This summer, I travelled across the Irish Sea to England, to work on a tillage farm outside Lincolnshire. This was to fulfil my tillage requirement of my professional work experience in UCD, by completing eight weeks working on the farm, learning about the growing and harvesting of different arable crops. Lockwood Estate Farms has around 6,000 acres in total, growing winter wheat, oilseed rape, spring and winter barley, sugar beet, maize and rye.

I arrived on the farm on 9 July, with preparation well under way for the upcoming harvest. All of the grain stores were being cleaned out, and machinery was being serviced prior to the long days and nights ahead. Myself and Thomas Hayes, another third-year animal and crop production student from UCD, who was also completing his tillage placement on the same farm, travelled over together. We were living and working with two other agricultural science students from the UK.

Machinery

Machinery on the farm for harvesting consists of a New Holland 10.90 combine, along with a Fendt 720 Vario and Massey Ferguson 7718 tractors on the farm full-time.

For the busy harvest period, two more Fendt 720s, along with another Massey Ferguson 7718, are used. There are three Bailey 18t grain trailers, along with two Bailey 12t grain trailers on the farm to cart grain and seed.

Two of the 720 Fendt tractors, along with one of the Massey 7718, are placed on full-time carting duties, while the other Fendt 720 and Massey are used for hedge-cutting and verge mowing. With so much acreage and hedgerows, full-time maintenance of the hedges is required. The tractors are hired from a local tractor dealer, and are only hired for a short time until the busy time period of July and August is passed.

For cultivations, the farm has a Case 600 Quadtrac that pulls a Simba SLD stubble cultivator, along with a CAT Challenger that pulls a Vaderstad cultivator.

A Fendt 939 Vario is used for all the fertiliser application, with GPS on the tractor to allow for variable spreading, ensuring correct application rates on the soil.

Harvest 2018

The oilseed rape was first to be harvested, with the New Holland 10.90 combine and its 42.5ft header making light work of the crop. The combine was purchased last year, and has replaced the two Claas Lexion harvesters that were used in prior years. Oilseed rape was harvested, doing 3.2t to the hectare.

Winter wheat is the biggest crop on the farm, with 40% of the farm planted with wheat this year.

Combining of wheat started on 23 July, with all of the wheat stored on the farm. What has been different this year is how dry the weather was, resulting in the early ripening of crops.

Yields are down, however, due to the lack of grain fill.

Dry conditions bring the risk of fire

The combine was blown down every morning before combining started with the compressor. This was done to blow out the dust that would build up on the engine and belts during the previous day’s combining. The buildup of dust on hot surfaces like the turbo could lead to a fire starting on the combine. It was an especially dry and hot summer this year, meaning that once a fire would start, it could spread very quickly over harvested ground. Fire was a major concern, given the number of fires on tillage farms in the locality. A water bowser would follow the combining team, so that water would be close at hand if a fire did break out.

Combining this year was straightforward, due to the continued good weather that we had. The combine could be out by 9am if the moisture was right in the field. Carting was done by the three tractors mentioned above to the grain stores. All tractors would go over the weigh bridge when filled before tipping in the sheds or up the conveyors.

Cultivation

Once all the combining was done, cultivation was quick to follow. The Quadtrac was used to pull the Simba SLD through any combined ground, cutting it with the discs. Sowing of rape was also done with the same machine and then the roller followed it, ensuring good soil to seed contact. Seed was sown at a rate of 5kg/ha.

Ploughing has now also started on the farm, with a seven-furrow reversible plough being pulled by the Fendt 936. In the last few days, I was working in the fields ahead of the plough, pulling the tramlines in with a three-legged subsoiler. The fields have already been disced, but the tramlines were still very prominent in the field due to the wet weather when laying them down last year. Ripping out the tramlines made it a lot easier for the plough to get down in the ground.

My overall experience of harvest has been a positive one. I come from a dairy setting, so not seeing a single beast on all this good land is something I’m not used to. It is clear that arable farms are very busy places at times during the year, especially at harvest. The scale of operation is bigger here than in Ireland, as all the farms are arable with a few thousand acres in each farm, yet the principles remain the same for all.

I’m returning home to prepare for my final year in UCD. I would advise anyone doing PWE next year to head abroad when you have the chance to get out of your comfort zone.

Labour

On the farm, there are six full-time workers. They carry out the seedbed preparation, spraying, harvesting and cultivation on the farm, as well as doing all the maintenance work that is required. There are also three summer workers brought in for the harvest, and the farm manager, who oversees all work done on the farm and estate.

The working day consists of a 7.30am start, with various jobs being done in the early part of the day before combining starts in the early afternoon.

Moisture readings are done in the grain stores regularly, to keep a constant eye on moisture percentages in the grain. There are newer stores on the farm that use moisture meters connected to the fans through a computer system; they monitor the moisture and temperature in the grain.

The fans can automatically cut in when temperatures get too high, keeping the temperature at 240C for the wheat.

Hours on the farm have not been bad, again due to the good weather.

If there was rain forecast to arrive in the mornings or late at night, we would work on until the rain came.

The longest day that I did was around 16 hours, which wasn’t bad.

A standard 12- to 14-hour day was typical for us over the summer.