JCB Tractors on the road

I was fortunate while riding on the top deck of the bus, to spot these two JCB tractors, one with a shovel on the front and both pulling trailers.





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Hay Cutting for Winter Animal Feed




Hay meadow, with mowen grass drying in the air and sun.

I spoke to a farmer recently who was cutting hay meadows for winter feed for his animals.  He explained the process to me and was kind enough to let me take some pictures of the machinery he used. 

The mower used spinning discs to cut the hay.



The grass was cut using a tractor drawn mower.  It was pulled by a Case International tractor.





Case tractor and mower.

Ford tractor and hay rake.  You can see in the distance how the hay rake has turned the hay over and placed it into long rows for drying in the air and sun.



Case 1494 and hay rake.




Ford 6610 and hay rake.



A Pottinger hay rake.



Large hay meadow, with drying hay.

David B turning the hay.  Who very kindly let me photograph the process and ask lots of questions.  He explained that his hay making was a little late this year because the grain harvest was two or three weeks early and took priority.

When I was talking to him, he was a little concerned that it was clouding over and rain was on the way.  He wanted to bale the hay in the next few days but he could not do this if the hay was wet.

However when I returned in a few days, the job was done.  Bails of hay, as far as the eye could see.



And here are the tractor and baler that did the work.  A New Holland 7840 tractor and a Vicon VR1601 baler.




New Holland and Vicon.  Job done.  The only thing left to do is to move the bales to storage for winter feed.





Dong Feng Mini Tractor DF 254



I spoke to a man who was using this Dong Feng mini tractor to rake his large allotment.  He told me that it is 25 hp and that he can reach 22 mph on the road.



He also has a reversible plough to use with this machine.





These mini tractors are made in China and shipped in by a local Norfolk garage.  They are considered a good deal at £3600 each. 



Sugar Beet Harvest 2014





Sugar beet is a staple crop of English farming.  In Norfolk two things begin every year in September.  The pheasant shooting season and the sugar beet harvest.  Young pheasants fresh from the rearing pens, gravitate in a dangerous manner to the country roads, to be joined by the sugar beet lorries that collect the harvested beet and convey it to the British Sugar factories at Wissington and Cantley.  The sight of sugar beet lorries, herald the new school term and the change in the seasons to autumn, with misty mornings and shortening daylight hours.

I took this picture just outside Attleborough, about half a mile from the junction for the A11.  The lorry is waiting by the beet elevator and the teleporter is heading to the pile sugar beet to load the elevator.

 I will add more pictures as the season progresses.  At the moment it is dry on the land, with day light hours still into the evening.  The process gets wet, muddy, dark and cold, as we head through to Christmas. 

This Vervaet 617 sugarbeet harvester was working Neil's land in Breckland.




This John Deere tactor was ferrying the beet off the land.







The harvester has a conveyor belt to load the sugarbeet into the trailers.





Neil was driving his tractor John Deere tractor and here he is lining up with the harvester to collect the beet.



Neil's John Deere 6830

John Deere tractor Spraying



This tractor was spraying outside Attleborough, Norfolk.  He will be spraying an industrail version of Roundup weed killer, before ploughing takes place.

While I was watching a repair vehicle arrived and the tractor stopped working, folding in the spray arms.

John Deere tractor and Plough

John Deere tractor and plough.

Spoilt for Choice




I was spoilt for choice today, with a New Holland working to the left of me, mowing and hedging and a John Deere discing on the stubble to the right of me.

 

Sharing Farming Knowledge






  


He confirmed that the caterpillar track on his John Deere tractor gives better traction and causes less damage to the land but it does not perform so well on wet land or heavy land.




He explained that the tilling machine that the tractor was pulling was using a set of discs to grub up the stubble, then a set of rollers and finally a compactor at the back , which was levelling the land.




I noticed that such a long and heavy machine could  not use three point linkage for manouvring, instead it had hydraulic wheels that it could be raised on.



Often those who work in the fields are under time pressure to complete tasks.  So when this gentleman was kind enough to stop and tell me what he was doing and what epuipment he was using, I felt really blessed.  He explained to me about minimum till.  This means that when he has finished in the field it will be sown, with no ploughing in between.

Massey Ferguson 7480 tractor and muck spreader, Breckland Norfolk

Massey Ferguson 7480 tractor and muck spreader.  Picture taken in February this year.

Massey Ferguson 7480 tractor.

John Deere 6830 tractor, ploughing in Breckland Norfolk

This is a John Deere 6830 tractor, ploughing and rolling.  It is surrounded by seagulls looking for an easy lunch.  I posted another picture of this tractor and plough yesterday.




The driver had two large interconnecting fields to plough but didn't seem too concerned.  I don't think I would be either, at the wheel of such a lovely machine.