Selectamatic's Farming Thread.

Roy_H

Member
Mother said that, against what you just said, that these boiled well, without turning to mush, but that they are a bit tasteless compared to the Duke of York earlies.

It's a strange thing this "boil in the water" malarkey, I don't know why they do it, and I don't think many do.

Try boiling the buggers without water! ;)
I haven't boiled spuds for years, we always steam them , they can't "fall in the water then". ;)
 

Roy_H

Member
Well, today I did something that I have wanted to do for many years, I harvested my own cereals.

I have cut hundreds of acres for others, but have never, until today, cut my own.

Yields were disappointing my reckoning just over a tonne to the acre, but not unexpected, but what there was a good lump of barley. The straw will need a few days to die, again, Im not expecting much there either.

View attachment 390858

The combine, my fathers Fisher Humphries Lely 'Victory' Mk 3 Combine, performed as expected and made short work of the thin crop. Cut it earlier today, while passing, on the way to cut for someone else. Registered in 1979, Dad purchased this in 1983, to join another two he was running at the time. Originally used on a estate in Hampshire, this one came from then Ford New Holland Dealers, Watson and Haig.

View attachment 390856

14ft Cut, folding header, hydrostatic drive, Ford 6 Cylinder engine, when the earlier ones were new they were the biggest in the world, and little could match them output. Still plenty big enough for the narrow lanes and small fields that we often cut around here.

I think that this is the last British made combine still in work, I am yet to see a younger one...

View attachment 390860
Disappointing yields aside, a good day today, I've harvested my own crop of barley, a tick in another box! :)
Do you have many problems getting parts for your combine?
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
Do you have many problems getting parts for your combine?

Yes!

New parts are long obsolete, we have a stack of parts that we have found, brought, cut out from others, enough to keep her going for a while yet, hopefully.

Bearings, chains etc are pretty standard through. We can get by with most things, we have a fair amount of parts in the shed. :)
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
How can you have too many tractors?
Maybe you need more implements ?

Crammed full of implements too, other than a crop sprayer, and a topper, I have everything that I need, and everything has a job. There are very few 'ornaments'. Virtually everything either does, or could could go to work after a service if needed. :)
 
Last edited:

multi power

Member
Location
pembrokeshire
Crammed full of implements too, other than a crop sprayer, and a topper, I have everything that I need, and everything has a job. There are very few 'ornaments'. Virtually everything either does, or could could go to work after a service if needed. :)
Think you missed my attempt at sarcasm, if you have enough tractors you must have one for every implement, therefore a few more implements and then you will NEED more tractors
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
Baled the straw last night, I was not expecting much, but I thought there would be more than what there was... ho hum, there's always next year! :)

SAM_3237.JPG
SAM_3239.JPG
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
Had a walk about last night, took some photos...

Cracking crop of Blackberries, I've been gathering some, Mrs S has made some chutneys and such like out of them. One of my favourite childhood jobs was blackberry hunting!

WP_20160907_19_29_48_Pro.jpg

Barley stubble is greening up, I'll leave it fallow over the winter, cattle and sheep can graze what there is of it, kill it off in spring and put some barley in it again.

WP_20160907_19_29_13_Pro.jpg


After the hay, the field had greened back, lovely lush grass, Dad suggested that there would be too much for sheep and putting some cattle on there would be a good idea, so I have these as Bed and Breakfast for a few weeks, nice and tame, they are fetching the grass down nicely.

WP_20160907_19_33_56_Pro.jpg


Potatoes are dying, they will be coming out of the ground in a few weeks...

WP_20160907_19_35_59_Pro.jpg


And finally, the current stars of the show, the swedes, they are coming along very well, very pleased.

WP_20160907_19_36_09_Pro.jpg
WP_20160907_19_36_24_Pro.jpg
WP_20160907_19_36_36_Pro.jpg
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
In the pouring rain, I did a bit of hedge cutting...

