Niels Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Ok thanks for the extra explanation Ol! How do you find the Axial-Flow in grass, does it do a good job? Still regarded a walker combine job here for the best threshing. What sort of yield would you be pleased with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 A modern Axial Flow as a rule is fine in grass seed, at night it grumbles as the dew comes down like all the other brands but with the ability to reverse the rotor and feeder house you can spit out a lump easy peezy. Alot of the straw is still green on the new lines of grass coming out now and the bulk of straw depends on the variety so some are easyer than others. A run of the mill perennial type rye grass has over 3.5 tonne/ha (undressed) in it if things go right, some times you make more per ha off lower yielding but higher paying grasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Well that is a very good yield I think! Don't think we would be able to keep up with that over here. Average for rye grass (Italian) is 1.920kg/ha from what I gather online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Ferguson Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Awesome! Nice mucky machinery and I really like your fuel tank stand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Thank's Mandy. There sample cards from a home improvement shop, only thing I could find that had a nice stone effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 As the growing season progresses the Cereal, Rape seed and Onions crops are starting to move through the later stages of growth in a season that has seen no substantial rain since the early crops were sown at the end of winter. Relentless winds and a lack of rain being the weathers theme so far this season. Input costs have gone through the roof with a more costly but more stable form of Urea having to have been used due to lack of surface moisture. Irrigation started 3 weeks earlier and has been running us dog tired keeping the water flowing 24/7. Pumping the home farms water quota of 200ltrs/sec is costing 650 pounds per day in power alone. Weed control has been poor this season to the point were in some paddocks have had another weed spray with the 1st fungicide to control cleavers. With bright sunny days and cold nights the new milling wheat verities established after ryegrass seed by ploughing are looking clean and promising and don’t seem to have suffered from the delayed nitrogen early on (due to a huge shortage of nitrogen this spring from delayed shipping of imported Urea.). All cereals have now received their final dose of Urea, bringing the wheat up to 260 units of nitrogen to ensure the wheat has the spec’s the flour mill wants. Eastbank hasn’t contributed to the record area of fodder beet planted in New Zealand this year. With milk prices dropping like a stone a lot of dairy farms have planted their own beet to save money this year. In high milk price years most of the dairy farms land is in pasture to support more cows as it is more profitable to buy in all there supplement but in low price years the dairies cut cost by growing more of their own supplements and milking less cows. Riding the price wave means this year reduced areas of Maize silage and lifting beet. Maize being grown has been reduced to 10ha witch will be enough to meet my contracted commitments and no more. While finding a home for the 20ha of beet sown is proving to be a test of faith so far but with many farms well through their water quota now and very strong beef prices I’m confident the beet will have a home before spring. Global unrest has been putting the brakes on a lot of export seed crops this year with company’s using up there seed stocks. With free milling wheat not where it needs to be to reward the effort it takes to grow it as well we’ve somewhat fallen on the free market sword this year. I’ve played the joker card this year and leased land out to a vegetable grower as there were few options this spring that would make a decent net profit . Leasing has been away of making beter money than feed grains while giving the land a spell from straw crops until I can see what the grain market is going to do after harvest. The farm advisor always tells me “you can’t pay the bills with soil structure in the short term, so grow what will pay the bills or you’ll have no soilâ€. Lease value is factored on soil type, irrigation type and water quota as well as cropping history. Eg: Lateral move irrigation systems grow much beter crops than hose reels due to more even application in all weather conditions and cover the ground faster when the crop is under stress so are more valued for growing high value crops. December is a hard month if no rain falls as all the crops need water combined with the wind we can be using 10mm per day, After Christmas as a few crops such as Onions and Peas drop off the list and that water will be used by the potatoes. Cropping for the 2013/14 season is as follows Contract farmed land: 20ha Milling rye 10ha Maize silage 10ha leased for Potatoes (Depending on how things pan out this may go into winter sown carrots for similar money to the potatoes with the same grower.) Eastbank: 40ha Potatoes 30ha Raddish seed 40ha Rye grass straw (hopefully the straw will be in demand as a feed to blend with the beet, if not it’ll be stacked up and carried over) 20ha double crop beans (same as every year due to the factory’s planning and strict areas planted) 70ha Milling wheat (Now at the delicate stage as the weight of heavy heads will push the crop over due to the wind blowing the water down on it with force even with pgrs.) 20ha Fodder beet (Down in area as a lot of other farmers are growing it now) 30ha Maize grain 10ha Winter Onions 30ha Rape seed 25ha Seed barley (A whole crop silage variety this year) 10ha Vining peas (Most years there is chance to grow a 90 day crop of Buckwheat after peas to add to the paddocks net per ha but with it being so dry I think I’ll need the water for the potatoes unless we get a decent rain it can sit and maybe be a seed barley paddock next as it gets away from volunteer wheat that lingers often more than 1 season.) 15ha Feed barley (Early sown but grown dryland and looking rubbish to free up water for other crops worth more.) Not alot of tractor work happening this week, just keeping the sprayer and water flowing. Rinsing the sprayer between crops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 http://youtu.be/BXzY5g-HexI To help build a mental picture of the type of farming i'm trying to portray there's a short video above of a seed merchant a farm such as Eastbank would be growing alot of crops for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 I was reading an article on the NZ Herald website yesterday Ol that tractor sales had reached their highest level in ten years but it seems doubtful Eastbank will be buying any? They did mention the dairy sector will be bad next year with a strong fall in price. In Europe the milk quota will go per 1st of April? I believe so anything can happen! Most likely a strong drop in prices as well. Very interesting catching up with the background of your farm and business, making it very lifelike indeed! What tickles my fancy . I can draw plenty of parallels with how we farm in Holland. I always thought being an farmer in NZ was the holy grail of crop farming but it seems not! It does help me appreciate our climate and independence of water. Irrigating does seem to be needed more and more but we can get away with cheap systems, readily available water everywhere, an unlimited supply and you will still get a crop even if it isn't watered. Back to a more scaled view, lovely scene in the yard! Very realistic. Keep us posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 