Historical photos from North Norfolk

[RushesToo]

Then I got tired of shovelling woodchip for the house and dairy, and the cheese was running out of the remaining Calor gas for the combi boiler that was providing hot water and heating, so I got a bigger boiler for the house and dairy that could be filled weekly by JCB bucket, and moved the original one into the granary to heat the cheese room.
View attachment 846364
We then connected them together with another underground pipe, so in summer we could run one while doing maintenance on the other. This meant that when we put in the digester, we already had a hot water ring main to connect into, and we put the initial heat into the digester with woodchip, both boilers running flat out 24 hours a day. Once we started to make gas, we moved over to the biogas boiler and then the CHP, and the woodchip boilers and Dragon are now gone. Unfortunately the advent of RHI meant that they were pretty much worthless as second hand.

Reading this I realised language has changed.
You would have been called an inventor or scientist.
What you did then is now called a "disruptor" - Someone who looks at a system that is useful/essential but being done badly and re-thinks it and does it better and incidentally just happens to change the way the World works.
A thought I wanted to share.

 

[sjt01]

That's about all the photos I have that might interest TFFers. However if you should come across the cow that is with Liz Truss, give it a high five or a hug, but don't ask who is inside.

 

[Chae1]

Thanks for taking the time to put all the photos up. Its amazing all you've done and the different skills you have.

Your farm and seeing all the machinery you've run over the years was great too.

Much respect.

 

[JP1]

Thanks for taking the time to put all the photos up. Its amazing all you've done and the different skills you have.

Your farm and seeing all the machinery you've run over the years was great too.

Much respect.

Here here

Just a joy to have such a decent thread to have followed

Thanks for posting

 

[bitwrx]

Same again here. Loved every post.

The bits in Malawi make me think I should've stuck with engineering a bit longer before moving back to agriculture. Turns out engineering doesn't have to be entirely desk based, in the anodyne environment of a glass cube on a soulless out-of-town business park!

Thanks very much for going to the no doubt considerable effort of posting.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Yes, a great deal of effort, much appreciated.

 

[sodbuster2]

Thanks for making the effort to post such an innovative journey complete with such candid dialogue.
I have really enjoyed it and wish you well for the next project !

 

[spanners and hammers]

can only echo other members comments ,,, really enjoyed these snap shots of a moment in time ,,, thanks

 

[sjt01]

Just remembered, we had some professional photos to advertise our joint venture opportunity - nice to have a reminder of Spring conditions now
You can see the sea on the horizon

Closer view of the farmyard when we had scaffolding on the house for roof repairs

Our little digester

Then there are the heifers and cows

 

[chaffcutter]

It’s been without doubt one of the most interesting threads we have ever had on the forum, thank you so much for sharing a most interesting lifetime of innovation with us.

You put those last photos up while I was typing, I thought of asking for some photos of now and you’ve done it anyway!

 

[JWL]

There will be a fair few like me who have jumped straight to this thread but not commented, personally I have been enthralled all the way through. Many of the older photo's have brought back memories and recollections of reminiscing with my father when he was still alive plus memories of my own in my younger days.
Much respect and thanks to you for spending the time to let us see these photos and film clips, thank you.

 

[Veryfruity]

Many thanks for posting this, fascinating and compelling.

I was faffing over replacing a tractor, until I saw post #158, then I just ordered one.

I hope you find a replacement to fill those big boots.

 

[quattro]

Can only agree with all what’s been said above
A excellent and interesting thread thanks for sharing a lot of your past memories

 

[New Puritan]

@sjt01 - just to say thank you for these fascinating photos of what sounds like a very interesting career.

If you have the inclination, would you be able to talk us through your AD system a bit more please? How automated is it - i.e. how much work does it take you each day or week to keep it running? In the photo just above you have of it, is that digestate going into the trailer? Do you dry the digestate?

Thanks again for (as others have aready said) the best thread on the forum at the moment.

 

[sjt01]

@sjt01 - just to say thank you for these fascinating photos of what sounds like a very interesting career.

If you have the inclination, would you be able to talk us through your AD system a bit more please? How automated is it - i.e. how much work does it take you each day or week to keep it running? In the photo just above you have of it, is that digestate going into the trailer? Do you dry the digestate?

Thanks again for (as others have aready said) the best thread on the forum at the moment.

Perhaps I should start a new thread for the AD plant. The trailer takes the separated solids digestate, we do not dry it. At present it is going back in as recent months the slurry has been very wet, so we need to keep the total solids in range.

Thanks to you and everyone else for your kind words, it has been interesting for me to go back over my career, and I am glad others enjoy it as well.

 

[sjt01]

I have started a biogas thread

Shortened quote!

which will inevitably overlap with this one in order to maintain continuity. Please tell me if there is anything I need to expand on, or keep shorter!

 

[Exfarmer]

Do you have a conclusion as to why the disc ploughing never took off in gb???

I can give you a bit of an answer, to this question. WJ Cooper of Newport Pagnell made some disc ploughs to a spec provided for a quote to supply an African Government contract. Being local they tested one on our farm for some months.
from memory ( going back 50 odd years) the finish left was very poor for UK standards of the time and in wet conditions it went from bad to awful. It would probably be considered far more acceptable today in a dry summer as it seems browning over is more important that trash burial.

 

[Lowland1]

The

I can give you a bit of an answer, to this question. WJ Cooper of Newport Pagnell made some disc ploughs to a spec provided for a quote to supply an African Government contract. Being local they tested one on our farm for some months.
from memory ( going back 50 odd years) the finish left was very poor for UK standards of the time and in wet conditions it went from bad to awful. It would probably be considered far more acceptable today in a dry summer as it seems browning over is more important that trash burial.

disc plough is the curse of Africa it is the idea tool when clearing land as it will bounce over obstacles. However what we see in Kenya is complete misuse. Used as fast as possible leaving a very uneven surface with lots of ridges and furrows which erode when it rains usually it's followed by a disc harrow turning the soil to powder. It's a major cause of poor crop yields but it is cheap a new one costs about £6-800 a furrow and so lot's are sold. Usually they are used by contractors whose aim is to cover as much ground as possible.

 

[sjt01]

The

disc plough is the curse of Africa it is the idea tool when clearing land as it will bounce over obstacles. However what we see in Kenya is complete misuse. Used as fast as possible leaving a very uneven surface with lots of ridges and furrows which erode when it rains usually it's followed by a disc harrow turning the soil to powder. It's a major cause of poor crop yields but it is cheap a new one costs about £6-800 a furrow and so lot's are sold. Usually they are used by contractors whose aim is to cover as much ground as possible.

I managed to get a few farmers in Malawi to roll after disc ploughing, which created a reasonable tilth on the surface without a layer of dust at plough depth (instant pan when the rains come). The disc harrow is even more of a curse than the disc plough.

 

[glasshouse]

That's us. We had the Chalkfarm herd of British Friesians, that turned into Holsteins. Although the Holsteins did us well in the show ring, financially they were a disaster. We are now pedigree Brown Swiss, lower yields but much lower cost of production.

Theres a ghost on thr combine!!