Selectamatic's Farming Thread.

[multi power]

YES!

But also when your younger you want to change everything /rebel against what's gone before etc. As I get older I have come to respect him more and realize how much he knows.And know how lucky I am to have him around. Not everyone gets that opportunity......

It doesn't mean he hasn't stopped driving me round the bend at times though.....

Just be careful there, that's getting close to admitting he is actually right

Glad it's not just me who could have wrote that
I remember when I was 18 and knew EVERYTHING
By the time I was early twenty I found I knew very little

 

[Nearly]

Just be careful there, that's getting close to admitting he is actually right

Glad it's not just me who could have wrote that
I remember when I was 18 and knew EVERYTHING
By the time I was early twenty I found I knew very little

By the time I was 25 I found out that Dad had learn't a lot in the last 7 years.

 

[multi power]

By the time I was 25 I found out that Dad had learn't a lot in the last 7 years.

Does that mean he had already learned everything he was going to learn?

 

[Selectamatic]

Nothing to do with actual Farming this time, but I thought this would be as good a place as any to show you this...

My Father will be 80 years old on Monday, and we are off tomorrow to celebrate this with a get together around a Sunday Roast.

Mrs Selectamatic has been very busy making him a Birthday Cake, I have also been slaving away by supplying the Tractor and Plough! Thanks Mrs S!

Penblwydd Hapus Dad!

 

[Selectamatic]

After a nice bit of rain, I hitched up the sprayer to give my barley a squirt of MCPA, although not too bad for weeds, what was there was quite dense and would be bad by harvest time, so I thought that checking them now was a good idea.

While the sprayer was on, I gave the soon to be swede patch a coating of Roundup, I'd not touched it since Power Harrowing when sowing the Barley, and what weeds were there had come out lovely.

Weather dependant, I'll sow some swedes in about 10 days.

My sprayer is an old Ransomes Merlin, 300 litre, I'm sure there are bigger Knapsack Sprayers these days, but it does ok for little patches like mine.

 

[brynseiri]

After a nice bit of rain, I hitched up the sprayer to give my barley a squirt of MCPA, although not too bad for weeds, what was there was quite dense and would be bad by harvest time, so I thought that checking them now was a good idea.

While the sprayer was on, I gave the soon to be swede patch a coating of Roundup, I'd not touched it since Power Harrowing when sowing the Barley, and what weeds were there had come out lovely.

Weather dependant, I'll sow some swedes in about 10 days.

My sprayer is an old Ransomes Merlin, 300 litre, I'm sure there are bigger Knapsack Sprayers these days, but it does ok for little parches like mine.

Think I'd struggle with a 300l knapsack.

 

[Selectamatic]

Think I'd struggle with a 300l knapsack.

Not a big strong lad like you, surely?!

 

[Selectamatic]

Since the 780 was there, I moulded up my spuds earlier, the rows were covered in the same weeds that I sprayed off, hopefully I will have upset some of them with my ridger.

Spuds look quite healthy really, they are happier now they have had a splash of rain.

Swede patch that was sprayed yesterday has started to die off nicely.

 

[blackbob]

Looks good... the tatties will smother any weeds that grow from now on

The tradition here and I guess elsewhere, before spraying was invented, was to 'shim' the drills with a 9-tine Ferguson cultivator (everybody had a Ferguson cultivator) with its tines grouped into 3's,

then ridge them again once the weeds had died., You didn't need to do this more than once.

Trouble nowadays, is that this doesn't fit in with stone-separating

Edit I got that photo off Google and that one has some sort of wide feet on, probably for working on the flat eg sugar beet. We just used normal points for shimming tatties

 

[Selectamatic]

Dad remembers my Grandfather taking the stays out of a chain link harrow, letting them sag, then drawing them over the rows, before moulding them up again so just the tips of the leaves were sticking out.

When should I start to spray for blight? I remember someone saying when the rows meet, but I recon with this hot, damp weather, now's the time? Next few evenings I'll give them a spray.

Farming such a small acreage as a hobby is a bit of a faff, but I'm enjoying myself!

I hope the job pays...

 

[7610 super q]

Anybody remember the Reekie finger weeders ? Looked like a comb that scuffled the ridge tops ?

 

[blackbob]

Anybody remember the Reekie finger weeders ? Looked like a comb that scuffled the ridge tops ?

Was that not a Ferguson attachment, for the toolbar like the photo above?

I think we still have somewhere, a horse-drawn tattie-harrow - like a zig-zag harrow section bent into a U, with teeth on it.
Upside-down U, I mean, by the way

 

[blackbob]

This stuff is going back down memory lane - but it's still kinda relevant to modern-day farming, with people using organic methods and herbicide use being questioned?

Ah you're right, @7610 super q - "Ferguson mounted steerage hoe with Reekie weeders, not attached"
http://www.i-bidder.com/en-gb/aucti...0024/lot-2f3bb5b7-f1d7-4787-b96e-a53800a4d02b

 

[7610 super q]

Was that not a Ferguson attachment, for the toolbar like the photo above?

I think we still have somewhere, a horse-drawn tattie-harrow - like a zig-zag harrow section bent into a U, with teeth on it.
Upside-down U, I mean, by the way

Possibly, I always thought they were made by Reekie. I'll dig them out tomorrow and take some pics
Unless they've been scrapped.

 

[7610 super q]

I think you're right @blackbob , found this pic on Google...

 

[blackbob]

@Selectamatic you asked about blight - wait for a Smith Period http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/home/about/smith-periods/

My surname is Smith so be careful what jokes you make about, "happen once a month" etc etc

 

[brynseiri]

Dad remembers my Grandfather taking the stays out of a chain link harrow, letting them sag, then drawing them over the rows, before moulding them up again so just the tips of the leaves were sticking out.

When should I start to spray for blight? I remember someone saying when the rows meet, but I recon with this hot, damp weather, now's the time? Next few evenings I'll give them a spray.

Farming such a small acreage as a hobby is a bit of a faff, but I'm enjoying myself!

I hope the job pays...

Them spuds are ready for blight NOW!!!!

 

[Selectamatic]

Had a walk around with my camera today...

 

[Philip Watkins]

Had a walk around with my camera today...

View attachment 349056 View attachment 349058 View attachment 349060 View attachment 349062 View attachment 349064 View attachment 349066 View attachment 349068

Tatties looking well. Spring barley looks better than you imagined it would, another week when it's all in head you'll wonder what you were worried about.

 

[brynseiri]

Think I recognise where you're at now, next to Esmor Townsend's sons place in Llandyrnog?