Manor Farmyard

[phil phoenix]

We are fully into the silly season on farm and thankfully have enjoyed nine mostly dry days in a row, which has enable the Lex 770 to catch up with the ripe wheat crops after gobbling up our rapeseed. Yields are just below average and quality is a little dissapointing as well. Our rapeseed crops were a real mixed bag, some good yields on heavier soils but some very poor crops on our lighter land. Last year we drilled most of it with a Horsch tiger drill but that was responsible for both the best & worst yields at harvest. So as we begin this years rapeseed planting we will start with the Horsch on 250 acres of heavy soils but then use our Vaderstad drill behind an amazone catros on the remaining 300 acres.  The Fendt crawler was hired in with the drilling jobs in mind which leaves our JD 8R to handle cultivations duties into the autumn.

With one eye on the forthcoming Maize harvest we decided to upgrade the header on our 4 year old 980 Jaguar. The Orbis 750 never really stretched the 884hp Jag and a demo last year of a 12 row Kemper really impressed. It also was a less expensive option than swapping the 980 for a new 990 Claas machine. The new Kemper arrived last week and the dealers service man helped us fit it to the Jaguar.  He will be back in three weeks to set the header up correctly as we start on the earliest maize crops.

 

[phil phoenix]

We finished combining our 2000 acres earlier this week, although I suspect we may be asked to assist with one of the neighbours later ripening crops as September rolls on.  My immediate focus has been to complete all the rapeseed drilling. We got half of it done using our direct Horsch drill but the second half has seen our Fendt MT943 pulling the farms 8m Vaderstad drill behind an Amazone catros disced cultivator and JD 8R. This set up is being closely followed by a Fendt 724 and heavy gang rolls. I have instructed the operator to roll it in two different directions to give the seeds a good seal and to lock in recent moisture, and halt any slugs.

Unfortunately the Fendt crawler developed a fault inbetween its two stints of drilling and got taken back to TNS for repair, I was glad I chose to hire it before deciding whether to keep it later this autumn as it gives "issues" a chance to show themselves and get fixed at the dealers expense.  All the same it left us without a cultivations tractor , but to the dealers credit they sent us a lovely low houred Challenger 775E to use instead.  So nice I asked to keep this one as well on hire for a couple of months. We have paired it with our 6metre Kockerling cultivator which requires plenty of tug. 

This years Maize campaign is coming up fast and its likely we will start our first field later this week, that gives us a chance to prepare our grain trailers and fit the greedy boards to them. The Jaguar drivers looking forward to trying out the new 12 row Kemper in this years campaign.

Finally, due to the stop start nature of baling this year because of the rains we got well behind, so when GJ Peck asked if we would like use of a Krone 1290 baler for 2 days to try on demo we said yes. And what a nice piece of kit it was, our driver actually preferred it to our new New Holland big baler!  The good news is that Pecks have brought it back to help us finish of this seasons straw with a view to it replacing our Kuhn baler if a deal can be reached.

[phil phoenix]

The baling was finally finished today and done so with the demo Krone 1290 which I can confidently say will not be leaving the farm. A deal will be concluded very soon as we have been very impressed with this machine. Our New Holland is good but this Krone we believe is a level above. German engineering at its best. 

With the harvest now all wrapped up our focus turns to Maize and Monday has been spent getting everything ready for Tuesday's start. The Jag 980 is raring to go with the new Kemper 12 row header on it and this year we will also be adding a roll to the rear of our pit tractor. The JD 6250R has got the job this year with the Holaras big blade on the front as well, this will assist our contractors big JCB 419s.

Its a fair drag to start with and all four of our decent trailers are on it plus the  home farmers kit.  We have taken on a one man band to add further cover during this years campaign who has brought his NH T7.225 with him. Our main contractor has one of his 8S.265 machines on hand, and now baling is over his other two big MFs will head back onto the slurry injector tankers. 

[phil phoenix]

Maize is now in full flight and all systems are go!!  The new Kemper header on the Jag 980 has notably improved outputs and is well matched to the harvester.  Yields are down across the board for the second year running which was once again down to a dry June just when all the crops need moisture.  And if the weather isn't enough of a challenge now we have our own government trying their best to hobble us further with more red tape and the threat of calendar farming. As a consequence our contractor Bill Legg is flat out spreading digestate with the aim to finish by the end of the month. He has put the two 8S MFs on the tankers and taken off the 8740 to do some cultivations for other customers. He also has traded in his pristine old Massey Fetguson 7495 VT for a brand new 7S 190 which he will be using to cart firstly maize and then digestate to various farms in the days ahead.

