Calmsden Farm Adventure

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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 hay, straw and stables.....

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And now I have a pair of horses!!! I have no idea what I'm doing with horses, all I know is you put food in at one end and avoid the other end? This will be a learning experience for me.

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What, they need riding? EVERY day? I'm learning on the job, apparently there's 4 speeds and steering, but I don't think this is the right way...

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I'm going to need to keep the gate closed, although they seem to like the stables, and are capable of jumping over it anyway.

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I love it when Emily calls, because her name pops up on my phone. I'll see if I can squeeze my big tool in your tight entrance and sort out your cultivating.

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Weather not looking great....although its not sticking (yet).

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Clifford's grass doesn't look too healthy. So, he needs my help. BUT in order for me to address the issue, I need to technically be in ownership of the land. So we have a complicated 3-way conference call with the bank manager, and I can borrow the money to temporarily buy the field, sort it out, then re-sell it immediately back to Clifford.

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Cracking on with cultivating job #1 before sorting Emily out. Missed a bit.

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I THINK the silly oversized tractor WILL fit, but there's not much hope swinging the back end of the massive cultivator round though.

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I smacked that gate post about 37 times during the sugar beet harvest, I am not sure how much more it can take!

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Loader tractor to the rescue! If I lift up one corner, then inch it forwards with the other tractor....

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Whilst very gently inching it forwards, I must have accidentally stood on the tail of my dog, who was lying next to the heater vent by my feet. She yelped and sat up quick, knocking the throttle pedal and the tractor lurched forwards BUT also made it through the gate! It must have some flexibility in it, phew! I won't need to worry about getting it out again, they'll collect it after I've finished.

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The snow is persistent, I have plenty of winter jobs to be getting on with.

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Although the pressure is off, so I nip home for some lunch. Lucky I did, I'd left the washing on the line. Its now as stiff as hardboard.

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After extended tummy tickles, my dog has forgiven me for stepping on her tail.

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Rolling Clifford's field. I don't make any money off this job, but hopefully that grass will perk up again and he'll want it mowing again.

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3 trees worth of wood on its way home. I'm looking back every 5-10 secs to make sure its okay...

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...And while doing so, a wall jumped out and flipped the tractor onto its side! Fortunately I'm okay and can get out.

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Could have been worse! Luckily the trailer just happens to have a crane, so I use it to flip myself upright again.

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Would you believe lightning struck twice? This time, a weird gate at the sawmill jumped out at me.

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That's it for another year for these tools, so they can go in the big shed, which is quite awkward to get in/out of.

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Loader tractor at full stretch. Fortunately it can lift 3 bales off.

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Fed the horses on the way the shop to pick up these! My felling conditions say to re-plant what I replace. But I've been sponsored by a few local companies to plant more trees, so I'll plant 20 saplings for the 8 I've chopped down. I wonder how long they'll take to grow to full height?

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Losing the light now.

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During planting, I spotted another felled tree I'd earlier missed. So I dragged all the kit out again.....This time I'll try the log fork. Its not as precise and difficult to see what's going on from the cab. I don't think I could do this again if I tried, I've managed to balance the log exactly in the middle, on top of 2 bars of the trailer.

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Oooh nice! But I can't afford it. Its a 12m drill, bargain price compared to new price of ~£160k. But alas, I can't afford it.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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One more task for December, cultivating Emily's field. Then the phone rings....its Emily....its new year's eve and she asks me over! Needless to say, I abandoned the cultivating and nipped home for a shower then hot footed it over to hers....

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"Where have you been? I unravelled all the toilet rolls in the house too, they were all congested together on them rolls." "Thanks dog."

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Morning tasks, tending to the animals.

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Must be from Newcastle.

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Horses fully exercised and cleaned. PITA things.....

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With the eggs sold, had a bit of fun on the Cotwolds Stores car park, its a bit slippery!

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Back to cultivating.........aaaaaaahh....it snowed all night? Its covered up my previous once round the headlands! All sorted out with using the map as guidance though.

