Calmsden Farm Adventure

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CptCray
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:53 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by CptCray »

humbe wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 1:04 pm With $15.000 for GPS gear, that takes a while to pay back ;)
That's true. So it comes in handy that contract machines have it included for free ;)
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

CptCray wrote: Fri Jan 21, 2022 10:10 am Hey, keep up posting, I like that kind of stuff very much! I'm also playing on Calmsden Farm and it really is interesting to see different approaches. I also started with contract work and they gave me a combine with a 12m header... It took me almost an hour to get it into the field :D

The only thing I wonder, since it seems that you're playing on PC, why don't you use any GPS mod? It makes it so much easier to keep a straight line and get the correct distances.
I wanted to approach it with a "no mods which make it easier" mantra. That being said, I am looking at small(er) bale trailers with close-coupled axles, which would need to be a mod because there's none in the default game. I believe there's 2 on the modhub, my next job is to compare these properly.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Onwards with day 2 (September)....more spraying

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The little tractor is proving cheap to run

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And more spraying....

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Spot the deliberate mistake? The field was meant to be Canola (light green) but I accidentally had Barley selected and started it....Drilling Canola after, doesn't go into the ground properly....and I'm struggling to meet the % criteria to fulfil the contract with what's left of the land! Eventually, I squeaked it in...phew!

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Hmmmm things just aren't going my way. Accidentally pressed the release for the loader, the bucket is full of wheat so tipped it forwards, and now I can't reconnect! They say bad luck comes in 3's, should I worry???

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Just as well I have ANOTHER loader tractor. It saves the day with a little push from the headstock

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100 chickens but only 750l food capacity...they'll need a daily visit. May as well leave the bucket of food here rather than pour it into the silo then extract it again.

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As the afternoon progresses, my thoughts turn to the "accidental" field I purchased earlier. Hmmmm....

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More money spent

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Mower did a nice job - and left it in swathes too. I think I'll skip windrowing since its only a small field.

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Aaaahhh....

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Big loader tractor to the rescue! It lifted the rear end of the trailer round a bit.

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My American cousin sent me this pic from his drone, of some "special order" trailers and the standard bale trailer I have (and the car trailer) for comparison. Interesting. I only got 5 bales off the little field anyway, don't need a massive trailer.

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Spraying in the dark. The headlights only light up the IBC on the forks so I may as well turn them off and use the map.

Another contract (cultivating) took ages but paid well, so it was a late finish on the last day of September...I wonder what October will bring?
chale8
Posts: 166
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 7:49 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by chale8 »

I really enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to the next instalment, thank you.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Oooh a silage contract! And I get to keep any excess? Yes please!

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My Uncle phoned. "What happened?!!?!?!?"...."Did you spray it in the dark?????!?!?!?"

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Whilst walking across the farmland on one of my many trips (no teleporting), I found this little wooded area behind field 27. I have an idea for winter.....

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Anyway, back to silaging. The low sunlight and the dirty screen don't help see the grass.....

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So, I got about 20 excess bales....so I thought I'll put them at the cow unit. Indoors...backed up into the corner okay, but forgot the bale pick up thing extends out.....smashed into the shed, sent the tractor and trailer flying around, a complete mess....

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With no other options I was forced to dump them there. They'll need clearing up.

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I picked a lot up with the trailer but there's 5 stuck in the corner

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Loader tractor to the rescue again! It was nearby...but the forks were on another job. So, headstock only, I managed to hoik the bales out the corner

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I'm not sure it was worth it after all that messing around, they're not even that close to the wall. AND they're wrapped, they could have gone outside. But then, that silage pit is handy to keep clear.....who knows.....
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

chale8 wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:15 am I really enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to the next instalment, thank you.
Thank you, its good to know its appreciated!
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Emily.......has a lot of sugar.

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Before accepting the contract, I ought to check out the quality of her sugar. Top quality should mean no disappointment at the end of the contract.

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But first, I need to just sort out some spraying. Since it will be parked up for much of the month, I'll just clear out the pipes...

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Running costs seem good...

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An artic??!?!?!? In Calmsden!?!?!

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After trying and failing to get the header onto the trailer (turns out it needs folding), I just headed off...

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Took a wrong turn in the truck. I'll just spin it round on that rough patch of land?..

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Where's my chainsaw......oh, TPO?

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I hit it twice, bit further down the truck though so I'm making progress...slowly...its going to be a long day.

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These gate posts are strong!

