Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry

[Spunky_Dogg]

Awesome work!

Thank you, I chopped down a lot of trees (more than 450 according to the game) to carve this and my farm out. I think it turned out well, I'm still kinda tweaking it.

[Spunky_Dogg]

HAPPY SUNDAY SPUNKY FANS! IT'S SPUNKY'S BIRTHDAY!

Yes, today is the anniversary of my birth and I see that it's been exactly one week since my last post, which is too long and something I need to fix.

We are now in mid-summer of Year 4 at Spunky Dogg Farms and I've been working on a pretty extensive logging operation on the north side of Raccoon Corners. I haven't decided exactly what to do with the cleared land as of yet, could be a tree farm, could be farmland, could be poplars, I am open to suggestions.

On a side note, is anyone getting the feeling their crops are growing really slowly while using the Precision Farming DLC? I'm on No Man's Land and it seems like even the grass is taking forever to grow. I'm willing to wait until the end of the fall before making a decision whether to turn it off or not.

Additionally, we have sold our soybeans from last fall, and Year 3's final totals are below:

Wheat (1.46 acres):
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210) = +$236
• Year 3 - 2,921L ($2,149)

Oats (3.78 acres):
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - 4,833L ($7,404) = +3,248
• Year 3 - 4,826L ($$5,734

Canola (0.99 acres):
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($5,968) = -$124
• Year 3 - 1,285L ($TBD)

Barley (1.46 acres):
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)
• Year 3 - 3,112L ($2,574)

Soybeans (3.90 acres):
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - 7,353 ($11,234) = +$6,766
• Year 3 - 3,955 ($8,703)

Corn (2.27 acres):
• Year 2 - Crop failed
• Year 3 - 4,694 ($4,286)

Total:
• Year 1 - $24,599
• Year 2 - $26,816 = +2,217
• Year 3 - $25,047 = -$1,769

[FarmingJules]

Your farm looks great and I really enjoyed reading about your work!

[Spunky_Dogg]

Your farm looks great and I really enjoyed reading about your work!

Thank you so much for reading! I'm really going to work on more frequent updates. My problem is I get on a roll and I forget to update the thread. I usually set goals for myself on things I want to accomplish on each play session and then I look up and I'm in summer already, lol.

As always, I am grateful to those who choose to read this space.

[Spunky_Dogg]

PRECISION FARMING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Hello Spunky fans!

We are now in early Autumn and the harvest has begun with some interesting results. I posted previously in this space that I was cautiously optimistic on what the transition to precision farming would mean for Spunky Dogg Farms and I can say I have been pleasantly surprised thus far.

Due to the introduction of soil types, I rotated my crops once again but soybeans stayed where they are, offering a true apples-to-apples comparison. That comparison is below:

Soybeans (3.90 acres)
• Year 3: 3,955 liters (regular farming)
• Year 4: 6,103 liters (precision farming)

That's a 54.3 percent increase year-to-year. That's amazing considering the field size remains the same. The next true comparison will come with oats, which also remained in the same spot from Year 3 (although I added an extra field of the crop this year) and I will post that as well.

All-in-all, it appears switching to precision farming has made a difference. I was hoping for a slight bump, but if this trend stays consistent we could be looking at a record yield in Year 4.



IN OTHER NEWS

In other Spunky Dogg Farm news, we continue to log the north side of the small frontier town of Raccoon Corners. I've cut down 572 trees thus far in the 320 hours I've spent on No Man's Land and I still haven't fully decided what I want to do with the cleared land of the Raccoon Corners project. Once again, suggestions are welcome.

I might get done with this project by winter, I might now. I am formulating plans now for what Year 5 will bring to the farm and to the map as a whole.

Stay tuned!

[Phila]

Hey that Zetor Crystal! I may have borrowed it to harvest potatoes (see '...1982...' thread )- seemed back then every small dairy farm had a beaten up Zetor somewhere.

Also fan of Fiat crawler.

[Mwal]

Looks like it’s a hill, ski slope?

[Spunky_Dogg]

Looks like it’s a hill, ski slope?

It is a pretty steep slope and that's a good idea if we had the mod on console. I'll take more photos of it and post them.

[Spunky_Dogg]

THE GREAT SADNESS RETURNS

Hello Spunky fans!

