Farmer Jake's Blog

September 2010 - Posts

• A Slick Fix

  Our 2 year old Bateman RB35 (batemansprayers) self propelled sprayer was in the farm workshop yesterday with a hydraulic oil leak. The leak started during harvest but was only a slight drip, drip, drip and so went unrepaired. It has been getting worse... Posted Sep 30 2010, 04:19 PM by Farmer Jake Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: oil leak, Bateman [Edit Tags]

• Sowing The Seeds

  Sorry all I could not resist this bit of 'Farming to Music'. It is actually a cover version done by the The Wurzels which I feel is rather fitting considering the agricultural theme!. I was drilling, or planting, a variety of wheat, called Gallant... Posted Sep 29 2010, 09:33 AM by Farmer Jake Filed under: drilling, Wurzels, Milling wheat [Edit Tags]

• Quinoa On The Menu

  This is a strip 15m wide of quinoa and kale that just about managed to survive and establish during the dry summer months. The colours are fantastic to look at and are shinning brightly in the warm autumn sun shine. The seed heads are full and although... Posted Sep 24 2010, 05:43 PM by Farmer Jake Filed under: quinoa, British Food Fortnight [Edit Tags]

• Lamb Selection

  Today Tod and I gathered up a group of lambs that have been grazing the stubble turnips that were planted in April. The lambs have been grazing them for about 4 weeks and we thought they would be ready to sell through the Mayhill Lamb Group to Randall... Posted Sep 23 2010, 04:10 PM by Farmer Jake Filed under: Sainsbury's, Lambs, Mayhill [Edit Tags]

• Slug Trapping

  We have now started to plant (or drill) the seeds for next years crops. We have started drilling on our highest ground on the top of Bredon Hill to try and get the young plants well established before the nights get colder and slows down their growth... Posted Sep 23 2010, 12:41 AM by Farmer Jake Filed under: Bredon Hill, slugs [Edit Tags]

• Big Green Tractor

  Sound again required for this footage and be patient right to the end! You can't beat a good bit of Country and Western (Jason Aldean on itunes), mixed with a slight rock undercurrent and tractors! Enjoy, I thought it was quiet funny, although I'm... Posted Sep 12 2010, 10:00 AM by Farmer Jake Filed under: Big Green Tractor [Edit Tags]

• Rape Rolling

  The beauty about autotrac is that once it is set up, in the field, it allows you to concentrate more on the job in hand rather than keeping in a straight line. That is the case most of the time! However whilst I was rolling yesterday, ipod wired into... Posted Sep 10 2010, 08:55 AM by Farmer Jake [Edit Tags]

• Oilseed Rape Planting with Home Made Drill

  After sitting in the farm workshop most of the year our new project was finally tested. The cultivator drill was originally designed to plant beans straight into the stubble, a one pass, minimal tillage bean planter. After a little modification we managed... Posted Sep 01 2010, 03:18 PM by Farmer Jake Filed under: Oilseed Rape [Edit Tags]