TeslaCoils' blog

Here in mid Lincolnshire we are experiencing a mini heatwave. 15 degrees yesterday daytime, but frost last night. Still the perks are there for all to see - plenty of stuff done, people in good moods, can take the boy to the park, and women have begun to were considerably less.

On the farm, we have had a manic spring with areas of poor rape now redrilled with linseed and beans. This was on top of our normal spring drilling, which is never a quick affair on heavy land. Normally the combine we share has around 200ac of spring crops to cut - this year it will be over 400ac. Beans drilled around 3" deep into moisture, and rolled, are just popping through now.

Wheat has had a dose of urea and much has received a T0 spray, especially Claire wheat which was looking a bit brown with mildew. With the warm even the more backward crops are filling out, with Magister milling wheat after beans, and early drilled Claire after rape looking by far the best. If tomorrow is fine, the Claire will get taken to 160kg/ha of N, or about 5/8 of its total.

Backward looking rape is still small and unexciting. Forward crops of Excalibur are about to burst into flower and all received a spray for pollen beetle, which were found crawling all over the traps.

I am probably the only person lookig forward to the linseed comming though, although the low growing costs, small storage space, and lack of slug / pigeon issues mean we are thinking of putting it in the rotation next year, along with some lupins for fun.

Some lambs have been born, and those in charge of the sheep are slighylt miffed that the number of breeding ewes were reduced from last year.

At home, despite the bath leaking and other bits to do, like the "wildlife friendly" garden, things are calm. Little boy is stringing words together and the wife is suprisingly jolly. She is throwing herself out of an aeroplane to raise some money for the NACC sometime in May, so get your chequebooks out.

Crack on!

Now then,

Thought I would spend a few minutes going over the lack of excitement for this January. January has been cold and miserable. Nowhere was colder than Oxford for this years OFC - who would have thought it would be close to -6 or whatever when stumbling out of Oxfords only open bar at 3am. Happened to be a gay bar, but fortunatly I was with a load of people from an un-named fertilser company who eminated an aura of straightness to protect us.

Got back home - no dead sheep and ploughed a field. How sheep can survive the depths of winter unscathed, and then die in droves in nice weather I dont know.

Anyway, it rained and stopped the work. Spend two weeks doing nothing. Little boy learnt to say tractor just in time for Lamma, which as usual was affected by special weather. Avoided buying anything though.

Right, thats the lot. Nothing bought, nothing died, nothing done. If we dont get too much of a soaking tonight, we may just be able to start 2009 without the words "record rainfall" in our ears.

Best for 2009.

The missing word is day, and what links the four is that they are all happening between now and a fortnights time.

Satur-day is to be eventful becuase a twist of fate could make it very boring. Two globe-trotting friends of mine are potentially back in Lincolnshire then, and we have hastilly made plans for a swift pint and some crisps (salt and vinegar McCoys). However, should they fail to arrive in time, I have to reverrt to plan B, which is babysitting whilst my wife rings church bells. Then we get the "fun" of a Christmas quiz - usually on the subject of church bellringing - which is always a nightmare.

Shortest-day is in four days time. It is also my brothers birthday. I love the shortest day, as from then on the nights will be brighter and everything and everyone will be happier. Nobody likes the cold, dark, dank British winter and I long to see the back of it. Thoughts turn to spring, summer, and warmer happier times.

Christmas-day is always fun. We go to my or my wife's parnets depending on the year, and to the others for Boxing Day. Fingers are crossed that we dont have turkey, which I find really boring. Goose has been mentioned, and I am looking forward to my afternoon nap with the little boy asleep on my very full belly.

My birth-day is on the 29th December. I will be 29. I am now long past presents, and am well used to join presents with Christmas and my brother's birthday so close. I have, however, treated myself to a number plate. This took many days of decision making but finally it was decided that it was not too chavvy. Anyway, I wanted it and now I have got it.

So many things to do beforehand and havent even got the tree up yet!

Well, its almost Christmas and there is a lack of cheer. For me, it's because there have been no merchant events or any auctions in the locality. Result: no bacon or sausage sandwiches for me. Even though reps had gotten wise to our "eating the free food and then having to dash off in a hurry" trick, forcing us to listen to the talk before getting the grub, at least it was a warm environment and some free food.

I went to something at Newark showground about grain handling. It was rubbish, and the small events there often are, but at least the sausage was good. Should have been for £3 or whatever for one sandwich.