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Nudged it but I'm in, 2nd time trying.

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With 95% tank full I stopped and cut a double-width piece, to unload in.

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Not much progress.

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Handy to have a sliding floor (but tipping is faster).

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Blind side reverse. Why did they give me a LHD for England?

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And stuck again...

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I'll swing it wide....right into the hedge....and I'll close the window next time.
humbe
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:33 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by humbe »

The canopy sure is low on some of those roads. A bit annoying that it gets inside vehicles. At least with my no cab tractors, they are low, and if I hit'em, they don't go through what is supposed to be a window ;) Nice to see how you get yourself out of situations there. I typically have a superstrength mod handy for then I get into an unsolvable situation, to avoid having to reset the vehicle. But nice to be able to use real tools.

What's your economy setting? Sounds like you get a lot of income from those contracts.. Though I see the fields are large too... Not decided what I'll be setting mine to yet, but think I'm gonna go with normal or easy, to try and not make it another hard challenge, where I seldom can afford expansion of any kind, and end up using the cheapest gear forever, because even if I could afford it, the mid-sized gear might not be more cost efficient.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

I'm on "hard" economy, but I think it only affects the product sale prices. Vehicles and contracts (and AI wages) are still the same.
Mwal
Posts: 3270
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 4:59 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by Mwal »

Another good one, I’m looking forward to following along
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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I have a cunning plan.......I have spotted that the big contracts obviously supply big equipment if needed. So, their work rate/Ha is high. BUT an AI worker's pay rate is the same. So it might be worthwhile giving Jacki, a local girl who popped by the farm one day to see if there's any odd jobs, a call....

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I'll do the awkward bits around the telegraph poles, then we'll swap over and I'll sit with her for 5 mins just to be sure she's okay.

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(Waves) good luck Jacki, call me if you need me...

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Meanwhile, sugar beet harvest.

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No I haven't gone crazy, its another of my cunning plans.

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Scoatland!!!! Err, I mean, I'll divide the field into 4 so that I'm doing less walking from harvester to truck; AND there's at least 2 straight lines to follow with the harvester too, it will be less stressful that way. So I chose my angles carefully as 27.4deg, then realised I could make it eg 300deg.

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Getting used to the speed and power of the truck now.

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Jacki missed a bit but did 90% of field 1, so I went to finish it off and then another ploughing contract was there too, so I need to move the stupidly oversized thing again.

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A quick nip to the farmyard in the sugar beet harvester to fill up with diesel.

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Another cunning plan of mine. I believe the wording of the contracts means its based on both amount harvested out the ground, and amount delivered. So, the more you can harvest the less you need to deliver, to complete. So the more you can keep! With that in mind, I have started diverting some of the sugar beet to my own store. HOWEVER the road is so narrow, no chance of turning and no chance of a blind-side reverse into the shed in the night. So I had to drive about 1/4 mile to the edge of the map to turn round....grrrrr....

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In theory its NOT a blind-side reverse any more (which are problematic, since some joker replaced the wide angle mirrors with normal ones...), in practice the visibility out of a truck isn't great compared to a tractor.

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Maybe I ought to have checked the roof height BEFORE tipping...but it seems it went okay.

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Sugar beet harvest progressing, Jacki's ploughing next door.

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First quadrant done

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Jacki had to go out at 8pm but she said her little sister, Becki, could help. She was useless, she drove straight into a tree. So she said her cousin Isobel would do some instead. She was just as useless and lasted about 2 minutes. So I phoned Jacki again, and said "Oh, errr, my sister can do it". "No, she drove into a tree!" I replied. Jacki said "No I mean my middle sister, Hannah". Thankfully, she was great, and completed the job to 99% before getting muddled with where Jacki had already ploughed. So I drove out and stopped her repeating bits, and finished off the job for a big payout on the ploughing:

Field 1
pay: 35798
lease: 5455
AI: 6292 (90% of the job)
NET PAY: £24051

Field 17
pay: 42324
lease: 0 (borrowed the equipment from field 1 job..)
AI: 4837 (78% of the job)
NET PAY: £37487

Not bad for about 2 hours work and employing a couple of workers!

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Finishing off after Hannah had gotten it to 99%

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Its getting late, but its worth a tidy-up mid-job.

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Lots of backwards and forwards. Not the best choice to have a manual transmission...never mind

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Hopefully the trailer can back up over the sugar beet ramp to reach the back and dump a bit more there.

