Spunky Dogg Farms & Forestry

[Spunky_Dogg]

A SUNDAY CONVERSATION

Hello Spunky fans!

I wanted to take a moment for a little personal reflection here on how proud I am of my farm. I'm proud because I feel I've earned it. I haven't used any money mods, I've spent the past two-and-a-half in-game years building up to this moment. I've sold grass, hay, silage, water, crops, if it came out of the ground, I sold it. I have some hourly contracts for cellular, radio and wind services, but that's just straight business.

I have also, to date, cut down and sold 453 trees since I've been on No Man's Land. Some days I was lucky to clear $80,000 on wood sales. I've also learned that you've got to treat ModHub like it's the stock market, buy low and sell high.

I watch Djgoham's "Farm Sim News" YouTube channel like a religious fanatic, keeping up on not only the cool new mods coming out, but ones that do the same job as the mods I have now, but for a cheaper price. I then take the savings generated from selling the old mod and buying the cheaper new mod and reinvest it in my farm.

I'm not opposed to paying top dollar for an awesome mod. Let's face it, whether you're a real-life farmer or a virtual one, sometimes you just want something sexy out there working the land. Let the neighbors see what you got and whatnot. At this point, aside from a few smaller pieces of equipment (I am eagerly awaiting Black Sheep Modding's John Deere Gator to come out), I feel I've got everything I need.

Once that happens, I can turn my attention to decoration and filling out the rest of the map.

I have seen screenshots on here of beautiful farms, impeccably decorated, laid out and organized and I'll be honest in saying I'm a bit jealous of that. But, I'm happy with this.

Hope you all are having a great Sunday, and see you up the road!

[Mwal]

I think you farm looks good, looks organic, like a real farm that was built over generations

[Spunky_Dogg]

I think you farm looks good, looks organic, like a real farm that was built over generations

Thank you. That's a huge compliment coming from someone like you. Your farm is impeccable. I'm quite jealous to be honest.

[Dairydeere]

Yea, your farm on No Mans Land is probably one of the best I've seen, especially with the limited mods available to console. Mwal too, he's inspired me to go after big farming on CanFarm hehe

[Spunky_Dogg]

Thank you both,

I'll admit I had to move some buildings around because the field where the oats are in front of the barn (the one that's separated by the dirt path), wouldn't let me place buildings down in parts of it for some reason. It turns out that little quirk worked out for the better as I like how things look now.

I really hope to be able to show off the Fort Donaldson Recreation Area soon, that's the other big project I've been working on. To be honest, if this existed in real life, I would want to visit it.

[Mwal]

Thanks guys! Canfarm is been my map since seasons came out on pc and I have tried quite a few others and have stayed with it still. I like to think of it as the first no mans land map. There is a newer map I plan to try it’s called Yukon River valley, it’s the same concept as those two just a 16x map that also includes mining, I’m pretty excited to start once I get laid off for the winter. I checked it out and it’s got a lot of promise it’s a very pretty map as well

[Spunky_Dogg]

I look forward to it. Lucky dog, you get mining! (jealously factor increased ten-fold). It's alright, as I like to say "Doing the best I can with what I've got"

[Spunky_Dogg]

YEAR 3 HARVEST IS UNDERWAY

Hello Spunky fans!

The unusually hot weather combined with a rainy spring meant half of our crops came in early, with wheat, canola and oats having already been harvested as we are nearing late summer. That leaves us waiting on corn, soybeans and our newest crop in cotton.

Cotton is in what was originally the soybean field and to be honest, I've had a hard time getting a consistently good crop out of it. As has been the case for the past two years, there's been some patches where the seeds have failed to germinate. I'm hoping the transition to precision farming with Year 4 will help provide an answer.

You'll notice I have included field sizes for the first time this year as I finally decided to get off my duff and do it. I converted hectares to acres (1 hectare is 2.47 acres) for this chart.

My biggest takeaway is my surprise (and concern) over how much barley dropped year-to-year on yield. Barley is the one crop we have that didn't rotate this year and stayed in the same field. Again, hopefully precision farming can provide the answer. The big discrepancy with Canola is the canola field is not even half of the size it was last year and got moved over to a spot I had behind the cow barn. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure we just eliminate canola altogether for Year 4.

