harvesting oilseed rape

At last we’ve started harvest. 

The oilseed rape at Frenches Farm is being combined and carted back home to be tipped in the grain store. The areas that were badly eaten by pigeons haven't yielded very well (no surprise) but Bill seems happy enough with the rest.

These tiny black seeds are the harvested crop; walking across a thin layer is like walking on ball bearings. This crop will be transported to a co-operative grain store and from there to processors where the oil will be extracted. Rapeseed oil is used for animal feed, vegetable oil for human consumption or biofuels.  

waiting ...

Everything is cleaned and serviced, ready for harvest. Bill keeps looking at the oilseed rape, but it isn’t ready yet. So, just waiting ...

Some sunshine would help.

Meanwhile, a cute picture. The ducks have hatched some eggs and we have four surviving ducklings.

cleaning the grain store

Machinery and barns are being cleaned, serviced and checked over as Bill gets ready for harvest. 

The grain stores have been inspected to make sure that there are no gaps for water, birds or rodents to get in and now they’re being cleaned. The walls were swept down with an airline and now Bill has the long job of traipsing backwards and forwards across the grain store with this industrial vacuum cleaner until it’s spotless and ready for the first trailer load of grain to be tipped on the floor

making hay while the sun shines

The grass that was cut last week in Little Forest has dried out well over the weekend. It’s been turned to help it dry out thoroughly 

 and then rowed up so that the tractor and baler can drive along and pick it up. 

The baler compresses the hay into a large bale before tying strong twine around it and ejecting it from the back. 

The bales are then picked up and put onto the trailer to cart back to the barn where it will be stored for at least six weeks before feeding to horses.