It looks like the sugar beet job is going to be 2 days unless I pull an all-nighter. November isn't so busy (yet) - there's my own silaging and a few other contract jobs but winter is surely coming...
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Up before dawn, a ton of sugar beet harvesting to do today.

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Twilight, sunrise soon.

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This came up secondhand for sale (its a mod) - after some pondering, it makes sense now. My tractor can run it, and I can sow some oats in field 23 in spring.

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Broke off from the sugar beet to run some errands. Checking up on the chickens (they need feeding pretty much daily). They have produced a full pallet of eggs!

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Off to sell them. For reality/immersion, I shall endeavour to sell fresh eggs each day/month.

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Silaging - since its November, I'll get the grass cut early and give it a few hours to try dry out a bit more.

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This looks tempting too - but for now, its a "want" not a "need" so I'll hang on. Maybe next spring though.

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Oh no! I've spilt some sugar beet over the wall and its shifted the loader round so I can't attach to it.....

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Managed to hoik it out the corner by catching the front tyre on it.

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If you ever see this in reality, STOP, HANG ON TIGHT, DON'T TRY TO GET OUT THE TRACTOR and call for help!

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But it seemed like too good a photo opportinity to miss, so I got out to take a pic!

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Careful placement of the sugar beet means I can build a makeshift ramp and get it higher in the corner

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Silaging complete, only 4 bales. After the struggle of last time, I decided to not even try to bring the trailer into the field - I can load over the wall with my big loader.

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More spraying...
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Another couple of ploughing jobs came up, so I gave Jacki a call again and she was willing to help at £1800/hour! I still made a bit of money too.

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I am gradually finding out Jacki's limitations. She likes straight lines and certain angles...it seems N-S is fine. Then its increments of 22.5deg. She doesn't like edges.

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Her first crash! Lucky she hit the fence and not that propane tank. Tractor and fence, amazingly, are undamaged. Jacki decides to go home early...

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The sugar beet harvest has been a long haul but this is the last of it.

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I need to transfer about 60t from my store to the sell point. I rented this stupid auger thing but I couldn't get it to do anything useful.

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So I loaded the truck manually.

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Calmsden farm is just too small/narrow lanes and tight turns for artics, I have no idea how this one happened just pulling out the farmyard but its now in the way.

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Making hay at 10pm in November, I am sure it will be brilliant quality.

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Sugar beet job finally completed, and here is the excess I get to keep. That's about 300tons, £60k or so in value. I am unsure what I'm going to do with it yet.

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Feeding the chickens

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What do you do if you have an auto bale lifter but you have one extra; and you've just bought a logging trailer with crane?

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Excess hay, to keep for now.

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Felling licence applied for, restocking plans complete, equipment bought and ready to try it out in anger.

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Soon you'll be horizontal!

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Three trees done, just as it started snowing

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Fresh eggs off to the highest payer.
Noraf
Posts: 2158
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:53 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by Noraf »

A good read, thank you.
And, you do realise you can take the sides off the Brantner, if you still have it, and use it as a flatbed aswell?
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paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

Noraf wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 12:11 pm A good read, thank you.
And, you do realise you can take the sides off the Brantner, if you still have it, and use it as a flatbed aswell?
The Brantner was bought very much in mind that it could be converted to/from flatbed/grain. However its a complete PITA to reverse into the unloading area. It IS possible, its just a pain and would add so much time to a busy harvest day. Also its quite expensive, its almost as much as a grain trailer + flatbed trailer anyway, and that option also means you have the 2 trailers so if you had something on the flatbed you don't need to remove it to convert to grain etc.

I am thinking about the small Strautman SEK802 (flatbed, single axle) but its a little bit niche in that 1) I already have the bigger one (Farmtech DPW1800), which is big for the money and 2) its small so it wouldn't be suitable for all situations, 3) I can load the Farmtech over the fence/wall of the only grass field I own. If I bought some more land which was small enough to only need the small trailer, but no chance of access for the Farmtech or loading over a fence/wall, it would be worth it. But then its no bigger than the car trailer (it might be slightly wider) and that can tilt, so in theory can take a vehicle or have an implement unloaded onto it.

For now I am fairly happy with the equipment bought so far. Not too much of it, all has a use (except the windrower - but if I get into hay I'll need it). I'm more focused/worried about the cashflow in buying land. Land doesn't depreciate (in FS22 it doesn't appreciate either though) whereas equipment needs maintaining and wears out eventually.
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