Pallegney – December (Year 1)

Mid-Winter brought the snow to Pallegney. It was a time of sadness, though not because of the snow. Too many crops were still standing in the fields and had withered. Not mine, I’m pleased to say but certainly some of my Neighbour’s. Their tragedy is my gain – such crops have to be cultivated in to the soil before next season’s crops can be sown. And that’s what I found my self doing for much of the month…

…A field of un-harvested corn falls under the cultivator’s blades in the first week and there would be many more during the month. This is easy work that I can do with hired equipment or my own.

It was the second week when the snow settled. Here I am deciding whether to continue cultivating in the conditions…

…I decided it was safe to do so but had to handle difficult steering with the tractor as we slipped around under the tug of the cultivator. In the meantime I was watching prices for the crops stored in my silo. The Sorghum was first to go with the price just over the best anticipated…

…Barley would follow later in the month but I held back some for the Chickens – I’ll probably also keep some wheat when I sell that.

In the last week of December when the weather was a little better, I sold 18 bales of Straw…

…leaving plenty for creating Mix Ration in the spring. But then the weather closed in again and I finished the month cultivating more withered crops into the ground…

It has been a good month for me although I have had to work very hard during the daylight hours. I finished the month €98k better off that at the start – Cultivating pays well as you can work quickly. And my crops have returned good profits. I still have some stored grains in my silos to sell so January will give some income too although not in the same class as December. It does mean I am set up well for starting my cow herd in the spring. I’m also surveying possible field purchases for the future.

Lets talk a bit briefly about a game mechanic that I will be getting involved with soon. Giants Software have announced that they will be releasing the updated version of Precision Farming on May 8th. It’s entirely up to me whether I then choose to activate it. I intend to – although the map may not be compatible to start with. Many farms will have gone through the in-between stage of some compliance with this type of farming and my farm will be no different. I will move to pre-fertilizing fields using a catch crop. I will look to getting a sprayer that can target weeds. This will take time and money but it will be fun to watch the farm evolve. I understand that there will be a subsidy provided by the government for the catch crop method of fertilizing – Which is good because in my ‘gameplay scenario’ the municipal subsidy I currently receive is provided to set up a herd of cows and to restart Cheese production on the farm. Once that happens I (On behalf of the fictional council) will be stopping it. This is, of course, a future that hasn’t happened yet and one in which I’m reliant upon the map’s developer to provide an underlying soil structure for the precision farming to work fully. Let’s see how that goes…

…See you again when January comes to Pallegney 😎👍