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Working through the second day on the farm and doing more mowing and baling for other farmers. The equipment is getting grubby and will need a service by the end of the day…

While I’ve been working the crop has been through its flowering cycle and has set seed. By midday it is ready to harvest! The speed that crops grow and ripen in Farming Sim requires the player to suspend belief but if they reached ready to harvest state in normal time it would be a pretty boring game. Frankly, the game is mainly about playing with farm equipment and the plants and animals are really only there to provide a reason to do so 😉 And, the crop being ready to harvest means it’s time to buy myself a Harvester. The vehicle will again be small and I’m keeping a tight grip on the budget. Much as I would like to buy the Claas Tucano again (see the first post in the original series) I can’t justify the cost. John Deere were also over the budget I was prepared to pay. I narrowed it down to three possibilities – two are vehicles from the modhub and one was a bonus addition to the game with the Claas Platinum Pack.

The Case IH 1660 Axial Flow which has a 5.5m header and 190HP engine. Here’s a screenshot from the modhub site……Cost: £177k

The Claas Dominator 108 SL Maxi which has a 5.1m header and 221HP engine. A shot from the shop……Cost £165.5k

The New Holland TC5.90 which has a 5.5m header and a 258HP engine. This was the most expensive at £185k for Harvester and Head. When I factored in the higher horse power which was desirable for working some of the fields in the valley, I felt that the TC5.90 was worth the slightly higher price over the other harvesters. Here it is parked outside the dealer…

After taking the harvester to the field, it was time to get my trailer, reinstall the sides and take that to the field also. Then we got down to harvesting our Canola crop…

Best price for Canola was being offered at the Hill Top Stores. Another reason for only using a small trailer with my 150HP Fendt – it’s a tough climb to get up there……and deliver the seed to their silo……But the 12000l brought a nice income of £13553. There was a further 1250l which I took back to our own silo for storage.

Harvesting done it’s time to take the TC5.90 home to the farm – it’s a tight fit through the gate of the field with the header fitted…

And so, the cycle begins again. The field doesn’t need ploughing or lime but I need to turn in the chaff and Canola stalks so it’s off to work with the disc harrow…

We have £412k in the bank and I can probably think about starting to pay back the £250k loan. But I would like a Tedder to allow me to make hay from grass. I probably need to buy another field either for grass or for other cash crops. Then there are the Chickens – can I start rearing them yet? While the crop cycle may happen at an unholy gallop, the game certainly gives you lots of decisions to make! Finally, I have to decide what crop to sow in my freshly cultivated field – We’ll find out about some of these things in my next post. Plough on regardless Folks 🙂