nice pictures and updates Ol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Thank you both for taking the time to look, good of you to read my story line. I try to replace one implerment a year Niels to keep things modern and so I don't end up having to change a hand full of things at the same time. The tractors I'm happy to spend abit on them and look after them as they're still good old workhorses and don't do any contracting or road work as such. Regular oil changes and a new door seal etc are at this stage costing less than the repayments on a new one. Last year I replaced my disc's with the set below, the year before that was a trailer I imported myself. Next year I'm looking at a few things but will wait and see what kind of harvest I have first. The new disc's when they arrived on farm (US made Lateral line irrgation) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Nice up date. Good pictures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Thank you both for taking the time to look, good of you to read my story line. I try to replace one implerment a year Niels to keep things modern and so I don't end up having to change a hand full of things at the same time. The tractors I'm happy to spend abit on them and look after them as they're still good old workhorses and don't do any contracting or road work as such. Regular oil changes and a new door seal etc are at this stage costing less than the repayments on a new one. Last year I replaced my disc's with the set below, the year before that was a trailer I imported myself. Next year I'm looking at a few things but will wait and see what kind of harvest I have first. The new disc's when they arrived on farm I think that is a fair policy Ol and one that I see more and more round me on the larger farms. Like you say, if you don't invest a little every year you end up with a lot of aged kit in the end. Even this year, with historically low prices, some machinery is still bought. Sadly our tax system works in such a way that you have to go a spending spree at the end of the year to prevent it from filling the country's piggy bank. As you can invest as easily in buildings or land on a short team it ends up in machinery so you see small farms buying bit unneeded kit without any reason other than to get rid of taxes! Keep the Fiatagri, a lovely machine! Have seen to many disappear in recent years!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 New Zealand has much the same tax laws by the sounds of it. The Fiat G240 and John Deere 7810 are perfect for the range of cultivation jobs I undertake and only really do work with a slow steady load on them helping them last. . My thoughts at this stage are to keep the busy JCB Fastrac and NH T7000 tractors upto date by putting alot of hours on them and saving the older ones from being used as much and keep the jcb and nh fresh as they do the lions shear of the work. One of the above mentioned tractors putting a load of Urea away for the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 The Fiat G240 and John Deere 7810 are perfect for the range of cultivation jobs I undertake and only really do work with a slow steady load on them helping them last. . I doubt you'll find any new tractors that will have the cost of ownership in the end. Unless the gearbox goes bang big time. Likely to happen to the Funk in the G240 at some time.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11johndeereman Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 thats one nice fastrac! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 Good of you too look Donal and Paul, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 yes agree with Donal,great fastrac Ol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael6270 Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 yeah I agree nice fastrac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Nice steady showers off and on this week combined with the fact we have been keeping up with the irrigation has seen the heads on pillows and pumps off for a couple of days. The hose reel/boom puts 20L/sec over 40mtrs and is used on a few of the 10ha paddocks around the top of the farm namely in the onions. I favor the boom over a canon due to the nice fine water pattern when the crops are small and it's even application in all weather conditions with low rates of water. The down side to a boom is the working width is'nt as wide as a canon in fine conditions. Folding the booms away so the sprayer can sneak past next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike R Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 this is a great story and diorama one of the best on here with real detail on all scenes keep the pics coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 That is a lovely boom irrigator, likewise we find them more efficient than a gun irrigator but the gun a less hassle labour wise, we get away with using all guns on the spuds over here but would like to invest in booms to save water, something we should all be conscious of farming with future water shortages in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Palmer Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 nice update Ol,keep them coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillview Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Great updates Ol. I like the irrigator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 this is a great story and diorama one of the best on here with real detail on all scenes keep the pics coming. Great updates Ol. I like the irrigator. nice update Ol,keep them coming Kind of you guys to say so, thanks for the acknowledgment. That is a lovely boom irrigator, likewise we find them more efficient than a gun irrigator but the gun a less hassle labour wise, we get away with using all guns on the spuds over here but would like to invest in booms to save water, something we should all be conscious of farming with future water shortages in mind. Thanks Alex, Like you say booms are a hassle, if we didn't have constant wind that blows the water every were but were you want it for weeks on end canons would be alright. Uneven application of irrigation water sticks out like day and night here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakley Farms Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Kind of you guys to say so, thanks for the acknowledgment. :)Thanks Alex, Like you say booms are a hassle, if we didn't have constant wind that blows the water every were but were you want it for weeks on end canons would be alright. Uneven application of irrigation water sticks out like day and night here. Yes i suppose it would because of your climate? We dont know we are born over here sometimes with the weather, we moan but i really isnt that bad, little changes such as digging ditches and looking after your soil really helps i think with drainage and water retention. I think over here we could learn a lot from how overseas establish a crop such as a doing a Nuffield Scholarship, now these people seem to bring back fantastic ideas and implement them over here. Back to irrigation....tell me about your infastructure with water, being so reliant on irrigation you must have had to invest in lakes and underground pipes or do you uptake from rivers? Over here back in the early 90s we invested in a gravity fed lake with pump house and underground network of pipes with hydrants to every field on farm where soil type is suitable for potatoes, we are finding it essential nowadays not just for yield increase but to stay competative in the market or to have a market at all we need top quality skin finish, a hugh risk without irrigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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