[skydriller]

Wow, hell-of-set-up these days...!!

Back as a teenager, I used to spend my winter holidays driving a JD3140, then JD3650 hauling beet, with my father using a setup like this:

Man, I used to enjoy doing that...great fun..
(Cant tell for sure, but that first tractor hauling the blue trailer looks identical to what I used to drive, complete with beet fork shoved in the weight panier!! The beet harvester used to have a JD2140 then a JD2850, the tractor on the one in the video is newer...)

Regards, SD..

[Charliesixtysix]

Ah, the 3row Standen Multibeet with turbo topper, a great machine in its day - I did acres and acres with one of those too.

It was a massive step forward from the old Standen Rapide that we used before ( not least because our tractors had ‘quiet’ cabs with heaters by the time the Turbo came along!).

[Rob P]

In the absence of The Archers this is a very welcome thread.

Mine's a pint of Shires.

Rob P

[Trent772]

With a touch of - Ey up Me Duck.......

[Bill McCarthy]

What luxury - I still use a neep docker (large curved knife with hook at end). Great for removing tips of thumbs.

[Bill Haddow]

In the absence of The Archers this is a very welcome thread.

Rob P

"Things being the way they are . . "

Bill H

[Charliesixtysix]

What luxury - I still use a neep docker (large curved knife with hook at end). Great for removing tips of thumbs.

Thanks Bill, that reminded me to look out my old beet knife.. The poor thing is showing its years of disuse, I must get it cleaned up and some preservative oil applied.

[Bill McCarthy]

That’s the one - hard graft in the frost.
I’d have a go at fodder beet but isn’t there a fair bit of the root below ground for grazing off ? I will be putting down some swedes ( Rita Otofte) in a couple of weeks.

[Rob P]

Crop by Rob, on Flickr


Lots of lovely salad growing in The Fens today, probably to be bagged for the supermarket, taken home, put in the drawer at the bottom of the fridge and thrown out when it gets slimy.

At least ours goes to the compost heap.

Rob P

[Cessna571]

Latest update.
It’s getting bigger.

[Flyingfemme]

We took a couple of minutes, yesterday evening, to admire the teamwork and equipment that went into mowing Staverton..........counted seven tractors/combines. Each had their own tractor and trailer, following along and collecting the cut grass - it was pretty long. Another, smaller tractor, with a different cutter was doing along the fences. The whole thing was done in one hit, one evening. Magic.

[TheFarmer]

When you say ‘combines’, you probably mean foragers.

A combine cuts a dry crop for the seed and leaves the stems behind as rows of straw, and a forager cuts the whole crop for animal feed or anaerobic digestion plants.

The combine stores up to 9 tonnes of harvested grain/seed in an on-board tank that it periodically empties on the move, and a forager doesn’t have a tank, and has to permanently empty as it cuts.

Both cost more than the average British house these days, and both spend 11 months of the year sitting in a shed doing absolutely nothing!

A combine:


A forager:

[defcribed]

Is it brand new?

Will you give me the key?

Seriously, this is the best thread for ages. Since buying a house with a decent-sized garden 18 months ago we have got really into growing things. First go with spuds this year, looking good so far.

We also have a lot of 'what is this stuff?' moments when out walking.

[Flyingfemme]

I stand corrected........... [girly] big, noisy machines! [/girly]

[Bill McCarthy]

A sensible wheel combination on the combine - rubber tracks at the front, large wheels at the back. Mind you, you need them if carrying 9tons of grain on a machine weighing around 12 tons. We have to rig up dual wheels on the front to prevent sinking in, in the best of years. We rarely get grain off the combine at less than 20% moisture - usually about 22%.
Actually, I’m just in from putting in an acre of swedes for a neighbour ( for winter sheep feed).