Wednesday 10th June 2020


Cladding the front of the Grain store at Coppice House with Robin dry all day brought his tractor here to get the  damaged front wheel off to go to TNT tyres to be replaced.

Saturday 6th June 2020


Cold and Damp June day Looked at Gary's hoggs replaced the fence battery then did some strimming.
Chris has updated the farm webpage hence a renewed interest in the blog

Wednesday 12th September 2018

On light duties today yesterday my back was so bad I went to wetmoĊ•e clinic to get it sorted  it's better but I need to be careful
Max helped Steve Jarrett move his builders container to the plot on Green Lane then after feeding the sheep he started dicing the wheat stubble at Gorst Barn I rang Border to see if they had had chance to do the welding and Whatsapp Teme Valley to see if the sprayer parts had come in neither reply was positive. My Google chromecast came so I sorted that out and got it to work

Saturday 8th September 2018

Vicki and Max fed the lambs so I didn't need to go outside I've been suffering from a bad back so its a welcome rest.
Mizzled here most of the day and then rained later on we had 1.4 mm
Friday we took the sprayer part to Border Engineering to be welded  and Max wanted to call in at the YFC bank which we did but Ludlow Food Festival had started it was mayhem about town, not conducive to us country boys visiting again in a hurry. Before feeding the lambs we weighed them but there's not enough good enough to warrant an early start on Monday. Steve Jarrett brought a load of barley around to weigh and then Max took the tree lopper to sort out a track to Tately Top through the wood to save the trailers coming down the OSR we have just planted. Brother Johnvisited Mother so I knocked off early

Thursday September 6th 2018

Max finished drilling Oilseed Rape and I rolled up behind by lunch time with my trusty Ford 7810 kitted out with twin wheels. She leaks a drop of oil from the hydraulic spools so before I could finish I had to return to base for a drop more oil. In the afternoon we pulled the sprayer booms apart to get some cracks welded it came apart easier than we thought.

Brian called after taking mother out for lunch and then shopping and then to the Doctors.

 

 

Tuesday 4th September 2018

I'm sorry I've been away awhile but I'll try to keep this up-to date a-bit better

 After an early start yesterday taking sheep to Craven Arms and Ewes to Ludlow Max and I moved the drove of lambs from Ferney dingle back to the fields behind Dartmoor Cottage then fed and watered them. 
I had some pressing work to do on a computer network in Bromyard done using TeamViewer I spent about 3 hours so Max spent the day tidying up the grain-stores and putting fans to run. Then he cultivated the wheel marks up after Steve Jarrett and his the hedge trimmer around the fields destined for Oil seed rape. We are planting the variety called Elgar again this year, it seemed to do very well last year we had 112 tonnes off 23 hectares so 3 tonne short of 5 tonnes to the hectare.
this evening we showed prospective tenants around The Old Chapel which will be vacated when Max goes back to Harper Adams University for his final year

RTK Base Station

Trimble RTK Base Station has now been installed and the correction signal is available to rent on an annual basis. Please Contact Richard at JB & DM Griffiths & Son or Graham at Teme Valley Tractors

CHRISTMAS DAY 2014

You can hardly believe its December what with time flying and all that but the weather is as bright as its been all autumn the solar panels are working well for December.
I've been loading Wheat into Lloyds of Wrexham should finish the contract before new Year/end of the month
 

Friday 3rd October 2014

WE finished the harvesting last Saturday with the Spring OSRape with large parts of the field decimated with the flea beetle expectations weren't too high so .7 tonne per acre average was quite pleasing. Drilling got started to day at Ledwyche I spent all day waiting for two lorries to turn up one for OSR which was 5 hours later than expected  the other was for wheat.
 

Sunday 14th September 2014

We have had almost 14 days of dry weather and it has allowed us to combine all crops except 80 acres of spring oil seed rape which has been sprayed off so should be  a week to 10 days. We combined on 11 successive days approximately 600 acres. All straw has been baled although we chopped some headlands and about 80 acres of spring wheat. Yields of 1st Wheats and Spring barley have been better than average but the spring wheat was disappointing right across all soils and drilling dates, as was the second wheats.

Thursday 21st August 2014

Weather has been a-bit better with not so many showers but a bit windier and still quite cool. Yesterday Steve had noticed a cracked roof sheet on the grain shed at Gorst Barn so I arranged for Robin to come and help us replace it. First we needed to clear the OSR from the bay under it then we removed the cracked sheet then had lunch after lunch we collected a new sheet from Knighton and fixed it back on the roof in between I loaded a load of Barley onto Perkins lorry to go to Criddle's
Meanwhile David rang to say he thought the combining would go so we went to Ledwyche and finished the Winter Wheat.