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Silage is at its price peak in January so decided to sell it. Decided NOT to shift 300t of sugar beet though.

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£20k or so not to be sniffed at.

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With some time to spare, a bit of shopping ready for the spring. Then with all my jobs done, I get the afternoon off - I'm taking Emily ice skating - what could possibly go wrong?
norfolk farmer
Posts: 2305
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:36 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by norfolk farmer »

Difficult too tell from the screenshots but are you running the extra shaders and textures Oxy released via Discord?
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

norfolk farmer wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:35 am Difficult too tell from the screenshots but are you running the extra shaders and textures Oxy released via Discord?
Just the standard mod (if that makes sense) downloaded from the DLC.
norfolk farmer
Posts: 2305
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2018 3:36 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by norfolk farmer »

paul_c wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:25 am
norfolk farmer wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:35 am Difficult too tell from the screenshots but are you running the extra shaders and textures Oxy released via Discord?
Just the standard mod (if that makes sense) downloaded from the DLC.
If you are playing pc the extras make a real difference especially with the trees a much more natural look,you replace some in the files in the map and some shaders in the game files those shaders will probably need doing every time the game updates. It is easy to do and if anyone could break something it would be me :lol:

This is another thing you can do for better looking crops it again is changes in the basegame files.I've been using this for a while and still a solid 60FPS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nDqbj0L4Lw
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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This came up for sale secondhand. Nice, but ultimately I'll need a bit more power in future for big(ger) stuff so passed on it.

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February is quiet but a trickle of seeding/planting contracts came up. Able to lift 4 bags with the 1.5t rear weight.

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Big trailer proves useful to act as "support truck" for the planter, which I don't fancy driving back and forth to the shops every 5 mins.

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Tempting....but needs a 230hp tractor - and there's better (and less worn out) balers out there too. Mine is a round baler/wrapper and has plenty of life left in it. So I'd need a wrapper with that one too.

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I bought field 31, not for the sheep but for the grass (and location is good too).

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8.4m windrower.

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...And more spraying. Always spraying.
humbe
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:33 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by humbe »

norfolk farmer wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 10:47 am
paul_c wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 9:25 am
norfolk farmer wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:35 am Difficult too tell from the screenshots but are you running the extra shaders and textures Oxy released via Discord?
Just the standard mod (if that makes sense) downloaded from the DLC.
If you are playing pc the extras make a real difference especially with the trees a much more natural look,you replace some in the files in the map and some shaders in the game files those shaders will probably need doing every time the game updates. It is easy to do and if anyone could break something it would be me :lol:

This is another thing you can do for better looking crops it again is changes in the basegame files.I've been using this for a while and still a solid 60FPS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nDqbj0L4Lw
Oh yes.. Looks much better now...

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

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Gathering equipment to silage field 31. I could have chosen either of the other two entrances rather than clogging up the public road, but....

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The new windrower is doing a lovely job.

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Loading over the wall. I'd left 5 spaces easy to place bales into. Its a stretch, this bale will need to be corrected.

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Annoyingly, nothing but rolling perks the grass back into life after a cut.

Just finished March before I completely lost the light. Tomorrow is an almost exciting day, we can finally do something useful with field 23 and plant a proper crop! We now have the equipment and reasonable cash in the bank too - will keep it back since we will sell crops in wintertime now, when the prices are better.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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3m drill, big(ish) field...but its my land, my crops now.

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Experimenting with ridge marker. Since its a min-till going over cereal stubble, in fact I don't really need them.

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Nearly there.

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So, apart from no fertilizer, it needs liming, ploughing, weeds growing and it needs rolling, it should grow fine?

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A little birdie gave me a tip that spraying with herbicide immediately after drilling prevents weeds. HOWEVER there is no way of knowing where you've previously sprayed - no map shows it, and nothing on the ground texture displays either. The ONLY way to know, is to get out the tractor and survey it on foot, where it does display on the info box.

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The edges were okay - I followed the edge after all. But estimating 24m in from there is a challenge. To help, I used the other tractor as a "marker" at the other end of the field - its a big field - and drove towards it in hope....only next month will reveal if my anti-weeding strategy has paid off.