What a cruel twist of fate farming can be. I had expressed concerns previously in this space about precision farming slowing down the pace of growth stages in crops and, as the chart shows below, my fears were correct as I was forced to endure the great sadness of plowing four different crops under as they withered before they could finish their harvest cycle.

So what was on track to be a promising yield crashed and burned by the coming of winter with only corn and soybeans surviving the year. However, I am a fair person, and I refuse to give up on precision farming just yet as I feel it does add an extra layer of strategy to the game.

So, as we are now in mid-winter heading toward Year 5, the question becomes what is being done to avoid another catastrophe in the coming year. I have increased seasons from 9 days to 12 and adopted a new GEO, from Missouri to the U.S. Midwest. I'm hoping the extra days and the switch in GEOs will make a difference as I can't conclusively deduce that our colder-than-normal spring in Year 4 didn't have an adverse effect on growth rate.

More research is needed and perhaps Year 5 will provide better answers. As for what projects we are planning in Year 5, we intend to focus on road building in the coming year. We've neglected that in the openness of No Man's Land as we worked to get the farm settled and create the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area and our first town, Raccoon Corners.

Secondly, we will build another town, a frontier-style community situated on a forested hill to the southwest of the farm. I have some plans, but don't have a name in mind. We've already started clearing trees in the area and it will be where a sell point for root crops will be located.

Lastly, the former Rock Island Bakery has been relocated to Raccoon Corners. In the beginning, when the farm was new, it was beneficial to have a sell point located near the property. Now, nearly five years in, the farm has grown quite large and the bakery just looked out of place where it was at. Its new location is included in the screenshots accompanying this post.

Raccoon Corners itself is nearly finished, with the addition of a biogas plant on its eastern edge. I have a few more houses to add and some streetlights and I'll call it good.

That's all for now, thanks for reading and see you up the road!

Wheat:
• Year 1 - 2,690L ($1,974)
• Year 2 - 3,090L ($2,210)
• Year 3 - 2,921L ($2,149)
• Year 4 - Crop failed

Oats:
• Year 1 - 3,763L ($4,156)
• Year 2 - 4,833L ($7,404)
• Year 3 - 4,826L ($5,734)
• Year 4 - Crop failed

Canola:
• Year 1 - 4,804L ($6,092)
• Year 2 - 4,384L ($5,968)
• Year 3 - 1,285L ($3,334)

Barley:
• Year 1 - 12,481L ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)
• Year 3 - 3,112L ($2,574)
• Year 4 - Crop failed

Soybeans:
• Year 1 - 2,126L ($4,468)
• Year 2 - 7,353 ($11,234)
• Year 3 - 3,955 ($8,703)
• Year 4 - 6,103 ($TBD)

Corn:
• Year 2 - Crop failed
• Year 3 - 4,694 ($4,286)
• Year 4 - 4,656 ($4,224)

Potatoes:
• Year 4 - Crop Failed

Total:
• Year 1 - $24,599
• Year 2 - $26,816 = +2,217
• Year 3 - $26,780 = -$36
• Year 4 - $TBD

[Mwal]

You can double crop beans corn or cotton on the midwest geo, might help get your profits up

[Spunky_Dogg]

You can double crop beans corn or cotton on the midwest geo, might help get your profits up

Cool! I didn't know that. Thanks for the tip!

[Spunky_Dogg]

HELLO SPUNKY FANS!

As I type this, spring has sprung and we are beginning planting in Year 5. We've spent much of the winter weeks cookin' silage, as you can see in the screenshot above. It's given us more than 66,000 liters of digestate, so we'll be using that as part of our fertilizer this year.

In other Spunky Dogg Farms news, we've cleared the land for town #2 and I'm just waiting for Farmer Mahnew's Old Production Pack to pass testing for consoles. Adub Modding is also working on a dozer, which we will add to our equipment roster when that's released.

As far as our planting plants, we're going to go doubles this year. Two fields each of corn, potatoes, oats, wheat and soybeans. Maybe that will help our yield numbers at harvest time, but we'll see.

That's where we're at right now. Stay tuned and, as always, I'll see you up the road.

[Mwal]

What geo did you decide on?

[Spunky_Dogg]

What geo did you decide on?

I'm going to with the U.S. Midwest for now, but according to Djgoham's videos, the Old Production Pack will come with it's own GEO in order to work with seasons.

[Mwal]

Well if you make it you will have to plant some winter wheat and try double cropping