Oakley Farms Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 Good to hear how you chaps are getting on, different story down here with rain on Friday and Saturday, it's done the world of good as it was steady. Thursday we finished Selvinge and also a block of 80 acres down at Eames Mill, all the straw was destined to be chopped, turned out to be the right decision. Started drilling OSR today (Sunday) up at Kingstone with is being direct drilled with the Horsch, now going in a treat after the steady rain. Heatwave set to return next week and we can wrap up the last 550 acres of wheat, slight break before spring beans. Still plenty to do with cultivating winter barley ground, spraying off OSR volunteers, pre em on newly drilled OSR, and starting to dig Shepody potatoes tomorrow, let the juggling act commence! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Harvest Log Day 24 Back on the wheat today after the last weekends rain. Last week we finished Selvinge and 80 acres at Eames Mill. Today got going at midday at Horlicks for 60 acres, the last of the wheat to be swathed for Orchard Contractors this year, they should bale and chase this tomorrow. Moved right to the other end of our patch this evening to Camelot East, 60 acres done leaving 340 acres of wheat left for 2016, no sweat! Things are very stretched now with potato harvesting also happening at Parsonage, I need 9 trailers tomorrow for wheat and 3 for spuds! Work getting behind on the sprayer and with cultivations now too so plenty to do. Spring beans a little way off yet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share Posted August 27, 2016 Harvest Log Days 26, 27 & 28 A small break in the weather twice this week delayed us from finishing wheat but no too worry it's all now in the barn as of last night, the 2 days we were held up has today allowed us to go straight into some Spring beans, 133 acres high up above Ilminster at Blackdown were had today, they have looked good all year but slightly disappointed with yield. Off to Tony Houses at Ashill for 125 acres, small fields means this is a day job! Probably head up to Bondip after that. Phil is trying his best at catching up on other jobs such as spraying the OSR volunteers off, which reminds me all of 2017's OSR is in the ground, rolled and pre em'ed, catching a morning here and there on the cultivator before jumping on the chaser bin for harvest as Mark who normally does it is digging spuds at the minute. Spuds are now going well after a week of struggling to keep up with contracts, green haulm blockages etc we have the weekend of no lorries so we can get ahead hopefully making it half day diggings so trailers can pull away to help with beans. So all going swimmingly, plenty to be getting on with however nearing the end of combinable crop harvest 2017. Stay tuned to see how we get on in the next week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B O R Posted August 27, 2016 Share Posted August 27, 2016 love all the spud boxes stacked up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted August 30, 2016 Author Share Posted August 30, 2016 (edited) Harvest Log 29 No harvesting over the bank holiday after rain Sunday, good drying day on Monday and back on today, just aswell as the traffic was horrendous around here yesterday with holiday makers travelling through on the way back from Cornwall. Tony Houses ticked off the list, moved up to Bondip tonight, munched off 60 acres up there, Bondip is split into 3 blocks all next to each other, old, new and Kingsdon, we have started in old, great fields all interlinking with no header changed. Thats all we could manage tonight with limited trailers due to potatoes. Shepody was finished tonight with 4 lorries due tomorrow finishing this years contract. Maincrop a week or more away yet. It's been a cracking season so far, this time last year we hadn't finished wheat, and didn't finish beans until 27th Sept!! At this moment all cover crops are drilled, rape drilled and 800 acres of beans left, finish the weekend if dry. Catch up on some ground work, spraying etc and then get the drill back out mid September. Talking with the AD plant today and maize is looking like the 12th of September! Very early being such a dry season, we'll see. . Edited August 30, 2016 by Oakley Farms 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 Harvest Log Day 30-32 Well to finish combining by last weekend didn't happen, plagued by heavy showers was fustrating, we managed to finish Bondip off bit by bit but the weekend was a no go. Still, managed to catch up with some hedgetrimming, cultivations and applying round up. A good drying day yesterday and today so tomorrow we're going for it, the final 225 acres of Spring beans to bring in at Clarkes...lets be aving you! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted September 8, 2016 Author Share Posted September 8, 2016 Harvest Log Day 33 & 34 Well that's a wrap! Harvest 2016 complete, 2 half days at Clarkes and that see's the last of it. 1,680 acres of OSR, 2,617 acres of wheat and 1,093 acres of beans making 5,390 acres this year. It's been a good year, weather and wheat was anyway, rape and beans not so but we shan't dwell! So this completes harvest log for 2016 which I hope you have enjoyed. However The fun doesn't stop, stay tuned for 150 acres of potatoes to be lifted next week, and 1,464 acres of maize to come off not to mention cultivations and drilling to be getting on with. Big thanks to Team Oakley so far, James is happy in the weighbridge office to see the last load in! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 Just caught up on your posts Alex clad to see you finished with cereal harvest mine sounds like yours wheat ok but don't ask about rape or barley as for the rape we planted about 4 weeks ago until yesterday we not had any rain for over 6 weeks (had 28mm yesterday) a few bits have grown sprayed it 3 times for flea beetle but they have eaten most of it so probably a right off , but that's farming 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 6 hours ago, smithy said: Just caught up on your posts Alex clad to see you finished with cereal harvest mine sounds like yours wheat ok but don't ask about rape or barley as for the rape we planted about 4 weeks ago until yesterday we not had any rain for over 6 weeks (had 28mm yesterday) a few bits have grown sprayed it 3 times for flea beetle but they have eaten most of it so probably a right off , but that's farming will you re-seed then smithy or disc it under and sow something else in the field ?? i guess its early enough to do either at the mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 53 minutes ago, Tractorman810 said: will you re-seed then smithy or disc it under and sow something else in the field ?? i guess its early enough to do either at the mo At this moment not really sure what to do if it keeps warm might be able to reseed with rape but it probable would struggle all winter will talk to my 2 agronomist next week have already talked about the possibility of ploughing in some beans in October but trying not to think about it too much at moment as it is a big loss to me in crop and ££££ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 not an easy choice , have you got many acres of it ?? i am guessing its all of the crop you've got in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted September 18, 2016 Share Posted September 18, 2016 5 hours ago, Tractorman810 said: not an easy choice , have you got many acres of it ?? i am guessing its all of the crop you've got in I have 30 acres(12hectares) all in one field and about 2 acres of it is nice soil and a bit has grown on it the rest is clay and there is just the volunteer cereal growing nothing else so looks like no rape for me this year , cost for seed+sowing+fertilizer +3 flea beetle sprays is about £2500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Sorry to hear about your rape Smithy, down here we had just about enough rain for it to emerge but it has come up patchy in places, I think direct drilling it helped for us but it was slow going because it was so hard, it seems to be away now, not sure how try and sort the patches out though! Barley will be in by the end of today into some reasonable seed beds, we will look at drilling some wheat at the end of this week as this year we have a fair bit of wheat going in after maize for wholecrop AD, just the way the rotation has worked out the maize and wholecrop ground is swapping and some oats as a cover crop over winter to get in on the remaining ground. Maize is starting today with Orchard chopping and us using the Maus to load and run the 2 ejection trailers, this is very early for us but it's been so dry it's brought it forward. Into the second week of digging maincrop spuds too and we find ourselves juggling jobs again! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 Today has seen a big lump of wheat seed arrive ready for next weeks drilling campaign, the maus was prepared to action and went into battle, as did the pisten bully, clamping this years maize beside the farm as you come off the weighbridge for ease at harvesting and also weighed out when sold back to the ad plant throughout the year 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tractorboyjules1977 Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Like it , do I spy a new purchase in the yard ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 New to me but was second hand, a bargain! Perfect for parking under the dirt elevator from the grading line when digging spuds! For hire to respectful local contractors too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 Time for an Autumn update, over the last 2 weeks the team have keep plugging away at the mountain workload which is now beginning to pay off, what's seemed like endless amounts of cultivations where drilling was delayed for nearly a week to cover over some secondary cultivations, nevertheless we have about 700 acres of wheat in the ground now which has started to be rolled behind and followed up with pre em and new for this year avadex on some ground. We finished harvesting potatoes yesterday and are on the last day of chopping maize which will free up a lot more of the team to help with rolling and running seed about. We have more Autumn work this year with the AD feedstock rotatation swapping over so there is now a fair chunk of maize stubble to change over into cereals for wholecrop next year after 2 years of maize. The ropa maus is now available for hire should anyone be interested 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 21, 2016 Author Share Posted December 21, 2016 After a crazy autumn outside of the model world, time for model farming has suffered so as things start to wind down for Christmas Iv found time to sit down and do an update. 