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That's quite accurate - although of course, I may have had a massive wobble in the middle, then corrected it as I got nearer the marker tractor. Fortunately only needed to do this a few times, which involves a run up and down the entire length of the field, then I could do near the edges knowing there's 24m of herbicide there already.

Then I got a call from Jacki........she's doing business studies at college. She wants to use my farm as an example of how (not) to run a farm for profit. So she's asked me for some data. Great...."will you help me gather the data?" "No". "Will you tell me which data to collect". "No". "Will you do ANYTHING to help?" "I have a pink highlighter, once you've produced a nice spreadsheet showing the comparative income/Ha of each crop, I'll highlight the best one". She also called me a "busy *$#%§*" at one stage of the call, but I'll let that pass.....

Then it got me thinking...I need a vague plan. Its clear that contract work is propping up my entire operation. It keeps me busy but eventually I'll have too many jobs to do so I need to apply a bit more finesse to selecting those. And I need to actually do my own farming stuff too, otherwise my uncle will be on my back. So, my plan is (as well as the contracting and a bit of forestry in the winter):

Year 1: do some silaging and at least get some stuff sold for income. Try get the arable side rolling
Year 2: expand whichever is revealed to be more profitable
Year 3-5: replace worn out "starter" kit with decent machines (we will probably eventually be limited to how big of a machine can practically fit, around Calmsden).

Conditions:
* Sustainability (environmental and financial)
* Financial independence (from contracting)
* Maybe go organic (no sprays or non-natural ferts applied) eventually
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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Not many contracts. A sowing and a fert. Now if only we could align East-West, and there was something to follow, and a feature or accessory on the tractor which could help us.....

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Took ages but these ones pay well.

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April seems quite quiet around here...then in the evening a fert contract popped up. Its a field where its possible to align E-W, so its going to go into the night. Interestingly, the (secondhand) little tractor bought for spraying is now end-of-life (at about 45 hours) so it receives no maintenance now and I'm just waiting for the day it starts to slow down, then its NEW replacement will be bought! Watch this space for a surprise!

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With some quiet time, its worth removing the bales from the flatbed trailer to make space for 2nd cut silage. I am undecided whether to store and sell in the winter (triple handling the bales), or just sell in the summer and accept less money.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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It is now May, and I was keen to see how my spraying in the blind had turned out. Not bad for weeds, I don't think its necessary to do a patch spray although it is an option.

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More contract spraying....

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Ooh Emily! How can I turn this job down. (Turned out to be a PITA!)

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My Sorghum is actually growing!

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Typical Britain, weather not looking great for June/July!

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The contracts aren't simply random. I know that in June, barley is the only thing harvested so it MAY come up as a contract. And I know which fields are 0% or 50% fert and/or weedy. Things won't be manic in June, maybe later in the summer though it will?

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So anyway, as part of my overall Big Plan, one of them is to eliminate spraying. Until I have slurry/manure that's a bit of a dream, but for now I can look to maximise spray efficiency. So I'm recording a lot of aspects (eg use, hours, tractor fuel, repair costs, hours worked etc) and as interesting aspect is I can compare my poor sprayings (loads of overlap, or took ages to do) against the best.

Conclusions able to be drawn are:
1) My own field 23, was the most wasteful. Partly this is due to its awkward shape (triangles left, once the edges and some strips are done) and partly its because I went for 100% coverage with overspray, rather than simply fulfilling a contract with 90 or 95 or whatever the requirement there is.
2) Field 5 is more-less aligned East-West along its top edge, so I can do the edge then do E-W runs - and because its E-W, the northerly heading doesn't alter so its easy to use the map/GPS to stay precisely straight. And its easy to work out the next strip being +24m from the previous
3) Fields where there isn't a nice edge, such as field 18 (Emily's field), invariably end up wasteful as each subsequent pass trying to follow the previous, introduces more and more "error" and a wobblier and wobblier line. Sometimes I can keep it smooth, often not though!
4) A better approach going forwards might be:

* Go once round the perimeter of the field, by eye. This gives turning space for later passes.
* Choose the edge most closely aligned with E/W/N/S and just drive in strips aligned E-W or N-S, don't worry about the wedge or triangle created

5) The "wastage" once converted to a £ amount, isn't huge compared with the contract income (but might be on my own field 23, depending on how much yield/harvest £).