If this is food price inflation, then I dont like it.

Back at home it is very frosty tonight. Maybe getting close to go and plough the last field for beans. Apart from that there is not much to do. Muddy and cold and not very tempting to go and do anything involving spades or cold metal. As a result I am spending far too much time online, so with that I will go away.

Lots of grain stores are converted from cattle sheds. Sitting inside looking at this years weather so far has made me think this is a stupid idea. January was wet. As was February. As was March. June was wet. August wet. September damp. October wet and now November wet. Lets be honest, we are getting in a few days the whole months rain. And quite regularly. We had Novembers in October, and have had it again already.

Going down the road past small dairy farms, with the beasts inside makes me think we are even more stupid trying to grow a rotation on heavy land. Spring work is iffy. OSR is sluggy. Continuous wheat is frowned upon by father. So how long before we have to grass it all down? Will we be able to renew drains in the next 20 years to keep cropping the land? Is it worthwhile doing it?

We are a fairly small arable farm in the grand scheme of things. And lets be honest its hard to add value to a heap of wheat. Could it be that we have gone down the wrong route - should we have built cattle sheds, put land to grass, bought small kit and grown a small amount of our own feed and got contractors to cut it?

Certainly looking at the future I think we need beasts. We can turn an animal into an end product. Sell it local and direct. Make it real good and have Mr Waitrose want to sell it even. But best still, we can sit in the rain knowing the animals are dry, and that the grass will grow lush and green. A few wet patches? Who cares as it wont be touched for months for hay! 1000ac would make a nice dairy, sheep and beef unit. A butchery and cold house, and all the fert we need out of the animals arses.

Whilst all around are running around like headless chickens spraying and spreading, I could be showing some prime cattle. No wearing parts bill would be nice, but do I want a winter putting miles of post and rail up?

I really hate ploughing. Everyone I speak to seems to love it. They must be mad. I have just ploughed some land for the first time in many, many years. It has turned over nice, but to see the gulls come and eat all my worms was sad. And now I am going to have to start all over again with organic matter buildup, pan removal, and all the other stuff.

Slow job, uses loads of diesel, have to sit at stupid angle in cab. There are just no grounds for doing it on heavy land. The worst bit is, that by the time it is spring I expect it to all have set again and need a good ripping up before drilling.

Wouldbt be so bad, but direct drill / subsoil drilled beans simply did not do as well.

Roll on carbon credit day, when DD gets an extra SFP payment, payed for by those who still plough clayland.

Well, since last post we have gone to wet and moody, to dry and sunny, and now its looking like back to wet. In the mean time, all the crop is now in the shed....just.

I say just becuase we have run out of shed. The yields are incredible, even if the last wheat will not win any beauty awards. Rape, wheat and beans have all beaten records (well, rape has done better, but not over the acres). Land is ripped up, and new wheat is being planted into great seedbeds, even if the drizzle has meant we cant roll.

And yet we are sad as wheat is now very cheap.And UK AN is apparently over £400 a ton. It may be that despite selling wheat for Christmas at £160 a ton, we may be selling some for more like £80 a ton next week. Beans that were £240 last year are under £140 today. I dont complain about the price, just the wild swings that make planning more than a year ahead impossible.

Back at home, little boy is 13 months today and can now walk. It seems incredible that he took his first step a month ago and now is confdent an having lots of adventures.

We have done some good business today, and so happy was I that I bought a Chinese takeaway, and turned the heating on for an hour. I enjoyed crispy aromatic lamb, and duck in plum sauce in the warmth of my living room.

Simple things for simple minds.

Plough on!

Well, there is talk of an Indian summer. Good job as soil is still too wet to do much land work. We have had 4 good combining days. All spoilt by breaking combine. All to do with wet wheat. In 4 days we have broken bearings, belts and now gearbox for the unloading auger. A quick look inside finds that the augers have become caked with black sticky dirt. Clearly not designed for cutting at the high 20%s.

What has got me really cross, has been the management of the local dealer. They have not had any parts in stock. From the complex to the simple, they have had nothing. Not even a damned chain. The net result is that we have lost 4 days of combining time and it is only sheer luck that the weather has been good.

