Harvest has started

I always try to be well prepared for harvest, but this year the oilseed rape ripened up faster than I expected. Even a mad rush at the end didn't help. We started with only one clean trailer and the combine with still a few small jobs needing to be done to it. The combine ran well, apart from the reel speed being jammed but I got away with that one, and we got a good start.

Unfortunately the rain fell that night and the next morning. However, it did give me the time I needed to finish getting ready. When it dried again, we had three trailers and a fully working reel on the combine. All the oilseed rape is in the shed awaiting the lorries to take it away before the wheats are ready. Don't think I got top price or top yields, but I'm happy with the results.

The weather has now turned wet again, I'm really hoping this isn't a sign of things to come......

Windy and hot weather

After a week of strong winds, the weather has finally changed. For the better? Depends if you like it hot or not?

This week was always going to be busy, with a machinery sale at Drainage Farm and the Cereals show at Boothby Graffoe, which didn't start off very well. The wind didn't drop until late on Monday, but I managed to get two tanks fulls of spraying done.

Tuesday was an early start to get the T3's on the wheats with a break at lunch to look round the machinery sale. Nothing took my fancy, so back to the spraying. With the T3's finished by teatime, I had time in the evening to put some Centurion Max on the sugar beet. Yes, blackgrass again.

Wednesday, I went to Cereals. I was more exhausted walking round the show than I am after a days work. But I learnt a bit, KWS Zyatt milling wheat has been recommended for growing next year and new sprayers are over priced. Oh well, the old Team is still working fine.

Thursday, I remembered what a pain in the arse the sugar beet hoe is to put on the tractor. So by the time I'd got it on greased and blades sharpened, it was 2pm. And so I'm still on beet hoeing this weekend. But the sugar beet does look so much better for doing. The hot weather will help the weeds shrivel up but so is the sugar beet. We need rain!

Let's see what the weather does next week......

How do I blog more?

I haven't posted a blog in 6 months, why?

Am I too busy?
Work on the farm has kept me fairly busy, it was an interesting spring and it seemed I would never get the spring drilling done. First it rained and then it all dried, fast! The spring wheat nearly all got away, just a few bare patches, but the peas and the sugar beet looked like I'd drilled random patches of the field. In fact the beet is only just starting to catch up.
However there have been quiet times too when I wasn't working.....

Am I too lazy?
I wouldn't say I'm lazy, but I can always find other things to do rather than the less exciting jobs. Also I get easily distracted. I've been house hunting, car repairing, and finding other jobs to do, rather than blogging.

Am I just boring?
Well maybe, in my opinion my blog isn't the most exciting. But then again, it my life and that's how it is. House hunting has been interesting and frustrating, and so has car repairing, and don't get me started about the farm. There is always little things to write about, but that's what Facebook is for, isn't it?

So here is a message to myself. You're not too busy at the moment, but in a week or so you will be spraying, then sugar beet hoeing, then it'll be nearly harvest. All interesting stuff, so get your phone out and write a quick blog and tell the world about it!

Nearly Christmas

Blogging isn't my strong point, maybe I should make it my new years resolution.... Write more blogs!

The winter wheat is all drilled and growing, got 2 varieties this year, KWS Lili and some more Relay. However, I decided a bit back to give spring wheat another go. "Lets put it in after sugar beet and have another hit at the blackgrass." The rep recommended Mulika and Belepi. I've gone for Mulika, hope I've done right....

Oh yea, the sugar beet. It's all harvested and been taken to the factory. Harvest was a bit late due to being messed around with parts for the beet harvester, but a road trip to Norfolk later and I got the beet harvester going. All went well until the rain came and delayed things for 4 or 5 days. Then the beet went in last week. :)

All the winter ploughing is done now, so ready for Christmas and a nice rest.

Harvest is over and a new season begins

When things finally got going, this year, they didn't stop and my blog has suffered because of it. I did manage to update Facebook so hopefully that will help to fill in the big gap I've left.

Harvest went well with only a couple of minor breakdowns. The oilseed rape was disappointingly average at a tonne and a half an acre but the oils were good. The peas were the same, average at a tonne and a half but good colour and size. The wheat yield has been good at 3.6 to 3.7 tonnes an acre with good quality to it. Hopefully a few extra pounds a tonne premium on it..... So just the sugar beet left and that won't be long.

The new crop of oilseed rape has struggled. Drilled at the start of September, the flea beetle and slugs haven't been kind to us. But I'm still hoping it will make a crop. The plants are small but I think there's enough of them. So now it's time to think about the wheat....

We've cultivated the fields and tried to encourage the blackgrass to grow so it can be sprayed off before the new crop is drilled. Keeping my fingers crossed that I've made a dent in the numbers, and hoping to start drilling next week. The showery weather is stopping me spraying but I hope to get caught up in the next day or two. Sugar beet harvest is planned for the start of November.

Is it really spring?

A lovely weeks weather allowed us to get on, Nitrogen spread on the wheats, P & K spread on the peas, and sugar beet drilled.

However, that was followed by last week. Cold, windy and at times wet! Just when I've got the oilseed rape to spray and the T1 to spray on the wheats. The rain will have helped chit the sugar beet, but there was very nearly no sugar beet as I watched the neighbours field, awaiting potato planting, start to blow the top soil. Memories of dad redrilling the beet after wind blew half the field away came flooding back.....

Really need the weather to settle down now, especially when the sugar beet pops up with all the weeds, need some still weather for spraying it. So fingers crossed this week is better and things can progress again.....

Still playing catch up......

Spring is still throwing up surprises, first it didn't want to warm up and now it doesn't want to stay dry.....

Finally we have the peas drilled and rolled in. I'm sealing them in with Linzone and Stomp as soon as I can. However, the frost last night has put me off drilling any sugar beet just yet. Also have to be careful with the wind blowing the fen soil away and the seed with it.....

Our neighbour has started spreading second dose of nitrogen on the wheats, and we'll follow suit this week.

So plenty to catch up on, I know the forecast says it will be a dry week but after last week, when dry days were wet and wet days were dry, I'm not gonna plan too far ahead....