Fresh Fields

Springtime in Osada – March and April…

These are funny months – there’s always a burst of activity in the first 2 weeks and then nothing for the rest of the month. If you recall from my previous post, I was deliberating about which planter to buy and when to buy it. March presented some seeding jobs and true to the old maxim – “The Lord giveth and the Management taketh away” – as fast as they appeared, they were disappearing. To get some money into the bank you just have to grab one – there isn’t time to assess which field or what crop. I grabbed one for field 15 because I knew that field well. I then found that the contract was to sow Sugar Beet. In so many ways, that was the decision taken for me – I had to buy the planter then and there. Fortunately, by then, I’d rationalised my thoughts and I was going modern despite the extra cost. We’d get the Kubota PP1450V and totally drain the bank balance!😅

Here’s the 4240 carrying out that first plant in field 15…

…Immediate impressions of my new purchase are good. If you’re wondering why I’m not using the ridge markers – The lime makes it so easy to see where I’ve been👌

The rest of the week was spent cultivating my own fields 3 and 14 where the Oilseed Radish had sprouted…

…These fields will be sown with Sunflowers next month. I also took a couple of fertilizing jobs with the new sprayer during the second week and there were also a couple of weeding jobs,

April and we will be very busy – But only for the first 2 weeks 🤣 We kicked off with a sowing job for a neighbour in field 10 – Sunflowers, which was handy because I could then carry on and sow my field 14 just across the road. I also went on to sow field 3 with Sunflowers too…

I checked on my Barley crop in fields 1&2 – They’re coming along nicely…

…and I fertilized the Wheat in field 40. Then I rolled the newly sown fields 3 and 14…

The neighbours had a weed issue in their Beet field and I was happy to help with that…

The second week of April and time to sow field 12. This was going to be a Corn crop but I had a ‘Senior Moment’ and forgot to change out the seed type – so we’re going to have three fields of Sunflowers! Not a big concern – both crop types give a good return and Hell! – I Love Sunflowers – They were the motif for our wedding🌻🤵👰😀👍 I’ll just have to rethink next year’s planting plan🤣

To close out that second week, I rolled the seeds into field 12 and then I applied fertilizer…

That was really the last of the serious activity in April. I spent sometime checking the supplies in the barn during the 3rd week…

…and we’re ok for now despite doing several fertilizing jobs and all the seeding.

I’m expecting a lot of weeding in early May but not too much else. Then, almost before we know it, we’ll be into June and harvesting Barley… The cycle never ends when you’re farming! 😎👍

Fresh Fields

Winter in Osada – An exercise in whiling away 3 months!

December… At least there was a ploughing job for a neighbour in the first week…

…And the view in the early morning was worth getting up for😎 In the second week I took the Zetor and our new sprayer over to field 40 and applied the first dose of fertiliser to my Wheat crop…

…The new sprayer works well although it can be a little tricky to manoeuvre at the end of each pass.

The other activity in December was the selling of my stored grains – Wheat, Oats and Sorghum. I did get good prices although it was not the best. I think I need to have a target figure in mind and be prepared to sell when that price is reached. Hanging on can be counter productive. In the end, all that really matters is that the prices in December are better than those in August😅

At the end of all that selling I have enough money in the bank to buy a planter but I’m faced with a difficult choice. There’s a couple of older John Deere types that will cover 6m but don’t fold. There’s a more recent Agro-Masz one that will only cover 3m on each pass and a very modern Kubota one that will do 4.5m. Prices range from €11k – €29k. I’m leaning towards the Kubota but that will leave very little in the account. With monthly maintenance costs running close to €400, only having around €2k in the bank at the start of January would leave the farm in a poor fiscal position. So I’m going to wait it out and see what we can earn when Spring comes.

January… Cold…

…and Snowy…

…All I could do was check on the crops – there was nothing else going on.

February… More snow at the beginning of the month but at least I can start preparing for Spring by sowing Oilseed Radish in fields 3 and 14…

The last 2 weeks of February saw improved weather and I checked my crops once more…

…and marvelled at the hardy neighbours walking around in the chilly air…

…It takes all sorts 😂

We’re ready and I wonder if I can scrape together some more money before I have to make that planter decision. I have a month or so… 😅👍

Fresh Fields

November – Shorter days and a last chance to tidy up before winter sets in…

At the end of last month I bought field 40 and removed some surface rocks. I really wanted to get a crop in the ground on this field as soon as possible and Winter Wheat is the way to go. I spent the whole of the first week of the month preparing,..

…Sowing…

…and Rolling…

…Looks like it’s going to be a foggy night, but that’s the Wheat in the ground 😎

The second week of November and I was surprised to find that one of my Neighbours still had a field of Corn that needed harvesting, so I got on with that…

…Then I turned my attentions to the ongoing preparations of field 3 – applying Lime…

…I also sold my stored Canola.

Moving on to the 3rd week and time for an Autumn clean and to prepare for next Spring. My larger fields, 40 and 12, prompted a review of fertilising arrangements. The Rauch has served well on the smaller fields and using Oilseed Radish to pre-fertilise has worked well but that won’t always be possible – field 40 has not yet been fertilised at all, so it’ll need 2 applications at different stages of the growth cycle of the wheat. I realised that by choosing to go down the liquid fertiliser / herbicide route, I could rationalise my equipment. I already have the John Deere sprayer which I could use for both but being an older machine, it is quite bulky and only covers 9 metres in a pass. Ultimately, I decided that I would trade in both the JD Sprayer and the Rauch Spreader and get a newer Sprayer. I was also going to stock up on Fertilizer and seed. The first task was to move the Herbicide from the vehicle shed into the store shed…

…Then it was off to the dealer to sell the Spreader and Sprayer before hooking up the Bale Wagon and going to get the liquid fertiliser and seed…

…That was then all stored away…

…the supplies will share the shed with the seeder and a planter when we get one.

The last week of November and I took a ploughing task for a neighbour…

My new sprayer was delivered and I parked it in the vehicle shed…

…This Polish made Unia Sleza carries the same 1000ltr quantity as the old sprayer but is more compact. It covers 12m in each pass, so offers an improvement. A lot of modern sprayers can cover double and even triple that width but there are still a lot of smaller fields in this area so they may not be able to work everywhere.

Now I’m ready for Winter. There’s still some Wheat, Oats and Sorghum to sell in December when the prices are best. With luck I may earn enough money to get a planter in time for the coming spring!😎👍