I am worked up behind the combine. Land is either too wet after discing to subsoil, or too wet after subsoiling to drill. Tomorrow I will get the plough out, despite hating it with a passion, to work some land for beans. I was hoping to have harvested the spring bean non-plough experiment by now to see if that would be a viable alternative but as they are still in the ground I am going to get some land blacked over as I doubt much else will go.

Got some seed delivered today. It is Consort. Already have the Claire. Just waiting for some Avalon. This years star performer was Alchemy for the 3rd year running but I have a feeling that gp3s will be in strong demand next year and we have a good local home for it. Claire and Consort are both dependable and reliable and that is as important as yield in my book. Rape seed sits and waits. We have drilled in late September before with Canberra and are hoping that Excalibur will be fine before October.

So thats farming.

Back in the real world I am taking some time to go to York this weekend. Any of you readers who fancies a pint on Friday or Saturday should send a PM. Going on a course and not taking wife or child if any female readers want to send a PM.....

In addition to last times driving woes, I would like to add to the list of shame anybody who parks at traffic lights and doesnt use their handbrake but either rides the clutch (women) or keeps pressing the brake impatiently (men). No bonus points for either of you.

Bonus point to Isabel who has appeared on the FW video roundup - the first time I have seen her in it. Her bonus point goes for having a nice tone of voice. I tell my Mrs to cultivate a dulcit tone and avoid being shrill and excitable. For those who remember Magenta Devine, I find a dusky tone of voice very aluring.

This weeks plusses and minuses

+ Women with dulcit tone of voice.

+ The sunshine which made an appearance.

- Lincs Motors (NH Dealer) whos lack of basic combine parts during difficult harvest vexes me.

- Gleadell Agriculture who sent yet another polite reminder to pay fert bill despite not having payed me for wheat (overdue by one month now)

- Mothercare highchair which has washable everything except groin strap ie where all the puke finds its way to.

Fingers crossed for more bright and sunny weather. 

I will say nothing about the weather.

To matters cheerful, it was my sons first birthday last week. A year has gone by and he has just impressed all attending his litle birthday gathering by taking some baby steps. Whereas on the farm, the new year brings the same old harvest and drilling, the little boy seems to change every week.

On a downside, and this will echo with everyone who has come home from work with a farmers headache, my small living room has beocme covered with plastic. Baby toys seem to now all be:

1) Really garishly coloured.

2) Play electronic music.

The music on some has a volume switch but all are loud. Some spring into song when you pass their vicinity. Some fall silent, but then strike up minutes later. We were getting on fine with building blocks and books from the library. I am slowly boxing them back up and hiding them away for "later" but hoping that I can smuggle some to the local toy library.

To farming quickly. All is wet. Crops still to cut where we wanted to drill rape. Drilled rape probably drowned or ate by slugs. Land truely sodden - a good week of wind to dry minimum before we can travel, with grain moisture not being a worry. Solo and subsoiler will be packed away. Big ripper and plough will come out, although forcing wheat seedbeds with plough and harrow looks to be a fools folly on clay with todays N prices. Stubbles and linseed / beans will be the way forward. One farm has 200ac of seedbeds prepared so hopefully they will be ok to drill in the month. Looking further forward, we are seriously going to look at cattle to put some land to grass and provide a secure source of fert for the future.

Bad weather frays everyones nerves, but I am especially vexed by drivers who:

1) Dont indicate.

2) Dont seem to know how wide their car is for overtaking.

3) Assume that I will pull my quadtrac / tractor & trailer off the road so they can pass, despite them having seen my warning beacon miles away and passing decent passing places. I am 30t and 60ft long with the solo behind! There is no way I will consider reversing.

Back to home, and our rented house is cold. Landlord wants more rent. Inputs (gas electric) rising and surplus decreasing. Sound familiar!?!

Best of luck to all with worse weather than we have here.