Last week we finished lifting all our remaining 90 acres of sugar beet in perfect conditions, Northfield farms did the job with a very impressive brand new Grimme Rector beet harvester. A bergmann wagon serviced the beast and dropped the beet into a clever cleaner loader which was controlled by wifi.  A healthy profit was earned for the crop as the £40 per ton premium was paid.

Our drillings have gone well this year and we have swapped from the Fendt MT back to the JD 8410 wheeled tractor in the past week. We like the crawler but won't be buying it at the end of the hire period. However the other older Challenger 775E may be kept if the price is right as its useful to keep one in the shed. Or maybe we might consider a JD RX if a demo ever arrives. We have a few demo machines due to look at this autumn before considering any new purchases for 2024.

 

 

[phil phoenix]

Since the last post things have turned rather wet which has brought an end to drilling until next spring.  Some fields look very good and some others look awful!! We will need some frosty weather if the sprayer is to venture out of the shed anytime soon.

Of course the weather has also had an impact on our maize harvest, the first 1000 acres was a doddle, the second 1000 was increasingly tricky and the final 1000 or so has become a war of attrition and a salvage mission. we are down to the last few hundred acres now but most of it is falling over dead and well past its harvest date.

On a brighter note the new Kemper header has vastly improved harvesting and we would be much further away from the finish line had we not bought it.  We still like to look at whats available on demo's and we recently had the latest JAG 990 visit us for a couple of days which was most appreciated. Although it wasn't much quicker than our 980/Kemper current set up. Its new Orbis header is much improved over our previous 10 row version.

Another demo we had a couple of weeks ago was of a John Deere 6R 185 which we all gave the thumbs up. Our dealer informed us that a couple of their 185 hire units had just returned to stock and would we like one to further evaluate and help finish with the maize carting, so we said yes please and its currently joined our 6250R and two of our Fendt 700s on our maize trailer fleet.  We are fortunate that many of our customers have a silage trailer or two of their own so we can always bring in additional help wherever we are harvesting.

The Fendt MT 943 has gone back to TNS off hire, but we have negotiated a cash deal on the excellent condition 775E Challenger which has been most used recently with a big chain on it following around the maize gang and pulling them out when they get stuck!!

Our contractor has put his two Massey 8S tractors on tankers presently, but once again soft ground is making things difficult. The 7S 190 is on the maize run still but we are going to put it on the sprayer in the new year as it should be man enough for most fields, the steepest land will probably see the 6250R put back on it.

 

[phil phoenix]

2023 has been a real mixed bag and was mostly typified by the Maize harvest which started late in mid September in ideal dry conditions and finished late in a swampy November!  Lessons learned were that one harvester is only good enough if conditions remain ideal throughout the campaign, lesson two is we need to move to increase capacity of harvesting and hauling.  We could see the writing on the wall in October when we began drilling wholecrop Rye, so instead of planting 100 acres we upped it to 300 acres which will mean less maize going in and shorten the maize campaign by a few days. 

In preparation for the increase in Rye we acted quickly to buy a barely used secondhand 5 metre Claas direct disc header from a farm sale up north. We have also ordered a specialist tri axle trailer made by Schuitemaker who are highly recommended on the continent and have a strong dealer presence in the west of the UK. We plan to run this behind one of two tractors that were also ordered back in October. These are both Fendt's, a 500hour ex demo 936 /23 plate from our local dealers TNS and a brand new 728 which has the 60kph gearbox as well. The 936 was delivered just before xmas and was immediatly hitched to the big Bednar chisel plough, and the 728 is currently in TNS yard and will come to us in January.

This gives us the extra power and pace to pull the larger trailer and the option for further trailer upgrades if the new tri axle performs as expected.  The 936 has the "Fendt One" technology upgrade on it unlike our earlier 936 which now works out from our Suffolk business. We aim to keep our three other 700 gen six Fendts for the time being and also our John Deere 8R.410 & 6250R.  We do also have a hired 6R.185 on the team but are unsure weather to keep it or give it back in favour of another bigger 6R in the new year, I will ponder that after xmas.

The Jaguar 980 will be with us next year as it is so reliable and hardly ever goes wrong. But I will keep an eye out for a second machine if an exceptional deal can be made. Elsewhere the Lexion 770 sailed through our 2000 acres and also proved reliable, and will be with us in 2024.

Our main contractor B.W Legge's are doing more spraying with us next year, they will use their 7S Massey mostly but also have an 8S available for the steeper ground . My team & Bill's went to Agritechnica for two days after the gruelling maize harvest and checked out what's new. Bill liked the look of the new 9S Massey although his 8740 won't be getting traded in anytime soon, and also was surprisingly interested in the new NH T7300 which is similar in size and power to his 8S machines.

