orchard farm and contractors !

[Paul Palmer]

all looking good Julian

[tractorboyjules1977]

9 minutes ago, Paul Palmer said:

all looking good Julian

Yeah Paul , chugging on steadily !!! 

[Dusty Dan]

Very nice Julian, I certainly do enjoy looking at your work along with all the others here. I have said it before, but I am amazed at the level of craftsmanship shown here. 

[tractorboyjules1977]

It's been all go this week ,with redunded sheep ground now getting ploughed up for the start of maize drilling. , Decided not to start too early and hang on for a few more days as we would be mega early already , that said seems to be loads of acres gone in under plastic around our area , seems like a very expensive way to go !!! Potato planting now underway with the team on full flow , so far so good just a matter of the weather holding and we should have the 80 acres in by the end of next week ! Even the old 3350 called into work on the planter as shes on narrower wheels  ! Man and machine been pushed to the limit before silage season starts !!!

Edited April 28, 2019 by tractorboyjules1977

[dr-abich]

i have no idea why i missed that topic

Great work

[tractorboyjules1977]

After a cracking couple weeks of weather it's still all go , potatoe planting finished machines washed off and packed away for another year , 2nd app of fert on wheat grounds all completed and spraying duties all up to date ! The silage team flat out working 13/15 hour days to keep up with the work load , so far getting towards 2000 acres covered , nearing the end of 1st cut now , prob be some 2 nd cuts only a couple weeks away , with that said we've managed to get our own 350 acres underway , a bit behind but nearly all young leys so nothing gone too seed , just a few acres of old pasture ground we've decided to put in the clamp ! So far so good , nothing new on the tractor line up still deciding what deals tick all the boxes !!!

[Dusty Dan]

Extremely nice layout!  I am impressed.

Edited May 26, 2019 by Dusty Dan

[tractorboyjules1977]

38 minutes ago, Dusty Dan said:

Extremely nice layout!  I am impressed.

Thank you corky , much appreciated

[Oakley Farms]

Nice to see this is still going strong! Thought I’d pop in and see what’s been happening in the last year!

[dave the farmer]

Smart.thanks for posting.

[tractorboyjules1977]

Just a quick update as we're all flat out , were well into 2  cut silage now and flat out with the balers , hay , haylage and silage ! The foragers back in now just getting readyed with the wholecrop header , should be on barley wholecrop from next week , around 450 acres across various customers, looking at what wholecrop we are probably about a week away so looks like we're be going from 1 to the other , a total of 1700 acres wheat to chop for customers and another 120 acres of our own , starting to look like we shall need extra trailers for the longer journeys to keep the forager wheels rolling !, looking forward we've stopped tanking dirty water just because it's too hot on the surface of the grass grounds , so looking at the weather for end of next week maybe a break for showers , hopefully get these grasses growing fast again !

 

 

 

 

 

[tractorboyjules1977]

With the weather on the change all hands to the pump this last week , all the wholecrop finished off , some 3rd cut silage done and the combines rolling ! Last Thursday saw the ?set of the barley come off , weighed on the weighbridge and stored in the grain shed , combine all back in the yard ready for diesel refill and the header to go through the workshop to replace some bent fingers before we head off into the wheats and then the beans ,the decision last week to take off 125 acres of grass to stick into bales for the youngstock to munch on later on .last job of the wknd replacing a blown pipe on the Richard larrington before wheat duties , saying that looking at the weather for the foreseeable don't look like the combine will be eating too much corn next week 

[dave the farmer]

Thanks for posting Julian like the grain store and weightbridge.

[tractorboyjules1977]

36 minutes ago, dave the farmer said:

Thanks for posting Julian like the grain store and weightbridge.