Rape is all harvested now and in the store. A crop full of potential but sadly not to be. Over 65ha we averaged just over 4t. Not bad but not near what we are used to. Everything done by the book, although unlike some featured farmers we only used 150kgN. Perhaps our GAI calculations were wrong, or maybe the rain washed too much N away in late spring. Still, the late fungicide at pod-fill seems to have done the business with oils averaging the high 44s. No use lamenting what could have been, now we just need to sell it well. Some has been booked for £350/t and most is in the long pool. Note these selling decisions were made before we found out would could not buy N on trust and pay in January as normal. I wont be pressured to sell at todays poor price and will hold on for grim death. Target income for the crop has been revised up from £65k to £90k, so we need to average £340 a ton after bonuses. This year it has been delivered to a central store so we now know exactly what we have to sell.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for wheat. Alchemy look wonderful. From what looked thin, there are now ears full of bold grains. Same the price is going down the bog! We have 75ha, so should comfortably fill the store. Our target was £100k of income from this, and at £160 a ton this looked well on. However, fearing a repeat of last year, we did not committ anything like as much and are paying the price. Forward sold for Christmas is averaging £150 a ton but with only 550t sold, there could be another 200t to price and i imaging a lot of people are in the same boat. Merchants are reporting that their mid pools are over 80% sold. Fortunaly, the pain felt by hauliers now means we can earn a fiver a ton for hauling it ourselves - a mere 8 miles.

Beans are looking a great crop and have been well sold to a merchants pool on the basis of the entire crop from a certain area. Shockingly, our scraggly looking may-drilled beet has also perked up with the occasional downpour helping.

Little boy stood unaided for the first time today - he is 11 months old today. The time has flown by, and when he gets to a year old I think I will have aged 10.

Fingers crossed for a spell of decent weather to get the rape stubbles ripped up with the solo. On the other hand, we have no realised we may need to clean the drier out. Just in case.

Best of luck to everyone else cutting, and I hope it fills the barn.

Made some hay today. Very much fun. Not great yield but nice quality. Loads more still to do, as it was slow work with new tractor, haybob, baler to get the hang of. Dad seemed to enjoy the retro trip with the Vicon Acrobat circa 1975.

For my sins I spent the day with a pitchfork collecting the missed bits and tidying up the headland corners. Blistered all over.

I am cross. Last week I was cross. Cross enough to delete all my computer accounts at various sites. This week I am properly cross. My agronomist is paid to walk the fields often, and identify weeds when they are small so they can be delt with. Two fields that looked great and I was assured did not need any spray have erupted this week with wild oats that will have to be rogued. I am going on holiday tomorrow, and I can bet that by the time I am back the weather will have turned and the seed will be on the floor by the time it dries enough to walk the soil.

The point of a vastly reduced tillage system is not so much the reduction in fuel or time. It is the keeping of weed seeds where they will germinate easily, and their slow eradication. if I dont get these rogued, that will mess up several years of good practise. I dont like a scruffy farm, and that is what it is.

Name and address of poorly performing agronomist can be suppiled.

Grump.

Arrived at 8. In at 8:20. Machinery done by 11. Got out 5:30. back home for 6:15.

Good:

Weather was great. Saw all the usual lovelies.

Bad:

No actual new stuff. AMC/Lloyds bank spit roast lamb was rubbish - all flobery fat and no meat. Didnt see anyone at FW stand - it was deserted. General lack of bikini-clad babes.

Overall not quite the must-see event for arable farmers. LAMMA is a better day for kit. General merchant (Frontier) trials are best for varieties and crops. Lincs show better for reps/agents/lawyers. Quite a few Scots I overheard to say the same, given the distances they had travelled and said they wouldnt bother again.

I have been poorley. In bed for 5 days. Something nasty? Yes, a cold. A proper hard-core one and it totally knocked me for six. Today is the first day I have not felt awful, so I went for a drive around the farm. One look said that there would be lots of nice fresh air for me - blackgrass roguing.

Now we dont have a lot. We always think we will be spraying the whole farm, but generally the spray rep just reckons on the odd patch here or there. Well, I can tell he didnt walk too far, as there are some patches which I think will get the knapsack and roundup treatment. Fortunatly, I think three fields will escape with just a topper around the edges for tidiness. Two will need walking once or twice. One will need a good team of footsoldiers. Shame it is a 62 acre field, although the mess is concentrated in some smaller areas. How he thought one area that gets done every year could be omitted this time I dont know.

I expect we will be harvesting rape in about 11 weeks time. In the earliest field, over 50% of the petals have fallen, with only side branches still going. Caramba has worked this year, as it is about 2 and a half foot shorter than last year. Pods are all the way to the top and filling well (some already with fat white seed in) with very little early abortion from the frosts. No sign of disease and scant weeds, so job done there, apart from maybe a foliar N and Amistart spray if it looks like it may try to give up before August.

Little boy has just learnt to go forward after a week of going backward. I predict chaos. He has already rejected all his toys in favour of: mummys shoes; plastic bags; the computer; electric cables.