The job times (= tractor operating hours) and repair costs were also gathered. What would be really useful is a broad "total cost of ownership" of a tractor, ie its purchase and repair/maintenance over the whole life, since repair costs increase as it gets older. So a newer tractor has less repair costs to start with, and a longer life too (so its higher price is spread over a longer period and its depreciation is probably about the same). It depends on when you call "end of life" for a tractor - partly on the increased repair costs? When its too small and you've moved on? Something else?

Interestingly the little MF3707 is now nearly 50 hours, so I've stopped repairing it at all and its now 0% condition, BUT there's no drop off of speed during spraying, which is my main concern. Maybe its because I'm still maintaining the sprayer and loader forks (but not loader), and the speed penalty/drop off only occurs once its below say 30%, but by maintaining 2/4 items its being kept above that? It might make sense to keep repairing/replacing the cheapest 2 items!
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

It is June and today's theme is grass!

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Weather doesn't look too clever though. Let's hope it doesn't rain - I have two hay contracts.

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Mowing field 22. Its come back to life and given another contract, after its enforced rolling last year.

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Beam up the bales, Scotty.

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I was approaching the magical £300k cash (effectively paying off the initial seed money) but then I bought this toy. Its an auto-loading bale trailer and should save a lot of time. I will be able to store and sell in the winter, for extra profit.

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Its big, but just about manageable with the right lines. Chipped the 200 year old stonework but I think I got away with it.

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Our little field yielded better. No chance of getting the new bale trailer into it, to chucked them over the wall and the auto-pickup will scoop them up.

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A few fert contracts too today. Tried a new approach, taking all the fert for the job out with me.

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Ready for action.

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The MF3707 is finally showing its age and is unable to mow (at speed) any more. So I've leased this - its a bit odd so didn't want to just go ahead before trying it out. It CAN mow really well!

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....But it can't spray. Its just too small/light. I will need to think about another replacement.

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This is just some of 2nd cut (June) silage, bolstered by some extra grass from the contracts. I also have 17 bales from 1st cut (March) which is nearly fermented. The plan is to store (bought the stables land) until winter, then sell at the best prices. The autoload trailer will help because it will be many trips.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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July is weirdly quiet, this is the only contract on offer (so far) and its as appealing as a fart in an astronaut suit. Might go back to bed.....

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Got chatting to Sheila, next door neighbour-but-one. She went weirdly quiet and "had to go" when I touched upon the fact she'd arranged a competitor contractor to harvest her Oats. I didn't want to do it anyway, its okay....

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Moving on to August and its a significant milestone, one year on the farm. No time to celebrate though, its a busy day ahead. Chickens are tended to and eggs on their way to the shops, I deliberately passed by field 23 and indeed it looks good to harvest!

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A lot of borrowed equipment to do today's jobs.

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After bending a few gates from last year, I decided the right thing to do was hire the header trailer too. The little tractor can lug it.

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First offload is always the tightest for access but squeezed in with no crop damage. Its a big trailer for the little tractor. Once full it was hopeless on the slopes so it was swapped later.

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I'll keep the combine for a contract job but the gates are limiting, I'll have to mess around with the header trailer even though its field 3, just over the road from me.

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I shall elect not to repair it but Gerald has offered to give it the once over and at least quote for the job. "Just reverse it in, lad"....easier said than done.

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The combine is easier and fits through the door.

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After a lot of pondering and spreadsheet analysis, I've held off buying a new tractor so I've bought a slightly smaller plough than my wishlist one. The Zetor (171hp) can cope well with the Agro Masz POV 5 XL (2.5m width, 160hp needed) but the job will take ~30 mins longer. Thankfully its once every 3 years.

