John Jeffrey
John Jeffrey
John Jeffrey runs two
tenanted farms in
partnership with his father
from Kersknowe, near Kelso
in the Scottish Borders.
Two-thirds of the 730ha
(1800 acres) is arable,
growing seed potatoes, oilseed rape, wheat and
winter and spring barley
HARVEST literally finished on a damper. After Mr Kettleys farming forecast of a good week ahead I decided not to cut my last field of wheat that Sunday afternoon, as the moisture content was 21%.
When I eventually combined it two-and-a-half weeks later it was in the high 20s and half the crop was on the ground. Similarly, spring oilseed rape was salvaged at a higher than desirable moisture content before it all blew away.
Most of next years crop has been "puddled" in and with no herbicide applied due to the winds and no rolling due to the wet there are going to be serious weed and slug problems ahead. The only field left to sow is an old, heavy ley field. I am grazing it bare before my first attempt at direct drilling. Without wishing to be a pessimist, why do I feel another disaster is looming?
The relative cost of modern farming was brought home to me when I had to buy a new top-link for the tractor. It cost the equivalent of 4t of wheat. Not that long ago you could get four top-links for the price of 1t of wheat.
That had a major bearing on my choice of new combine. After demonstrations, I was sold on a Claas. It was a joy to drive and performed to a very high output – nearly as high as my bank managers blood pressure when I told him the price to change. Once he had calmed down we agreed on the more practical option, a New Holland CW 860. The dealer is on my doorstep, I have had them for 20 years and their reliability has been excellent. More importantly it was at a price that none of the other manufacturers could match.
While I was not too disappointed at not getting the combine of my choice, it is a sign of the times that it is the bank manager who chooses the combine and not the farmer. *
It is a sign of the times when the bank manager picks the combine, not the farmer, says John Jeffrey.