Bill has gotten increasingly peeved with the electronic niggles on his two 8S models especially the older one which has now clocked 4000hours in 2 1/2 years, as he said its great mechanically but typically french with its dodgy electrical issue's. The dealer has tried to improve things and the newer 8S is better but not perfect, the older machine may be on its way out. Watch this space!

 

Edited January 14 by phil phoenix

[phil phoenix]

And so 2024 is here with even more rain. This is going to be another difficult year for farmers weatherwise I,m sure. And we aren't getting a lot of help from western governments either hence the wave of massive farmer protest's currently going on in Germany, france, Italy and the Netherlands. Our leaders need to put there people's interest's in front of those of unelected bureaucrats in the EU !!  Didn't we leave that?  I sometime's wonder.

Anyway despite the gloomy weather we did have some good news this week in the shape of our new Fendt 728 tractor, what a machine it is too! Lightweight , powerful and very quick as well.  It will do well to be as reliable as the 720 model that we finally decided to trade in for it. I had intended to keep the 720 for another year but the 728 was so expensive I had to part with the old machine to keep the cost of the outlay down. We now have four newish Fendt's so I won't be looking to add anymore for a good while.

The John Deere 6R.185 was off hired at xmas as we took the view it was too small and that we would be buying bigger trailer's and equipment from now on, therefore you need bigger tractors with longer wheelbase's to remain boss of the job. So we will be doing a year long hire of another JD 250 HP tractor which should start later in February.

We currently are ferrying maize back to our digester from various fields that we poly tunnelled it into during the hectic autumn. That will keep two tractors and our contractors lorries busy for a while.

Farm deliveries of our solid digestate will commence just as soon as it dries up a bit and we can get the product tipped out by the fields we will then spread it on. Even tractors can't get on most of the customers land presently, let alone our lorries.

And liquid digesteat is also a non starter although our contractor Legge's are hoping some work can commence if we get a few hard frosts next week, we wait to see. They have also decided to sell their big MF 8740S as its workload has dropped considerably after they added the second 8S tractor. And on that subject I understand the older 8S will be traded in the moment the 3 year warranty expires in March. Bill has had enough of all the electrical niggles on his 8S tractors which have spoiled his experience of an otherwise very good product. Funnily enough his new 7 series tractor has been fault free so far. The newer 23 plate 8S machine appears to be a bit better but not reliable enough to gamble on another one, so he will be changing brands on the replacement machine. He had demo's last autumn from Deutz &  CASE  plus visited working demo days for JD, NH & Valtra, he remains tight lipped on his final decision however.

 

[James Joe Dewar]

You know things must be really bad when model sellers are putting protest plackards on the front of model tractors, !!

Wir haben die schnauze volle = We're fed up

Regards

Joe.

Edited January 14 by James Joe Dewar

[phil phoenix]

Yes I agree, but if I could afford a half million pound Claas tractor I could hardly claim to be fed up😄

There are some very wicked people in positions of power currently and many will be at the WEF meeting in Davos this week spouting more nonsense & rhetoric which likely will make farmers feel even less appreciated. 

[phil phoenix]

Well its all changing with our manor farm A D plant complex, we decided to renovate the old yard behind the plant and replace the old barn whilst we were at it. That work is fast coming to completion and will allow us to secure our harvesters in a weather & rodent proof building. It will also give our contractor somewhere else to park his rigs up safely and ease the congestion around the A D Plant where we frequently have articulated trucks parked up as well.  More on that development in the new thread.

The old manoryard will still be home to some implements and tractors but not nearly as busy as before.

Also we once again have had to change our plans due to the crazy nature of the farming business currently, what with unexpected retirements from neighbouring farmers who have had enough of all the upheavals. This along with the worst spell of wet weather in living memory has presented our business with a host of new challenges. Our contractors have stood up to the plate and are adapting to the higher and unpredictable workloads.  Bill Legges team are reshaping their fleet to assist with the new demands and that will be covered in the new thread. 

Meanwhile I decided rather than bring in a new JD hire tractor I would instead trade in the 6250R for a nearly new ex hire 6R.250.  That keeps our personal fleet at 4 Fendts, 2 Deeres & a Challenger and Legges will pick up the slack with his new revamped team. The new tractor was delivered by Burgess' salesman last week and he took away the old one.

Its clear that we will be stretched with our two Lexion harvesters this season with potentially another 1000 acres to cut for new & old customers. Currently we have the older 770 tt working from our Norfolk farms & our other 8700 tt harvester  over on the suffolk estate near Bury St Edmunds. They were fine with a 4500 acre split but with potentially over a 1000 acres more to cut this year and more customers to keep happy, and who knows how much more moving forward, let alone unpredictable weather patterns, we have decided to add another.  It will be another Lexion, but unlikely to be brand new.