It's been too long especially with the cliff hanger of the health and safety visit I left you on! Well, no I wasn't carted away we scored well with nothing too major to attend to - just LOTS of little things and the biggest folder of paperwork you can imagine - so that's my excuse -I have been stodging my way through it of an evening with the highlight of last week being my husand suggesting a night off to go to the cinema, my over-the-top reaction suggested i should take a few more evenings off form filling!
Today marks a very exciting day - the second week anniversary of my new gadget - I have become the proud owner of a 'dickey john' penetrometer ....clear your filthy mind - it's a soil compaction meter! Early findings have suggested blackgrass seems to thrive in soils of over 200lbs pressure in the top 3-6 inches. So now it's just a question of how to prevent these conditions forming???
Which is poinient for the clod bashing competition we've been taking part in which has now become a race against the rain (seem familiar?). So first wheats drilled and pre em'd, OSR racing away and seem to have passed the slug and flea beetle threats (famous last words). Loads of wheat left the farm in the past few weeks with £163 /t on the contract whoop whoop! -won't feel so excited in may when my load at £109 leaves -still the average is looking likely to be in the 140's which I can live with. I've also dipped my toe in the water with 2011 OSR at £300/t and added to my 2011 wheat at £130.
On the Nuffield score I have booked the Edinburgh conference in November and had more Aussies to visit-resulting in a rough school night on some truely dodgy liquers. I've had loads more soils and compost samples under the microscope and my first COMPLETLY dead soil not even a bacterial presence which is pretty worrying - the sample came from one of the worst blackgrass fields in the area. The better the microbiology the better the blackgrass situation.
To bring you bang up to date, today i went to an ODA breakfast meeting on grain market information and training - I feel a course coming on. They are a totally independant market information service, so bring on the futures bank account and the puts and calls!
Right, GPS variable rate maps to produce so will update you soon. -happy drilling.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
They're going to get it warts and all!
Why o' why when your sitting back at the end of August feeling smug and thinking everything's in hand and 'I think I can make the Aylsham show' do the alarm bells not ring out with defening thunder and remind you such feelings at that time of year are fleeting and should not be trusted! -with my back turned rains threatened and everything kicked off, both round and square balers couldn't decide which way to turn first, the combine faired better and we got finished on Friday but some long nights and slightly re-shaped sheds were the price, with fields clear my services for GPS soil sampling were under high demand, coupled with the usual August cash flow uneasiness and trying to catch the wheat market as it flys eratically around meant my grand plan of a day off had a serious backlash resulting in me missing the Nuffield 2010 gathering.
After a manic week things look a little quieter this week as the rains come - saying that I was chasing seed in Nottingham this morning at 6am - clearly long enough ago for me to have forgotten it! Most of our rape is in and sprayed -about 10ha to go, no sign of slug or beetle to our relief! This weeks biggest threat could come tommorrow when we have our first ever health and safety review - the local jury is out on good idea to cover one's self and stupid plan that will result in a hell hole of form filling and safety gear shopping opening up to swallow us! -watch this space for the verdict. It was one of those things we thought we ought to do with increasing numbers of employees.... one day and then I rung the NFU and they said 'oh we'll come out in october' -enough time to cancel it I thought, then I get a phone call today 'I'm afraid we're booked up until December' - I go to brazil, argentina, aus and NZ then, ermmm, 'but I have a cancellation tommorrow' -some other bugger nicked my very plan! so stupidly I agree, in hindsight I should have booked up December and let Dad fend for himself!
Should be interesting to see what they say about our burn't out baler in the yard -but that's another story! Anyway, they're going to get it warts and all rightly or wrongly! This may be my last post as tommorrow I may be dragged away by the HSE!
Still a lovely blackgrass flush in both stale seedbeds and stubbles and our V140 leaving the farm at £10,000/load are something to celebrate -shame there's no contract for next year, ah well, new grainstore got planning permission -anyway, must go and check down the back of the sofa for the deposit!
After a manic week things look a little quieter this week as the rains come - saying that I was chasing seed in Nottingham this morning at 6am - clearly long enough ago for me to have forgotten it! Most of our rape is in and sprayed -about 10ha to go, no sign of slug or beetle to our relief! This weeks biggest threat could come tommorrow when we have our first ever health and safety review - the local jury is out on good idea to cover one's self and stupid plan that will result in a hell hole of form filling and safety gear shopping opening up to swallow us! -watch this space for the verdict. It was one of those things we thought we ought to do with increasing numbers of employees.... one day and then I rung the NFU and they said 'oh we'll come out in october' -enough time to cancel it I thought, then I get a phone call today 'I'm afraid we're booked up until December' - I go to brazil, argentina, aus and NZ then, ermmm, 'but I have a cancellation tommorrow' -some other bugger nicked my very plan! so stupidly I agree, in hindsight I should have booked up December and let Dad fend for himself!
Should be interesting to see what they say about our burn't out baler in the yard -but that's another story! Anyway, they're going to get it warts and all rightly or wrongly! This may be my last post as tommorrow I may be dragged away by the HSE!
Still a lovely blackgrass flush in both stale seedbeds and stubbles and our V140 leaving the farm at £10,000/load are something to celebrate -shame there's no contract for next year, ah well, new grainstore got planning permission -anyway, must go and check down the back of the sofa for the deposit!
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