Cheers Dave , much appreciated

[tractorboyjules1977]

Just a little update after the bank holiday , wheat well underway 245 acres done ,all baleing up to date and bales all in , hedge trimmer now on for verges around the farm and cutting back some of the field entrances , wet weather on and off last few days so tankers have been on 3rd cut silage grounds , giving the grass a much needed boost before 4th cut !! Plough also been out on some old wholecrop stubble preparing for grass seed to go in 

[tractorboyjules1977]

With the combining nearing its end for harvest 2019 ,just 200 acres of wheat and 70 acres of beans  , attention now turning to getting on with some potatoes out , boxes being loaded and prepped ready for start of digging , hedge trimming now in full flow with 1 machine , no 2 machine getting attached later on this week .Saturday we had a little trip down to Smarts Agri to pick our new JCB 420 , replacing the old TM 310 which was over on the dairy unit , much needed change on a 11000 hour machine . Another venture on the horizon is the erection of a new arable unit just up the road , work already well underway hoping to be completed before Christmas , that's the plan anyway . 

[dave the farmer]

Tidy yard there Julian.thanks fir posting

[tractorboyjules1977]

Been a while , so just a little Christmas update , were still struggling with drilling off the remaining acres of wheat , so now seriously looking at some extra spring corn . The boys managing to get out with some slurry and yard scrapings on grass grounds and the odd sacraficial stubble ground ! Also on hauling wheat up to duffields mill and hauling potatoes off to branstons potatoes ltd , At Orchard HQ we've made some rapid developments regarding the business , mainly the decision to come out of the AD plant and selling off our share of the consortium, now to fully concentrate on growing the dairy side of the business having now recently purchased another 450 acres and yard and buildings which are now up and running but still undergoing work , so more to follow in the coming days ! Exciting times ahead for Orchard Farms , lastly a merry Christmas to friends and customers 

[Dusty Dan]

Extremely nice!

[dave the farmer]

Good up date Julian.thanks for posting.

[tractorboyjules1977]

Orchard Farms ltd are now proud to introduce the latest edition , Green Hill Farm ,based only 2 miles down the road from Orchard Farm , 450 acres of mainly grassland adjoining to the boundary of Orchard farms furthest fields , were up and running with 250 head of high yielding Holsteins, this will be the most prominent of the 2 dairy's due to the fact the pasture land seems to be more productive than some of our own land , makes sense for the dairy's to be split in 2 with high and low yielders now separated allowing for a far better  over sight of the 2 herds , the plan is to run this farm as self sufficiently as poss , ie tractor , machine and man power wise , but with the contracting side coming in when extra help is needed , same as up at Orchard Farm ,  the yard still a work in progress with odd jobs to complete but the main thing is now we're running , tractor wise weve  decided on mainly new Holland here due to the fact both Buglers agriculture and Hawkins agriculture pushed hard to get a machine or 2 in , and price !! The T7,315 main duties will be spread over the tanking duties between both dairys splitting the weeks work , A new year coming and new venture , more to come from Orchard farms 

[tractorboyjules1977]

Finally a dry week in this part of the West country , still a bit soft underfoot but with the frost's starting to pitch out  , still on going jobs around the farm at Green Hill , such as hedge trimming as the majority haven't been cut back for a couple years , getting some more slurry out on the firmer  pasture grounds aswell as continuing to ferry in digestate . Back at Orchard HQ the last of the carrots finally coming out of the ground aswell as the last 7 acres of fodder beet , the fodder beet being weighed off and sent down the road to local farmer for feed for his mixed rations for his dairy herd . Next week looking like it's back to unsettled weather , so probably more work shop duties and cutting road hedges !! 

[dave the farmer]

Smart update Julian.thanks for posting.only 2wks to leamington spar show.

[tractorboyjules1977]

12 minutes ago, dave the farmer said:

Smart update Julian.thanks for posting.only 2wks to leamington spar show.

Cheers Dave , yeah doubt if I'll make it up there 

[tractorboyjules1977]

Been a while 1st up an update about what's been going on up at Orchard HQ , last week we were still digging beet on our last patch of water logged ground , during the week managed to get on with the cultivatior trying to get some air in the ground after at last a week or so without any of the wet stuff , the grass grounds up at Orchard not fearing too bad so got out with the harrows and rollers and a bit of fertaliser , the cows up at Orchard not yet out as pastures still hanging with soft spots ! Down at Green Hill farm cows also still in for a minute ,update from Green Hill to follow later in the week , most of my time in the office over the last week talking with customers about what the next few weeks hold under all this covid 19 , still the wheels are just about turning !