Saxlingham – The Vagaries of Summer

August should be sunny and we should be gathering in lots of grain… Not this year…

I started at 5:30am on the first week of August. The plan for this first week was simple – Harvest the Canola in field 19 and then pick up a harvesting job for a neighbour to earn some cash. The weather had other ideas with rain forecast from around 10am and through the afternoon. So the pressure was on to get my field harvested before the rains arrived.

Field 19 is just behind the farm but the crop in field 7 prevents direct access so we have to go the long way round…

…coming in from the south side. The Merlo hauled the header round and I brought the Harvester along behind. After getting one of the workers started on the harvest I hurried back to the farm and collected the Valtra and the Bailey trailer. Then I could collect the Canola seed as the harvest progressed…

…Waiting between up and down passes…

…So I was on the side of the augur pipe. Using this process we got the Canola crop harvested quickly and back to the silo…

…Job done and not a moment too soon – The rain arrived early just as I was packing up…

With harvesting out of the question I decided to help out with a cultivating job…

…And, once the rain had passed I did some late evening bale-wrapping…

… I think that is the latest I’ve worked since starting in Saxlingham. I’ve been doing my best to be home for 8pm!

Another 5:30 start for the second week. Now to harvest my Canola in field 3. Because of the location of the field I’ll need to place the Header carefully across the access road for the Harvester to pick it up…

…and, while hooking it up and drawing the trailer clear, we will be blocking the A140 for a short time.

On with the work and more textbook cooperation between me and my harvester driver…

…All that hail we had in the spring did some damage – Here’s the evidence…

With my own Canola harvesting completed, I spent the rest of the week helping harvest field 8…

…This a field that is on my mental target list due to its proximity so it’s good to get a grip on how it farms. Not long after completing that work the rains moved in once more and I put off work until the next week.

The 3rd week of August and I’m back earning money from harvesting Field 44…

…This is another field on my target list. It’s a long way from my farm but looks to have really good soil and possibly the best price per hectare of any of the arable fields on the map. Once more rain is expected although not until around 18:00 so I was able to get the job done and bank the money.

Those who are following closely will remember that I bought 2 grass fields and harvested them last month. I’ve now had the soil tested and I’m going to do some maintenance to improve their yield. To this end I bought a Grass Roller – the Dalbo MaxiRoll 630 Greenline. This combines the rolling action to gently compact grass clippings into the soil, which helps fertilize, with weed removal. I let a worker loose to complete this task on field 30…

…While I waited with the Lime…

…to bring the pH value up to spec. It was another late finish for us and we parked the vehicles in the hedgerows overnight ready to continue in the morning.

The 4th week of August and we started working field 27 shortly after sunup…

…and completed the liming afterwards…

With both fields limed, I dispatched a worker with the Valtra and our plough to do a contract task in field 1…

…This is the screen where you tell a worker how you want the job done…

…Then I left them to get on with it while I returned to my grass fields with fertilizer…

…After completing this work, both fields looked much ‘greener’…

…in the figures as well as the grass! Hopefully this will result in a better silage harvest circa October.

While my worker chugged around field 1, I decided to do a cultivating job in field 8 to close out the last week of August…

I’ve spent quite a bit of money this month buying a roller, lime and fertilizer. I also decided to pay off the outstanding balance on the Merlo which will reduce my monthly repayment bill by around £3700. With those last 2 contracts I’ve got the cash-in-hand back up to £90k.

There are issues with the Harvester as it is (in game terms) a high hours machine and it’s costing a lot to maintain. You may wonder why I haven’t replaced it while I have replaced the tractors – A harvester gets used for maybe 3 months of the year and is a very expensive implement. Tractors on the other hand, are in use all year round. So their replacement was a natural priority. I can probably continue with the harvester as it is for a long time to come, especially as the replacement will probably be just another one of the same type.

September will see a lot more liming work in fields 3 and 17 but I need to decide whether to cultivate the fields before sowing – That may be a good move following the crop damage but it carries a penalty for my precision farming score as extra tillage should be avoided where possible.

Lets take a quick look at my farm’s precision farming status; Fields 7 and 19…

…Both good Sandy Loam fields. Field 7 has not yet been harvested and didn’t have fertilizer applied because I’m growing beans – this has held the Precision score to the base level of 50. Field 19 is showing 83 because I have both farmed in an ecological manner and improved the percentage yield. With an application of lime before the next sowing I hope I will improve that score further. Similar factors apply to fields 2 and 3…

My grass fields present an interesting contrast…

…despite both having been worked the same. I can only conclude that this is because of the yield from each on the first cut before I rolled, limed and fertilized them. We shall see how that changes after the next grass harvest.

A quick drill-down into field 3 gives an idea of how we’re doing at making money…

…These figures cover last year’s Barley harvest but as I haven’t sold this year’s Canola yet, I would expect the profitability to increase. Some of the figures presented on this page can be a bit squiffy so I don’t take it too seriously!