in 2 months time! Shame though. I have enough balers and tractors sitting around. Edited May 19, 2014 by Niels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 19, 2014 Author Share Posted May 19, 2014 Great comments chaps, ideally looking for two tractors and bales such as the Krone high density baler and a chaser to fit CTF as the bale comes out the ledge a bar will knock it accross to the side allowing the tractor on the chaser to stay on the same CTF line and pick the bale up from the side. Then once on the concrete pads which are no more than 4/5 miles from any point they can be hauled away at lesuire, im more concerned about the rapid field clearance to get Rape in on time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 The problem is Alex that a machine like the Heath, which uses a bar on the front linkage, is offset so it doesn't run in the same wheelings as the tractor does. So not good for CTF. Machines like the Walston and Big Bale Stacker don't have one as you'll probably know and you need to drive sideways to pick the bales up. I see one farm has found a solution by modifying a bale chaser: http://ctfeurope.com/2013/henred/ Not a very easy subject to be honest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractorboyjules1977 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 orchard contractors might be able to meet some of your requirements , we currently running with 2 claas quadrants and 2 jcb tm310s and 1 jcb 416 for all loading duties ! we also running 3 rear discharge spreaders all year round , plus wre only up the road just food for thought !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0025 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 the probelm is that u need square bale i do round! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 28, 2014 Author Share Posted May 28, 2014 Spud planting has finally finished! The team are in a well deserved 2 day break from whats seemed a lifetime of a planting season. Attention now turns to irrigation, laying of pipes and getting reels working, a yard tidy up with empty seed boxes dumped everywhere, wash and grease all the planting kit and put away, plans are taking shape for Open Farm Sunday and thoughts are already turning to harvest. Changes have already started with CTF, the 4m Vaderstad Topdown and 5m Carrier have been sold leaving us with the 6m Horsch Tiger, we plan to keep this as it fits the system and take the drill off the back, this can then be used for primary cultivations incase the new Carrier and Topdown aren't here in time. We also plan to fit a seeder to the 6m Shakerator for drilling rape aiming to improve establishment further, this will probably be for one year as when the 12m arrives we will look at direct drilling. The purchase of the two new Challengers is also underway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 I'm looking forward to seeing the kit. What's the thinking behind having more Challengers Alex and not an STX or other brand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 I'm looking forward to seeing the kit. What's the thinking behind having more Challengers Alex and not an STX or other brand? To be honest it was between Challengers and a Quadtrac, a number of boxes had to be ticked, tracks was a must for compaction reasons, we could of got around this issue by duelling a wheeling tractor but then getting around lanes would be a problem, we need something with more horsepower to cope with 12m cultivations and drilling, we have been impressed with the MT765D and the backup service from Drews of Dinton so have decided to keep the same make, a Quadtrac would be nice, i like the way it flows on headland turns but it is massive, therefore we are looking at 2 600hp Challengers to replace the 765D, with further expansion this Autumn with more contract farming agreements one will be constantly drilling and the other floating between cultivations and chaser bin duties, we also decided a Quadtrac wasn't right for the bed-tiller either 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpinefocus Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Alex, You are picturing a very scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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