This is my father's 1410, its been with us since 1980, with 14000+ hours by now it still goes like a train, albeit a few leaks by now, the rust has set in too, and it's on my to do list to give the old bus a bit of a makeover. One of our front line tractor for many years, it spends it's life on the hedge cutter these days.

The hedge cutter is a Bomford B467, a tiddly thing today, but good enough for what we want. It replaced a Fisher Humphries which was a disaster. Previous to that we had a Bomford Bushwhacker, the first flail machine in the parish, what a monster of a thing that was!

It's a tedious, boring job, but it tidies the place up when your finished.

SAM_3241.JPG


SAM_3240.JPG


Cattle have grazed the fields down well, they will be on their way from there soon. barsteward moles are still there though. :(
SAM_3244.JPG


Swedes are growing, should be a nice bit of food for some lambs there. In the middle of the swedes I have something rather unexpected, but very nice all the same. :)

SAM_3250.JPG

SAM_3248.JPG

SAM_3249.JPG


Potatoes are ready for bringing up, tomorrow, hopefully...
SAM_3246.JPG
 
Last edited:
Good ground for spuds there, sandy soil. As for the hedgecutter, it's just as good for the job as any newer kit, same as near me there'll be lads with fresh tractors and machines that cost combined as much as a 3 bed house who'll be doing it cheaper than you can. I don't know how they do it either.
 

Selectamatic

Member
Location
North Wales
Well, today was the day, potato harvesting!

On the whole I'm quite pleased, plenty for what I want, although I am worried some of the larger ones have either internal rust spots or hollow hearts, but ho hum, I'll have another go next year.

Pentland Crown
SAM_3267.JPG


King Edwards
SAM_3269.JPG


The remainder of Red Duke of York
SAM_3266.JPG


A duo of 996's, and a old Ransomes Faun harvester, brought from near Hereford a few years ago, when I started with this spuds malarkey I wanted one of these, mainly, (and yes, I realise this is sad) as I had one as a toy Britains one and harvested thousands of carpet acres with one! It's ok for want I want, probably overkill really, but it beats lifting them off the floor after a two row hoover!
SAM_3256.JPG


SAM_3255.JPG

Thanks to Mrs S and Bala for their assistance today, and to Mr S senior for driving the box tractor! :)

Now then, next year I would like nice clean rows, no thistles or weeds, as the harvester makes heavy weather of thistles and any haulm that was still green, nice clean rows are what I would like, does anyone have any suggestions how to keep these rows clean up to harvesting? I did ridge the rows up when they were growing to disturb the weeds, and I like to think it's helped, but how do I keep them clean with nothing but brittle dead white haulm there?

SAM_3270.JPG
 
Spray them off with diquat, as for keeping them clean, pre em after planting, and, if the weeds sprout first, spray them with diquat early on, the spuds will bounce back well. It will cost you a fortune in sprays, but that's how it's done. Use decent nozzles too, we've had good results with Lechler idk 120 05's at 2.5 bar, really nice coverage.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 110 38.6%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 107 37.5%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 41 14.4%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 6 2.1%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 4 1.4%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 17 6.0%

May Event: The most profitable farm diversification strategy 2024 - Mobile Data Centres

  • 2,973
  • 49
With just a internet connection and a plug socket you too can join over 70 farms currently earning up to £1.27 ppkw ~ 201% ROI

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mo...2024-mobile-data-centres-tickets-871045770347

Tuesday, May 21 · 10am - 2pm GMT+1

Location: Village Hotel Bury, Rochdale Road, Bury, BL9 7BQ

The Farming Forum has teamed up with the award winning hardware manufacturer Easy Compute to bring you an educational talk about how AI and blockchain technology is helping farmers to diversify their land.

Over the past 7 years, Easy Compute have been working with farmers, agricultural businesses, and renewable energy farms all across the UK to help turn leftover space into mini data centres. With...
Top