You’ve seen enough by now to know that sometimes things happen on my farm that were not perhaps planned at that time. Events can dictate choices. However, sometimes I go off at a tangent as we shall see.
I began the month by following through on the option of buying field 46. Then it was time to earn some cash – starting off with some bale-wrapping…
…Then some baling for neighbours in fields 41 and 50…
Working through the available jobs, I also picked up a Cultivation task in field 38…
…Leaving the bank balance somewhat improved at the end of the first week.
More grass work in the second week as I took on some early morning mowing…
…Really glad of the guidelines when it’s this foggy! Then I did some baling using hired equipment…
…as the contract stipulated round bales. Meanwhile I had a worker doing some cultivating on another contract…
The third week of august was a very busy one starting with more mowing, which I handled and a cultivating job that I gave to a worker…
Then I turned my attention to field 46. It may surprise you but I have already formulated my sowing plan for the coming year. With seven fields, it’s important that I set up the plan early and adjust field use so that we have a good mix of crops whilst maintaining some form of crop rotation to prevent reduction in yield due to pests. I intend that field’s 46, 47 and 2 will be sown with Barley while my other fields will have a mix of non-‘grass’ crops. Field’s 47 and 2 will be ploughed anyway as they will both require that action. Field 46 doesn’t need ploughing but as I’m intending to follow Oats with Barley, I have decided to plough anyway. In the second half of week 3 rain was forecast – What better time to go and plough as we cant help with harvesting when it’s wet!..
…This is me getting ahead of the game as I know time will be tight for the other fields if I want to do an Autumn Barley planting after the September harvest.
The last week of August and it’s glorious sunshine – Now I can help harvest in field 43…
…A nice easy job which I can do on my own as it won’t even fill our Bailey trailer 👍Meanwhile, I’ve sent a worker off to handle a ploughing mission in field 45…
…with hired equipment.
With that work completed and some cash in the bank, I returned to field 46 and applied lime…
…Over 12000ltrs of the stuff! The field is now ready for sowing in October 👍
Then I went off on a tangent… I started by looking at expanding our farm. At some stage, if I want to get into root vegetables, I’ll need more equipment and crop storage. So I took a look at some barns and silos adjacent to field 8…
…Unfortunately buying these will not be cheap and I’m not sure we’re ready yet. Then I had a real rush of blood to the head – I decided the time was right for Chickens and I installed two coops behind the farmhouse…
…Not that there are any Chickens yet – Next month, after I complete the wheat harvest!
September will, I think, begin to resemble the future of my farm as I will have a lot of work to do on my own land and will not have much time for contracts. A vision of the future – When I own more fields, I will have less time to help my neighbours with their farming.
See you in September 😎👍
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