May 23, 2020

Following on promptly from the previous post because I left us with the field covered in lime and not yet ready for the first crop to be sown. It was a good time to halt beacuse I needed to give some thought to how to progress with the preparations. There were three possible ways forward. Run a Subsoiler over the field to turn in the lime, do the same using a disc-harrow or use a combined cultivator/seeder. As I understand it in-game, having ploughed I could go straight to the latter option and seed as I cultivate. But I decided that I would do a ‘proper job’ on this new field.

Now, I’m not a farmer and if you are I’d be happy to hear corrections to any misconceptions I have here. The Subsoiler is designed to go deep – around a foot down and achieves a similar effect to a Plough but doesn’t turn over the soil like a plough does. The Disc Harrow breaks up the clods of soil on the surface left after ploughing. With that in mind, I decided the correct tool for this job was the Harrow. Here is the Agro Masz Harrow that I bought……and here we are cultivating the field and simultaneously turning in the lime…
…You can see how the furrows left by the Plough are smoothed in the process.

Now we have another choice – buy a Seeder that also fertilizes the field and sow our first crop or fertilize the field first using our existing spreader. The decision was made for me by a fellow farmer who needed one of their fields fertilized and was paying good money for me to do it!..…So off I went with my Amazone spreader to the shop where I filled it with fertilizer. I wasn’t sure how much the neighbour’s larger field would need but I felt I’d likely come back with enough to do my own field too. It’s quite a nice view across the valley from Mason’s field……and I had nearly 3/4 of hopper full of fertilizer after completing the job, so I could come back and fertilize my own field too and still have around 4000l left – Result! 🙂

Time to sow our first crop. If you read the previous abortive series then you’ll recall the need to check prices when choosing a crop. I was thinking Barley because that would give me a start on feed for Chickens. But Barley is in a downward price spiral at the moment and Wheat is at a stable but low price. I opted to grow Canola as it is a well paying if less productive crop and some buyers are improving their prices currently. One downside is that I won’t be collecting straw – I don’t think the size of the field justifies hiring or buying a loading wagon to collect it. At harvesting I’ll set the Combine to deposit chaff and I’ll plough it in before sowing the next crop.

Sometimes I’m a creature of habit. Choosing a Seeder was simple – go with the Stara Ceres Master 3570. It’s served me well in the past and will allow me to cultivate, seed and fertilize in one go now my field is established. This is the shop page advertising its capabilities – it’s the one on the right……and here’s a closer look……

With the Stara loaded with seed I went to sow the field. I was able to get the in-game helpers to do most of the task for me but I did have to go back and fill in some gaps after. Helpers cost wages but are much better at turning this type of trailer around and doing consistant rows than I am, so worth the money to get most of the job done! Here’s the sowing in progress…