Old Wood Farm

Mid spring
The contractors have been and planted the arable fields 1 with wheat and the other 2 with maize.

We have also completed the first cut of silage which is now in the bunker at the dairy Farm fermenting. I have also mowed 3 of the fields at the sheep farm which have been cut for hay. 

I also have been able to bale the hay for the first time myself after i did a deal with a local farmer to borrow his Baler and windrower for a few hundred pounds as his first cut has been delayed and has made me think about purchasing my own baler and windrower as i see now that it will let me have more control over my operation.


In between all of this i have also put down some slurry on some of my fields.

corrected the 2 images for you

Early summer
The annual Greenwich show was on and this year was hosted on one of my fields that i own just outside of the town. I entered a couple of tractors my old Ferguson and Case ih which are on either end of the classics.
I also spoke to the local dealer while i was there about the possibility of demoing a New Holland t7 and a Joskin slurry tanker. 
One downside is that they had to lay down matting as it was very wet and the field will probably need ploughing and reseeding in Autumn. 
In between all of this i spread even more slurry as i have a small store so it needs emptying on a regular basis.

Second cut


I've started my Second cut on the farm and for a second cut so far it seems to be yielding quite well but i haven,t sat down to work out the numbers yet.
4 of the five fields are going to be made into silage bales with one of them being made into hay as long as it dries in time otherwise i will bale it for silage as well.
I'm planning on making most of the fields at the other farm hay as i already have lots of hay but you can never have too much.

Maize Harvest
The Maize harvest has began and ended i ended up only foraging the larger field as the clamp was very full after just that field so i called the local mill and they offered me a good price to harvest the corn for them to mill. I probably could of squeezed the other field in looking back but i should hopefully get a better price for the crop this way anyway. The contractors brought some big machines and it was interesting to watch them working. 
The clamp went quite well and i have definitely got enough feed for winter and will probably end up selling a large amount to the local Biogas plants.
As for the purchases i talked about last time i'm still looking out for a used defender 110 on a auction or second hand machinery site and i also went and got a quote for a Broughan animal trailer from the local dealer but their prices were extortionate so i will have a look around to find a lower price i would like to buy this new but if i have too i may have to buy used to get a better price.  

Harvest and a new purchase 
I purchased a new a new combine a few months ago but it took a while for the paperwork to go through as there were a few problems that needed sorting out so this is the first time i have mentioned it. Its a Class Dominator 218 and came with a 6m header an header trailer.
Harvest of the wheat is done as there was only the one field. the wheat is being kept for a better price and to feed my chickens. i managed to get 13 straw bales from the field so i will probably still need to buy in some straw bales.
I also plowed in the field where the village show was as they destroyed some of the field ready for reseeding. I'm yet to decide if to make it a arable field or keep it as grass. 

One day it will get one.Maybe😀

After hearing that we were expecting a cold winter and after selling my giant snow plow i decided to buy a snow plow which along with the brackets for the gator only costed £1500. While i had the gator in the workshop i fitted it with some strobes and a bigger beacon as i park it on roadsides a lot while checking fields and i keep worrying that people are going to hit it so this just makes me feel a bit better about leaving it.

I have also sold two trailer loads of silage to the biogas however i'm yet to receive payment as they seem to have a slow bank transfer. I did get the chance to drive there big wheel loader which i did enjoy.


I have also put in a new shed which as soon as it is harvested will be used to store the corn until the mill wants it. It is open fronted so not the best for grain storage but i got a good deal on it so it will have to do.

Big money day 
today i am selling a lot of stuff and so much in fact that i cant give a price break down at the moment.
To start with i sold wood i was going to chip it but i discovered this would greatly reduce the profit so sold it for timber planks.


I am in the process of selling the wheat during a high demand but i have to do this myself as the haulers are currently taking some more of my silage to the biogas plant to be sold. The corn price is still rising so i'm hanging on to it for now.

Muck, houses and cropping plans
I have moved a lot of the muck from the cow farm down to the new arable farm. Luckily the snow had melted on the second day as this made the whole job a lot easier.


Now for the cropping plans. The biggest of the fields is going to be split in half . The first half will have osr and the second will have potatoes, down the middle of this field i will put some bushes to help bring in some conservation subsidies. The second field will all be planted to osr. Both fields will be spread with muck and then disc cultivated and will then receive lime and then planted with the direct drill apart from the potatoes that will get another pass of cultivation and then planted.
To do all of this i have purchased my second ever brand new piece of equipment, a agromasz disc cultivator with a five metre working width that the 7810 will pull nicely. Normally i buy used or nearly new but the dealer gave me a very good deal on this piece of equipment it would of been hard for me to say no.

Now for the house plans. As some of you may know i brought a stationary caravan and have been living in that for 2 years now and would like to move into a proper house. With the new farm there is a bit of waste land where a house once was which i want to clear out and then build a house on it. The house I'm looking at has will have a double garage (my favourite part) as well as a basement and multiple bedrooms and a good sized living room and kitchen.

Inbetween this i also picked up some potatoes for planting and fuel for the diesel hungry 7810. 

First cut again
I have just got into the first cut and the yield seems to be very impressive. I have once again had the contractors come and lift it and also help mow some of the fields as i am very busy with the arable side of the. something i did see though is that they have changed how they lift there grass and have brought a new Massey Ferguson 7719 and a fendt forage wagon which i think is much better for my land.

Back in Westbridge Hills, I used to run a CR10.90. Good machine.

I'm out spreading all the grassland with some fert with the 6155m and the new 36m spreader while stockmen Neil starts the spring seeding by planting a 12 acre field of barley.

We have finished drilling all the Barley OSR and wheat just the Maize and Beet left but we have to wait for it warm up a bit more for that. I have also sprayed some premergent herbicide on the fields as some weeds were starting to show. After i write this i am going to move the sheep from the paddock in the farm to the field as they were only there as they showed signs of lameness but that has been monitored and dealt with where necessary