Due to my head cold and a few other things, I ended up taking a bit of a break from my farming. The last time that happened when I was doing the Pallegny series, I basically lost the plot and ultimately the drive to continue. This time, I’m better prepared for any un-expected breaks. My crop plans and other things are noted down so picking up the thread of what I need to do proved far easier.
The main drive for October was to get three fields sown with Barley. The only issue being that field 2 had a Corn crop to harvest before anything else could happen. There were other chores to fit in too surrounding maintenance of my grass fields. But the first task was to complete the preparation of field 47 by applying Lime…
With that work complete I could take the combine and the corn header off to field 2. No need to block the A140 on this occasion to fit the header – it folds 😅…
…This would be the one time I employed a worker during the month as we completed the final harvest of the year…
…this is my largest field, so the harvest took the bulk of the week to complete.
It was with the light failing towards the end of the week that I took the 6S and Dalbo roller off to field 30 to roll the grass…
…A task that saw the heavens open before all was done. I decided to call an end to proceedings after the final roll and positioned the tractor and roller ready for Field 27 the following week.
The second week started with the moon still in the sky – Sowing the Barley in field 46…
…This is my first sowing in this field and quite a lot of fertilizer was required meaning a refill before it could be completed. It’s quite an odd shaped field too, resulting in some odd sowing patterns to get the work done as efficiently as possible…
…Sowing then continued in field 47…
…A somewhat simpler field to work.
With both fields sown I turned my attention to the grass in Field 27 where I did some necessary resowing of an area damaged in the summer’s storms…
..With the rain returning that was the final field work for the week although I did take the Merlo off to the dealer to buy a small trailer to carry grain for the chicken’s when I finally buy some!..
With the days getting really short I had a lot of work to do in Field 2 if I was to get the final Barley sowing done. First I needed to plough it…
…This is my largest field and that’s a long slow job. In fact it would take roughly 2/3rd’s of the week to complete, leaving me with little time to carry out the rolling of fields 46 & 47- A necessary final task to compact the soil around the crop and promote growth. Field 46 is not a flat field as you can see in this view from the cab of the 6S…
…By the time I got to field 47 the light was failing but that’s what all the tractor lights are for…
With the final week of the month approaching I was having serious doubts as to whether I would get field 2 sown. If I didn’t it would not be a total disaster – I can sow Barley in March. In fact, historically Barley was a spring sowing and it’s only due to centuries of cross cultivation that strains capable of growing through the winter have emerged. But I really wanted to get the work out of the way and free up my time for selling crops over the winter period. Whether the planting would go ahead was down to how quickly overnight rain would clear to allow me to dose the field with Lime…
Well, fortunately, the rains cleared quickly and I was able to set about liming field 2…
…Liming and Sowing are much faster tasks than ploughing – By mid-week I was putting Barley seed in the ground…
…before completing the cycle of tasks by rolling the field. Job done…
…I see the weeds are doing well in field 3! 🤣 That’ll be a job in the spring when I prepare it for Sunflowers.
One last thing to complete the month. The Animal Dealer delivered Chickens to the farm – 56 Hens and 4 Roosters…
…Another minor source of income to tide us through difficult times. November is here and I already have some tasks in mind. Hopefully I can boost my income by working on other farms too. Lets see… 😎👍
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