15th December drilling Winter wheat Px combination drill

Horsch Combination 6 metre with Kuhn powerharrow and pronto drill. RTK steering at 5.95 mts. JD Crawler on Trimble. 

JD 6210R joins the fleet

Ploughing after sugar beet with a 6 furrow Dowdeswell MA 145 at 10". 

Western Australia Esperance

Silo bags with 250 tonnes per line. 

Bag filler and mobile storage. 

Matt Hill in Esperance is flat out in barley harvest. 

3 * 42 feet headers bringing in 4 tonne ha. 

Agritechnica Germany

12 row sugar beet harvester which folds for road transport is launch at agritechnica.  6 metre harvester which fits for controlled traffic farming. 

Straw row turner that runs in CTF and puts back the swath in the same position. 

New power harrow drill arrives

6 metre power harrow drill for drilling late in the fens has arrived to aid with drilling after sugar beet. 

Potato, onions and sugar beet being lifted

Root crop activity with the early sugar beet has been lifted and the onions started today with majority of the potatoes being lifted. 

Wheat drilling is well underway

Conqueror and Santiago are being drilled at a rapid rate. Chris is putting some long shifts in to beat the rain. 2500 acres in so far. 

PX Wash bays opens

Purpose built approved Environment Agency wash bay for the lorries and farm vehicles opens. 

Capable of washing three lorries at once and filling a fourth with Ad blue. All the water is separated through a sediment trap and then passes through a 3000 litre oil separator ending up in a 13000 litre holding tank to be sent away for incineration to prevent hydrocarbons from the cleaning agents and road film entering the watercourse. Power washers are kept in a bunded area with frost protection and auto reel retraction. Underground hoses to have power wash points the opposite side to prevent hoses being driven on and frost prevention. Electricity and water are off set by the solar panels and rain water harvesting from the grainstore. Sediment from the vehicles is collected and sent off site through a disposal scheme. 

The boys on the lorries gave it the thumbs up and Norman managed to be the first to use the wash bay. 

Part of the PX commitment to farming and the environment. 

Combines receive there annual wash before winter storage. 

Built by John Doyle and PX team. 

Oil seed rape all drilled 2013

5 different varieties drilled. New varieties drilled on trail for DK. 

Fields have been rolled and sprayed with pre emergence and slug pelleted. 

Matilda inspects chris's drilling to give it the seal of approval. 

Combining has finished

We finished combining yesterday. Well done to the team. Oilseed rape, wheat, peas and beans safely in the shed. 

The last of the oilseed rape goes in the ground. 

Nk Grandia

PX yield board. 

4.26 t/ha at scotland farm followed by a 4.05 t/ha dried weight in Dry Drayton. Oils average 44.7. Moisture average 7.6. 

All weights recorded over a public weighbridge and oils tested on a Foss. 

12 mt joker with subsoiler frame

Cultivating at 3" with a Horsch Joker at 11.9 mts. Cultivation solutions have built us a tine frame to remove the compacted wheelings at 12 mts. Frame is lifted out for the 36 mt wheelings. 

Harvest 2013 has started

Oilseed rape harvest has started on Camelot. 4.06 t/ha 44.1 average oil. 

CTF day at PX Farms

53 farmers from as far as Kent and Wales came for an afternoon of Controlled traffic farming at Scotland Farm. Edd Banks bought his shielded sprayer which he is in second year trails on sugar beet.  We looked at the process over the last three years on how we have adopted to a 11.9 mt CTF system. 

Diesel theft again!

Five lorries had fuel stolen over night 2500 lts. Help needed to find the thieves. 

Px training course

We completed a training course for CPC for the lorry drivers and farm staff for Manual Handling and working from height. Part of our professional improvement scheme for the staff. Chris Gage took the course organised through Saffron Walden training group. An enjoyable day focusing on the basics and looking after our backs. 

Quad bike has been stolen

Fiona found this morning the quad bike had been stolen over night and the office at the stables broken into and the paperwork taken. The quad was only 5 months old and Caesar tag marked.

The police told me that crime is down by 4.6% on last year. Every week we have had a crime since Christmas and loses of over £56,000 to date in 2013. I'm finding this unpleasant behaviour boring and lacking in justice.

PX Bees have arrived.

We have had our 18 hives arrive to aid with the annual pollination at Scotland Farm. We have 42 hives across the farms. A 20% yield increase has been recorded from having bees on the farm.

This last week the announcement from the Eu and decision to suspend neonicotinoids (used in seed dressings) for two years after its food safety experts said they posed an "acute risk to bee health".
I feel strongly for protecting the environment and must importantly the bee, which with out we won't have a thriving agriculture, but we need research before jumping to media stories and suspending chemicals. The suspension comes into force on the 1st December which is ridiculous as seed will be sown this autumn with the dressing still on. We will not use the product until its cleared again as the bee population is too important to us.

I took the pictures at a distance as the bees were out in the sun and I didn't fancy being chased.

PX at Truckfest

Phil on J1, Jason on J2, and Tony on J7 took their lorries to Truckfest at Peterborough.

New field drainage for the 21st century.

Plastic field drainage and gravel topped have been put in on three farms this week to combat against wet holes and improving drainage from the 60's and 70's. Crafts hill farm in Dry Drayton has had all of the land drainage connected into a new scheme and taken to the ditch running along Oakington road. This should help compact against the flooding on the roads.
I had a meeting with the County Council and an action plan has been put in place to flush the road drainage to remove silting and encourage adjoining neighbours to dig there ditches so Dry Drayton becomes 'Dry' again.
I'm exhausted from the expenditure and hopefully it will be the next generations troubles before revisited.

Controlled traffic farming and manure

Chicken Manure has been spread to reduce are dependence on artificial fertiliser. Spreading 12 mts on the ctf lines.
The direct drilled wheat and oil seeds have responded well with a marked improvement. The down side is the headland tramlines have taken a beating.
Sorry if the smell has caused distress in the surrounding areas.

Sugar Beet

Sugar beet gets drilled on 100 acres as a trail. Programmed to be lifted in September to stay in line for drilling a first wheat by the 25th September.

Sinking feeling

Drilling spring beans hasn't been without its challenges. Wonderful seed beds followed by wet holes. It took 1200 hp to get out. 437 acres of spring Fuego beans safely in and 2 acres approx avoided due to standing water. I spent more time under the drill unblocking counters than travelling forward. Hopefully they will grow.