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Oakley Estate Farms


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  • 2 weeks later...

Harvest 2017 Starts!

Today harvest commences at Oakley Farms with Wholecrop for AD. A good start over at North Petherton for James Broughton, the first year he has grown energy crops for us. The Maus is coming into its own since this is 28 miles from farm. 2 new ejector trailers and 2 regular silage trailers for in field and 4 walking floors for road. Back over the Weighbridge at HQ and clamped outside with the Pisten Bully. We have about 8 days of chopping all being well and possibly straight into combining winter barley, it's pretty much ready now but don't quite have the staff or chaser bin to be able to go. Dessication of OSR is underway now so it's all kicking off, still awaiting pre harvest inspection but not complaining as behind with preparations!IMG_7168.thumb.JPG.015ed94439885465c4484d04ed6f0970.JPGIMG_7169.thumb.JPG.64abcd59b60b7847baa22a51676de4c4.JPGIMG_7170.thumb.JPG.6b5eca1d011b43cc84eed93f0a192d58.JPGIMG_7171.JPG.23658186d55d56c505afee7a69056037.JPGIMG_7154.PNG.136c347bb7b290e5d21dc0faef3ef972.PNG

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  • 2 weeks later...

16/7/17

Whole crop harvest is now nearing complete, probably about 2 and a bit days left, now up at Camelot East block. Forager is running well, the maus has been a little temperamental but what a difference it makes loading into lorries, makes long hauls no issue which for us is perfect. Really should be on cutting winter barley now, straw is about 90% fit but the ear is 120%! Preparations are pretty much there now with grain stores cleaned, drier and elevators ready to go as are the combines, trailers have been washed, sanitised and serviced. We just have a new chaser bin to arrive on Tuesday. The only thing preventing a start is the fact all staff are on the wholecrop job, learning from this next year hybrid rye will be grown instead for a better DM% and earlier maturing allowing an early start so not to bump together with combinable harvest. May start on Tuesday across the road from the farm with one combine and trailer while the rest of the guys sheet down and clear up at CamelotIMG_7143.thumb.JPG.4348a0687836a414063dfc1df13713d5.JPGIMG_7174.thumb.JPG.8d5a569612f364fbc2dc4c543f936b98.JPGIMG_7175.thumb.JPG.b6e9ae45bcce6ab24d4414da01afb1e5.JPGIMG_7176.thumb.JPG.cb802fcf3a4b6d163e762882267adecc.JPGIMG_7177.thumb.JPG.1b3d63b829bda422d342bbf3c23c3559.JPGIMG_7179.thumb.JPG.952996aeacc373d04368e6cffae9e8e6.JPG

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18/7/17

Last day of wholecrop today and then sheet down the pit and a quick turnaround to try and start some winter barley if there is time. The new chaser bin arrived this morning. After a few years of trying a couple out we think we have finally found one that will suit our requirements, the Richard Western GR30. So we originally tried a GR24 which wasn't big enough, last year had the Horsch on tracks which was better on capacity and the tracks were great in the field but suffered on the road, which isn't great for us as there is a lot of traveling during harvest, so we have gone for 30ton capacity to fill lorries in one go, gives us the flexibility in field with the combines, gone for a compromise with triple axel and low ground pressure tyres which will be better on road and a surprisingly light footprint in field with steering front and rear. Fingers crossed she'll be put to work today! In other news the Unimog has returned from TWR bodybuilders with is 3rd colour after a poor paint job. Now has a fresh new look to match the new colours. Finally today we say goodbye to our 63 plate Challenger MT865C, keeping the 64 plate MT875E for another year or two. She's been a good workhorse but now needs new tracks and has clocked 6000 hours so didn't want to run it through the autumn. Tune in later on to see if combines roll :DIMG_7255.thumb.JPG.ac90487a05be730c19a3055d134acdba.JPGIMG_7256.thumb.JPG.314a175d584ce5823d818465b46c01fb.JPGIMG_7258.thumb.JPG.29d0701c41960884cbb86b79c03e9603.JPGIMG_7259.thumb.JPG.029503d3a4a7fbf2407c3ec490ab982c.JPGIMG_7260.thumb.JPG.873a329406b8696d6783105a7126fac1.JPG

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Just now, sandy6930 said:

That looks amazing I am in the process of trying to build my own but it doesn't look half as good as yours did you build it yourself

Cheers mate, yes built it myself although at times wish I hadn't started! Pleased with how it turned out. Which have you chosen to build?

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Harvest Log Day 1

Combines started rolling today in winter barley at Frogmary. Early to tell on quality until we get lab results and yield but looking at a very average 7.2t/ha. 164 acres down today after a 2 hour start and then stopped because of drizzle for an hour before carrying on this afternoon. Straw sold to Orchard Contractors who will be baling for us again this season for the 3rd or 4th year now and kindly running our bale chaser to stay in CTF. This year we have Chris and mysel on the combines, Mark on the chaser, Alyvdas, Webby, Pete, Dan and harvest hand Colin on trailers with the old man coming in when needed, James is running the dryer and yard, and a team of uni students in the grain lab. Crack on down to Yeabridge for Joe Broughton tomorrow for 146 acres.IMG_7265.thumb.JPG.d5893b201dab02f6f85fd33619168d9e.JPGIMG_7266.thumb.JPG.3b36b50bc861d6a39fa4bdce182cb69c.JPGIMG_7267.thumb.JPG.6555a25861e9f196165032df51a0fb95.JPGIMG_7268.thumb.JPG.5dc0ec9e56c38b96ee7d2d80cb73a3e5.JPGIMG_7269.thumb.PNG.18648428552af5d6ae5acca90d30ec5e.PNG

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There is a lot to keep up now at this time of year, now that Phil is off the forager he will sit on cultivations, rape drilling, spraying and trailers when needed. So today he went up to North Petherton to start opening up the wholecrop ground with the 7m top down, also has the rapid lift on to remove the 6m wheelings where the forager and trailers have been at the same time, this will be the beauty of 6m CTF for AD because we know exactly where the wheelings are in order to do something about it and then revert to 12m for secondary cultivations and drilling etc. We shall use this first pass to get a chit, spray off and wiz over with the carrier before drilling hybrid rye in September.IMG_7270.thumb.JPG.88a175aa282bac51727d76996922321a.JPGIMG_7271.thumb.PNG.198d0027165182c8e034cb54b3f12b05.PNG

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1 minute ago, sandy6930 said:

Did the chaser bin get used if it did how did it get on

It did yes, went very well, perfect sized capacity for us, running it on a 939 which seems to be great, power and speed yet agile in field with steering axles. I will get some action shots as the season progresses. Any help you need with yours, sizes etc send me a pm mate :)

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Just for you Ben and anyone else interested it's time to go through the dryer setup and grain handling at Oakley. First up is every load goes over the Weighbridge and is sampled by the red CS90 spear which goes straight to the lab for analysis. IMG_7288.thumb.JPG.8dd9a4a202922b313ceaa35bdab0dd2b.JPG

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