Now I have completed the harvest, I have a clear idea of the costs. Of course, Sorghum is not sellable in Calmsden - it was Hobson's choice though, it was the only thing which could be spring sown that the chickens liked. Here are the costs:

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The price is comparable to wheat/barley, and much cheaper than buying chicken feed from the shop. So I'm effectively producing it as a hobby! Of course, ~60 tons of Sorghum can be "converted" to ~£85k of eggs (with some capital cost involved too). Or, should we do more silaging instead? All we would need to do is buy another field, we have the kit and tractors already.

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The comparison shows that both are about the same capital cost, but the chickens once established just need about 15 mins/day feeding and gathering eggs. The silaging earns me more money but needs a lot more work put in, and pays at a lower £/hr rate.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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After the ploughing comes liming....so a trip to the shop was due.

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We're going to need a bigger tractor.....

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4000l of lime didn't go far! Brought the trailer and loader tractor to keep topping up though.

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My little tractor can't even lift the bags high enough, lucky I brought a sharp knife and I got the lime shuffled into the Bredal okay. 1.8t on the rear means it can lift 2 bags which saves time.

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That's good enough to be called done.

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And straight on to drilling.....we are putting oilseed radish in. Last time we used spray fert, it will be useful to compare costs and time taken.

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It took a while but its all done by about 3pm. Then I need to do it all again for my neighbours.....

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FS22's 22.5deg snap to lines means the ridge line is difficult to follow....

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Before I lose the light, a little landscaping and building works. I got the contractors in to knock down the old stables (the horses have long gone - complete PITA they were!), they did it in super quick time but left the straw! I'd better move it, I have plans for a second chicken shed there.

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This tree (American Elm) had to go. It appears possessed, I hope it doesn't come back and haunt me...

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2 new chicken sheds.

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Feeding is fun. There is a bit of a bumpy path to follow to bring the trailer along and a drop at the end but the tractor can cope, I hope the hitch doesn't ping off!

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They look happy in their new home.

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Bought another trailer. Guy at the shop shouts over "watch the nose weight!!!"

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That will solve it! I hope I don't banana the chassis on its first trip though.

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Typical UK farmer, about 4t+ on a car trailer without a care in the world.

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On to the £45k drilling job, which will go on into the evening...

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Little tractor can do the topping up.

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The new trailer is so light it can be lifted.....

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.....onto the other trailer, to save a trip.
paul_c
Posts: 414
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:13 pm

Re: Calmsden Farm Adventure

Post by paul_c »

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The busy August continues....I will do the harvesting before the combine turns into a pumpkin (day-rate lease gets charged for the next day).

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Contract fulfilled and a decent amount of leftover OSR to keep too.

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On to September and just as busy a day - its 3rd cut silage, plus many other jobs. Here collecting more eggs than I know what to do with.

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Should give a good steady income.

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The eggs can wait for the peak price, meantime I'll squeeze in a contracting job....

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...Or two. I've spotted one of Jacki's favourite angles, so I've lined things up and she can help out again.

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Silaging and I'll try the other half of the butterfly mower. Rear mower on the front, and front mower on the rear - in FS22 it doesn't care about tyres running over grass so it works out and its easier to see the edges too. Despite the power, the tractor copes well.

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The silaging Dream Team.

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Nearly forgot to sell the eggs!

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Not a bad little earner, and its not even a full day/month's worth of eggs.

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The tyres don't look too healthy and are almost flat (only at the bottom though), despite putting 170psi into them.

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Jacki's doing okay.

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Not quite complete but Jacki is happy enough and it only took me a few mins to finish off myself.

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She's doing better than the new trailer - what do you mean overloaded???

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It would be a shame to return that rear mower (it was leased) so I scraped enough money together to buy field 10. You'll have to excuse the shabby untidy windrowing.

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3rd cut silage for this year.

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The oilseed radish has done its job, so its time to sow Barley.

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Need to roll the grass, a boring job.

Phew! That's September done. Maybe things will calm down a bit in October. Mind you the contract work is coming in thick and fast.

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What will October bring?
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