Farming Friends

Last week my husband went to the York machinery sale at York Auction Centre to look at the vintage and classic tractors. Here are some of the tractors and loaders for sale on that day.

A McCormick International B275

A 1953 Fordson Major c/w Loader

A David Brown 995 c/w Loader

A Ferguson TED20 petrol/TVO

A McCormick International

A Ford 3000

For more information about these vintage tractors and their sale price, click on the following link and visit the Vintage Tractor Engineer website.

With the closure of the York Sugar Beet Factory in February 2007, our farm will no longer be growing sugar beet. This year’s crop was the final sugar beet crop on our farm. We harvested the sugar beet in January 2007. Watch the video clip of our final sugar beet harvest.

The sugar beet harvester drives over the rows of sugar beet, harvesting the crop.
The machine cuts the tops off the crop and lifts the beet which is sent along a conveyer belt and stored in the harvester.
At the end of the rows the sugar beet is then loaded into the awaiting trailer.
The process is repeated and another row of sugar beet is harvested and then loaded into another trailer at the other end of the field.

This is a moment in history captured on film.

The whole of the sugar beet crop is harvested by machine - the sugar beet harvester.

1. First the tops are cut off - the tops are either saved and used for livestock feeding or returned to the ground.
2. The roots are then lifted from the soil usually using a pair of sharp edged wheels which cut into the soil and lift the root.
3. The sugar beet is then raised by a web elevator which helps to clean the crop of soil.
4. The beet is then put in an integrated hopper or a trailer that runs along side.

The baler packages the hay or straw into bales.

Bales are either round or rectangular.

The baler in the photograph produces round bales.

Baling is done because it is easier to handle the hay and straw.

Large bales are moved by forklifts.

The round baler produces cylindrical bales of 1.2m wide by 1.2/1.5m diameter.

The round bales can weigh 200kg for straw and up to 350kg for hay.

Making The Bale

The baler machine accumulates material as the tractor drives across the field.

When the bale chamber is full the farmer stops driving forward.

The machine then wraps six or more turns of string around the bale.

The string is then cut but not knotted.

(Some balers wrap two turns of plastic netting round the bales.)

The bale is then discharged through the rear gate of the baler.

The bale rolls down the ramp and away from the baler.

The rear gate is then closed and the tractor can be moved forward again for the process to be repeated.

Chemicals are applied to crops mainly as liquid (water based) solutions using a crop sprayer.

The liquid is applied as fine droplets to give an even cover to the crops.

A problem farmers often encounter when spraying is spray drift.

It is important to make sure that the weather conditions are right for spraying.

There should be very little wind or no wind movement in order to reduce the problem of drift.

Very hot weather will also increase spray drift because the water evaporates more quickly.

Farmers often spray their crops either early morning or later in the day when the weather conditions are more suitable.

When spraying insecticides, farmers often spray at dusk when the bees have returned to their hives so that the bees are not harmed.

Here is some of the farm machinery used on this farm.

The Tractors

The Sugar Beet / Fodder Beet Harvester

The Silage Feeder

The Irrigator and Irrigator Hose

The Forklift with Bucket

The Sprayer

The Baler

The Combine Harvester