2016 has been another enjoyable year model farming although restricted time wise through October and November. All crops went in well and have emerged well as they go into winter shut down. Not a great deal happening on farm, machine by machine going through the workshop ready for spring, at the minute it's potato planting kit, next will be cultivation and drilling equipment, if there is time I'd like to get the combines in. Hedgetrimming road hedges is happening, hopefully dry up a little in the new year to get on the fields, also start to prep some maize ground. So what's in store for 2017?....small changes, we are keen to look at getting the whole maize operation for AD into complete 6m CTF and that goes for wholecrop too. We need to look at sprayer options which will probably be the first task of 2017, looking at trailed options to help out the rogator....hate the rogator with a passion! Hopefully put up a small machinery shed with a new housed sprayer filling and washing bay next to the biobed and liquid fert tanks. Like to change the chaser bin and get the ejection trailers running smoothly with the maus but all this depends on the future of where I'm living with a possible job change on the cards could see a re-location. Wishing everyone on here a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weblet375 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 hi alex thank you for an enjoyable topic and updates.hoping you have a good Christmas and a happy and trouble free 2017. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 I clicked 'like this' 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithy Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 On 21/12/2016 at 4:28 PM, Barry said: I clicked 'like this' On 21/12/2016 at 9:32 AM, Oakley Farms said: After a crazy autumn outside of the model world, time for model farming has suffered so as things start to wind down for Christmas Iv found time to sit down and do an update. 2016 has been another enjoyable year model farming although restricted time wise through October and November. All crops went in well and have emerged well as they go into winter shut down. Not a great deal happening on farm, machine by machine going through the workshop ready for spring, at the minute it's potato planting kit, next will be cultivation and drilling equipment, if there is time I'd like to get the combines in. Hedgetrimming road hedges is happening, hopefully dry up a little in the new year to get on the fields, also start to prep some maize ground. So what's in store for 2017?....small changes, we are keen to look at getting the whole maize operation for AD into complete 6m CTF and that goes for wholecrop too. We need to look at sprayer options which will probably be the first task of 2017, looking at trailed options to help out the rogator....hate the rogator with a passion! Hopefully put up a small machinery shed with a new housed sprayer filling and washing bay next to the biobed and liquid fert tanks. Like to change the chaser bin and get the ejection trailers running smoothly with the maus but all this depends on the future of where I'm living with a possible job change on the cards could see a re-location. Wishing everyone on here a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for the update Alex and good luck for the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 January 17 update What has seemed a long quiet month things have just started to pick up and you suddenly realise what you have actually achieved, the workshop team have done an excellent job working their way through each machine individually replacing parts, greasing and checking the little things like lights etc, I believe this makes a big difference to the longevity of the kit and saves us massively on downtime when we really need to be moving, it's how I like it, things in tip top and I feel it makes everything perform that much better. Cultivation and drilling equipment is nearly done, including the potato planting gear. Going to look at trailers and the maus before spring. Webby is getting on well with hedgetrimming, roads are now all done and he is hitting a hole into fields now, perfect in this frosty weather hardly making a mark. Looking at getting soil conditioners in now starting this week with chicken litter from Lopen and Frogmary up to bay hill, around 200t and our contract with dimmer for compost begins on 1st Feb, this will be spread by orchard ahead of spring drilling. Finally now have planning permission after a year to put up that small shed for machinery and a spray fill bay so hope to get that up soon. Purchased a new sprayer today-trailed so new concept for us, relieve some of the pressure off the aging rogator and handle liquid fert more. Once temps rise a bit we will head out and get some round up on the winter cover crops so we are ready to get seedbeds nearer spring drilling. Possibly going to look later on at changing a cultivator for something that handles maize stubble a little better as this is something we struggled with and didn't leave a nice finish for the drill when were up against it early November. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 Good use of man power, and definitely something you'll feel the benefit from as you get busy... what's the new sprayer and will it have a designated tractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenside MF Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 like the update alex,bit surprised you went for a trailed sprayer i always thought they were awkward on headlands and in field corners,some say its a step back when you've had an sp sprayer,was the price difference a factor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 1 hour ago, Pete said: Good use of man power, and definitely something you'll feel the benefit from as you get busy... what's the new sprayer and will it have a designated tractor The new sprayer will (hopefully if I can pull it off) be a Horsch and will have a designated tractor one of the 724's as we are going to run it with the N Sensor for liquid fert. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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