This September was a moment of pause between harvests for my farm. My plan was to get fields 3 and 19 prepared and sown with Oats. The first task was to bring the pH levels up to the best level for the underlying soil type – a step I skipped last year. So I went out with the 8S and spreader at the start of the first week…
…tackling field 19 first. A lot of lime was needed – over 9000ltrs. If you look at the bottom of the box on the left you can see the current level and the target flag with the application rate. In the bottom left circle you can also see where I’ve already worked the field by the green shade. Once I had completed this field, I decided to do some contract work to boost my finances – Sending a worker off to cultivate a large field while I did the liming in field 3. Subsequently I filled in the rest of the week by doing some mowing and bale wrapping contracts. It had been a very productive week and I was actually half a week ahead of my plan as I had originally intended to lime field 3 in the second week.
With that in mind I decided to take on a big job for a neighbour at the start of week 2 – harvesting their wheat in field 16…
…This is one of the largest fields on the map and has a ground value of well over £700k – Way outside my current means! Such a large field produces a lot of grain and there is always a surplus over the predicted yield which boosts my earnings over and above the base payment for the work…
…If you look at the green writing on the top right of the screenshot you can see how much extra money that surplus has generated for me and also that I’m getting a bonus on it for my environmentally friendly farming!
I decided to get field 19 sown that afternoon and sent a worker out with the Valtra and the Bednar seeder. While they were working the field I took on some more bale-wrapping contracts with the 6S…
…and returning to find the sowing completed and tractor parked at the field boundary…
…With the evenings already closing in, it was dark by the time I got the combo back to the yard – A slightly later end to the week than usual but I’m still that 1/2 week ahead of my original plans.
The start of week 3 and I’m off to the shop to top off the fertilizer in the seeder before handing it over to a worker to sow Oats in field 3…
…Then I’m off to do some bale-wrapping again…
…Another satisfied customer and more cash in the bank 😎 On the way back I checked out our grass in field 30 – It is ready to harvest but I’ll be leaving it until next month. I then tried to take a spraying job in field 33 only to find an in game glitch – Note made… Don’t take spraying jobs in field 33! On the way back I checked on how my worker was getting on with sowing field 3 and the work was nearly complete…
It was time to swap sowing for mowing as neighbours grass fields were ready for harvesting. This is field 6, a really awkward shape to work…
…Glad I’m not the one who’s going to be baling that mess 😅 I closed out week 3 by rolling field 19…
The final week of September started with a big cultivating job – more work for an employee…
…while I took on the rolling of field 3…
…Then I took on some cultivating myself with the Valtra and my Kuhn Prolander…
…working fields 48, 49 and 50. Field 48 in particular is one I’m looking at as a future purchase…
…so it was good to get another look at it.
All this contract work is making good money for me and I finished the month with £218k in the bank. September has been a month of planning for next year – Crops sown in two fields and money earnt that should set me up for a field purchase once I’ve sold the harvest in the winter period. What field I can buy will depend on what the other farmers have sown – A crop I don’t have the equipment to work would prevent the purchase.
October will see me harvesting my Soya crop and also making silage from my grass fields. Hopefully the fields involved will show yield improvements over the previous harvest as a result of the work I have put into them. In turn that should improve my environmental score which, as we have seen, gives improved earnings 😎 See you all next month👍
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