Corn is off to a much better start than last year and it appears the weather may cooperate more than it did a year ago. Cotton, being a first-year attempt, is the X-factor. Obviously, I won't know how I compare to last year profit-wise until I bring the crops to market, but I'm cautiously optimistic we can beat Year 2's numbers.

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

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

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 ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)
• Year 3 - 3,112L ($TBD)

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

Corn:
• Year 2 - Crop failed
• Year 3 - TBD

Cotton:
• Year 3 - TBD

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

[Phila]

Just to say I love this - old kit, a man after my own heart , tracks are meant to be carved from steel not made of rubber . Inspired me to do a poor version on smaller scale - see ‘welcome to 1982’ only it’s sheep country not logging

[Spunky_Dogg]

Just to say I love this - old kit, a man after my own heart , tracks are meant to be carved from steel not made of rubber . Inspired me to do a poor version on smaller scale - see ‘welcome to 1982’ only it’s sheep country not logging

I'll be sure to check yours out ! And yes, I do have a soft spot in my heart for the "old iron" machines of yesteryear when things were made to last and air conditioning was driving with the cab open or off completely . It makes me sad there's such a limited amount of choices on console, but I'm trying to make it work.

Thanks for reading and as always, see you up the road!

[Spunky_Dogg]

MERRY CHRISTMAS SPUNKY FANS!

This is the first of (hopefully) two updates today on Spunky Dogg Farms. I'll admit I occasionally get on a bit of a roll and forget to do an update as I am now on the last day of Autumn and a lot has happened.

But perhaps the biggest and most important news is all our crops came in this year! (Yay). After last year's weather-related disaster with corn, all seven crops have been harvested. The totals are as follows (field sizes in parentheses:

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

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

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 ($7,909)
• Year 2 - 5,089L (chicken feed)
• Year 3 - 3,112L ($TBD)

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

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

Cotton (6.57 acres)
• Year 3 - 7,304L ($TBD)

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

Obviously, we're shooting for a more profitable year than last year and with corn coming in, I think there's a possibility of that. The big change for Year 4 is the switch to precision farming and I will detail that more in my next post. In the meantime, we have wrapped up grass cutting for the year from the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area and have silage fermenting by the chimney with care (a little Christmas humor).

See you up the road!

[Spunky_Dogg]

THE GAME HAS CHANGED

As you can see by the map above, we have gotten our results from the lab on our soil samples. Perhaps that silty clay is the reason why we can't get a full yield in the cotton field.

After doing a little bit of research into the soil types, I came up with what you see before you. If you feel I'm making a mistake with this, suggestions are welcome. All the fields have been limed (cost me about 29,000 liters by the time it was all said and done) and seeds have been purchased for the coming spring.

Since we are now in early winter, I've completed my silage harvesting for the year with a nearly $35,000 profit out of a little more than 250,000 liters. I may go back to the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area for some clean-up logging in spots, as well as sell most of our fall harvest, but I eagerly await the spring.

[Spunky_Dogg]

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

I've been working on this for quite a while, but I figured I'd show some screenshots from the Fort Donaldson State Recreation Area that I've built within No Man's Land.

This is the entrance, looking toward the Dragonfire Inn with the fishing pond and campground on the left.


Another view of the campground.


Looking at the recreation area office, maintenance shed and workshop.


Sawmill atop Switchback Hill.


Basketball court with lights and Snack Shack.


Playground behind Dragonfire Inn.


A view of Shonash Beach.


Cabins for rent.


Fort Donaldson.


A sneak peek of my current project on No Man's Land, the small community of Raccoon Corners. Sellpoints for dairy, root crops, a diner and a spinnery.


In Spunky Dogg Farms news, we are completely through winter and on the third day of spring. All our crops are in the ground and now it's a test to see if precision farming makes a difference in Year 4. I've kinda been going back and forth between the farm and Raccoon Corners, trying to flesh that area out.

[DEERE317]

Impressive, hopefully I can hold myself on No Mans Land long enough to make progress.

[Phila]

Awesome work!