Wednesday 20th August 2014

Same weather again today bright and sunny in the morning then rained most of the afternoon from 4:00 to 7:00 although not at Ledwyche .
Set up the cleaner and generally did nothing until a lorry turned up to load OSRAPE I use that term loosely as it was full of grass seed we failed to clean out of it as its the same size as the rape. the driver said the combines were rolling out about Kington and he hadn't seen rain until he got to Leintwardine

19th August 2014

Another day, same forecast, after rain over night it dried well in the morning. David and Ben came for the big trailers to move yesterdays wet grain to the dryer. When they got back to Ledwyche they rang to say it was dry enough to combine and the neighbours had started. I took the Discovery with diesel for the combine, I had just filled it up when it started to rain and then turned into a very wet afternoon. Steve who brought the tractor down and I returned home, and planned fitting cleaner in system. Rob Moore called by for some paperwork Stewart Davies rang to say he had decided to crimp his barley.

Monday 18th August 2014

Another difficult day weather wise went to Ledwyche to combine when I opened the combine door it started to rain and quite heavy so came back home. Steve and I cleaned grain sheds then David rang to say it was dry enough and neighbours were going so back we went. Managed to cut 3 times around a 20 acre field and it rained again. So back home we go Bromfield estate were just managing to finish a field but it was raining there, Vaughans and Calverts were still combining as it was dry on our side the valley.

16th August 2014

Damp this morning but by lunch time the wind had dried it up David looked at his beans and decided it was worth having a go combining them. It wasn't perfect going as the stems were soft and didn't crackle much and they hung on the dividers. We got 4 good loads on  the AW 10 ton trailers by 6:00 pm job done and it's late on those who haven't finished their bean harvest.


Friday 15th August 2014

Another day with a poor forecast Haulier for the barley rang "could he pick up Mondays load this afternoon" "certainly" was my reply and I set to clearing the cleanings from the rape which was the front of the shed, away. I'd just about finished and the phone goes the trader was ringing to tell me"The Mill was broken down could I delay loading until the 27th August " I wasn't particularly pleased as this 30 tonnes was occupying the back of a  400 tonne store I managed to persuade him to revise the date to the 21st August, but I think if there is a prospect of combining we may have to move it from that store. So after dinner I popped  to Ledwyche to top up the combine with fuel Ready!!
In the evening Caroline and I went out for a meal at The Castle Hotel in Bishops Castle with Mike and Sal  and caught up with the gossip

Thursday 14th August 2014

We had a shower of rain overnight but from about 7:30 am it rained and quite heavy occasionally. I decided as it was wet Steve and I could go and see a piece of kit I think will be a great help to us. Its called a Tree Lopper and is sold by a company in Upton on Severn called Exac-one www.exac-one.co.uk We intend to fit it on to the Manitou and will be able to cut over hanging boughs up to max reach of 7 metres which is plenty high enough and without having to get a person off the ground with a chainsaw.(Elf and Safty) Once on the ground it will also help chop the branches into manageable pieces and load or stack them.
This has been prompted after a large rotten bough fell on top of the combine and more by luck than judgement it did very little damage, I hasten to add it must have been very rotten as we barely touched a twig on it. We were able to continue combining and have since managed to straighten a twisted shaft that pushes the Grain tank lids up. 
After a late lunch I emptied the rest of the OSR at Gorst Barn and weighed trailers. The weather is a lot drier this evening, but the forecast is still for more showers.

Wednesday 13th August 2014

Weather was as forecast with occasional heavy showers. I got soaked going to find Caroline who was supposed to be on her daily walk to dig potatoes for the evening meal. I took the car because the Landrover was hitched to a trailer I had to walk the last bit, Only to get back home to find she hadn't gone.
I finished cleaning some OSR which has a lot of grass seed in it, then cleaned last years potatoes out of the cellar they were still in very good condition. Afterwards I started to unload trailers at Gorst Barn
8th August 2014 I think the Swifts have fledged there were at least half a dozen swooping around the house and the nest boxes appear to be empty. This is after being relatively quiet for most of a fortnight with the chicks leaning out of the nest box holes. We will watch, listen and wait
Thursday 5th June 2014 Swifts I'm very pleased to announce the swifts came back about 12th May 2014 and they are using the Swift Boxes we put up last Autumn when we re-roofed and insulated the East wing of Coppice House. The Boxes are just plywood cut to size and drilled with hole of recommended size and shaped like a horizontal 8 We took out the top brick between the rafters and screwed the plywood to cover over the hole between the roof and wall angled at about 45 degrees to the wall, cost next to nothing I think the swifts are using 4 out of 12 boxes and sparrows are using the rest. There is also one pair of swifts using a half brick slot on the west wing eves After a very wet day yesterday today has been dry and bright

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