Pallegney – Jan / Feb (Year 1)

In the deep mid-winter… I thought this would be a quiet period and initially it was especially when the snows closed everything down. However, it also became a time in which the farm progressed in both expected and unanticipated ways.

It’s fair to say that January was the dilemma month. But I started by selling off the almost last of my stored crops…

…and that boosted the finances in preparation for the period ahead. It was going to be a difficult time with income limited by the weather and also affected by some hard decisions. I could see that there would need to be some more fields quite soon and while it was important to look after the farm’s finances, I knew I’d need to buy another field before the next round of sowing in March.

In the interim I boosted finances by doing more contract cultivations. I actually had 2 on the go at once when I took this screenshot…

…A result of differing field conditions around the valley – We work where we can 😎 Ultimately, I decided to buy Field 5 which at 1.45ha is a sensible choice for our equipment. Then we cultivated on to try and restore our bank balance. I also kept chopping down dead trees as jobs became available – They don’t pay a lot but it’s money for old rope 😅

February began with heavy snow. Almost no farm work was possible in the first week. I took the bold decision to spend some cash on implements I’ll need when we start our dairy herd. A bucket for scooping silage and a forage mixer…

…I also continued driving out to the woods to hack down dead trees…

…Sometimes a bit spooky 👻 with all the animals sounds!

Looking at the weather forecast for February, I was starting to worry about the impact on the timescale for introducing cattle – The fields would need working and I also needed to get some silage. It was starting to look like I wouldn’t be able to mow grass until March despite the existing fields, 90 & 92, being ready to harvest. I didn’t want to have all my grass fields ready to mow at the same time as that would impact on the sowing of crops.

At this time I also decided to increase the farm’s generating ability. Bearing in mind that the municipal subsidy will cease when I have started producing cheese, it seemed a sensible step. I’ve diversified – supplementing the three solar panels with 3 wind turbines…

Then the weather broke – The snows melted in the second week of Feb and it was all hands to the pumps as I didn’t know how long the dry spell would last. All of our tractors were involved, often simultaneously as I employed workers to speed things along…

…The Claas Arion works below with the mower while I bring the windrower using the Kubota.

For the first time the Pottinger forage trailer went out to earn its keep armed with silage additive…

I knew it was going to be a late night – I had to mow both fields and take back all the fresh grass to the silage bunkers on the farm. We worked hard, we worked as a team and we got the grass home. Then I had to compact it – A simple process involving the heaviest tractor I own – You just keep driving over it…

…Until it’s sufficiently compacted and then you cover it…

…and leave it to ferment – A process that takes a coupe of weeks after which it will be suitable for the Cows to eat. The two fields produced 66kltrs which should give us a good start to feed our herd.

In the midst of all this activity the Precision Farming DLC was released and I introduced that into the game as intended. I think that it has broken a couple of things. Since it deployed, farm workers aren’t getting paid – something I noticed as we rushed to get the silage work done. There isn’t much I can do about that as I won’t know from job to job what the worker should have been paid. I just hope Giants will fix this asap.

The 3rd week of February was spent dodging snow showers and buying soil data for the fields that I’m currently working – notably field 5 which I then revisited with the spreader to update the ph levels with another dose of Lime.

The last week of the month was spent sowing cotton in two large fields for a neighbour…

…This exposed the reappearance of another bug – neither of the jobs could be completed so I had to go into the back end of the game and mark them as completed manually. It’s frustrating when these things happen 🙄 It’s one thing not paying ai workers but not paying the player??? 🤣 Hopefully, Giants will sort out this issue promptly too.

We’ll be moving into Spring in the next post and there will be a lot of work to be done – See you then 😎👍