Seán Murray, from Ballymacward, Co Galway, is studying animal and crop production in UCD and is going into his third year. Seán has spent the last three months working on a large tillage and potato farm in the southeast of England. The main yard is in Thorpe le Soken in Essex. He has spent his time mainly drawing wheat and potatoes.
“I took the notion to go to England for the summer of second year to gain experience with machinery. My grandfather and uncle run a suckler farm in Galway.
‘‘I had very little experience driving large machinery or working on large-scale operations, so I wanted to change that before heading off on my professional work experience next year. I made a contact in England and enquired about going over there. They were crying out for workers so it didn’t matter that I had very little experience.”
Landemere Farm covers 2,400ac across the southeast of England. The farm is run by Strutt & Parker Farms, which has several large-scale farms across England. This year in Essex, 950 acres of potatoes were grown across 43 miles. The rest is in wheat, sugar beet, maize and onions. All crops except for wheat are contracted out which help with the rotation.
The main focus for Landemere Farm is potatoes. In 2009, the farm became the centre of growing potatoes for Strutt & Parker Farms.
Seán Murray studies animal and crop production in UCD. Here, he is pictured with the Dewulf potato harvester in Essex.
Seán gained experience on a range of machinery over the summer.
“My main jobs included irrigation, carting spuds from trailed and self-propelled harvesters, carting wheat, carting spud boxes up to 100 miles away, topping rape stubbles and loading wheat and spud lorries. I really got a broad range of experience that I definitely would not have had before.”
Like contractors in Ireland, the harvest time means working hard and seizing the opportunity when the weather suits. “Usually, the start time is 7am but we are to be in the field with the harvester at 7.30am, meaning varying start times depending on the location of the field.
Working long hours to get the milling wheat in: Sean driving a John Deere 6155R pulling a 16t Larrington trailer.
‘‘There is generally work to do until 8pm. The longest day we did so far started at 7.30am and did not finish until 2am the next morning. We were under pressure to get the milling wheat in.”
The farm employs five people full-time during the harvest plus Michael, the farm manager, and Jim, the assistant manager.
Another six local staff are employed for the harvest.
“Most of the people I am working with are from Northern Ireland and everyone lives in mobile homes about 15 minutes from the yard on an outfarm,” said Seán.
Irrigation and harvest 2018
The farm uses two methods to sow potatoes. The first one involves three processes happening in the field at the one time: bed tilling, destoning and seeding. The second is a one-pass system which involves the one-pass cultivator and the seed drill.
The tractors use RTK technology to follow the same line in the field. This is a labour-saving use of technology, which Michael insists is important for the farm. Selected varieties are sown under fleece to give them a two-week start over their competitors. They grow 11 different varieties on the farm.
The weather affected England as well as Ireland this year. Harvest has been very poor compared with other years, but price is good.
“We are very near the coast and a lot of irrigation is used on the potatoes and vegetables. There are massive reservoirs of water that are used for this.
The 14t trailers deliver potatoes to the yard to be washed and transported. These potatoes are processed and bagged within 12 hours of lifting from the field
‘‘The farm has invested significantly in irrigation over the last two decades. It is one of the driest places in the country. The farm owns 23 rain guns which are run by four people 24/7 from late April through until harvest.
‘‘The irrigation reel is a giant hose pipe 4in in diameter under 10 bars of pressure, giving out about 60m3 of water per hour. Neutron probes are used to tell the soil moisture deficit to indicate how much to irrigate. There are eight pumps, some of which pump water up to eight miles away.”
Too wet and too dry
The last 12 months in Essex mirror what Ireland has experienced, according to Seán. “They had a very wet winter but the early summer was too dry, similar to what I’m hearing from back home. We lifted salad potatoes that got 2mm of natural rain in the space of 80 days of being in the ground. Parts of the field only yielded 2t to the acre. Main crop potatoes such as Marfona have only started to be harvested in the past week. Scab is an issue with the lack of rain but because of the shortage of spuds this year they’re not being rejected.”
Machinery fleet
“The tractors on the farm are not something I’m used to seeing around Ballymacward in Galway. They have a fleet of John Deeres consisting of five 6155Rs, two 6150Rs, one 7310R and one 8370R.
‘‘As well as that, they have one 718 Fendt. During the harvest, the tractors pull four 30ft Bailey flatbed trailers for the spud boxes. They can hold 10 boxes each.
‘‘There is one smaller eight-box trailer. When drawing to the yard for washing and grading, we use 14t Westman trailers, which tip the spuds on to the washers. For the grain harvest, we use 16t Larrington trailers.”
The John Deere 6155R, the Fendt 718, the John Deere 6150R with 30ft Bailey flatbed trailers and the Dewulf potato harvester, which harvests 300t per day.
Aside from the tractors there is a self-propelled Dewulf potato harvester, a self-propelled sprayer, a C670i John Deere combine harvester for the wheat, a Grimme trailed potato harvester and two industrial forklifts in the yard.
“The Dewulf potato harvester was only bought last year and to see it in action is something else. Michael says it can harvest up to 300t of potatoes per day, which is twice the capacity the farm was doing before. It has revolutionised the potato side of the business over here.”
The main yard is where the potatoes are washed, graded and collected by the processors. Most of the potatoes go for early packaging or crisping. The farm supplies Tayto for crisp processing and from field to crisp packet, the whole process takes about 12 hours.
Seán returns to college in September and will undertake nine months of professional work experience from January to September next year. “Overall, the experience has been eye-opening. It has given me a glimpse of the scale of different farming enterprises outside of Ireland. I’m confident now to move into my work experience in January with this under my belt.”
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Seán Murray, from Ballymacward, Co Galway, is studying animal and crop production in UCD and is going into his third year. Seán has spent the last three months working on a large tillage and potato farm in the southeast of England. The main yard is in Thorpe le Soken in Essex. He has spent his time mainly drawing wheat and potatoes.
“I took the notion to go to England for the summer of second year to gain experience with machinery. My grandfather and uncle run a suckler farm in Galway.
‘‘I had very little experience driving large machinery or working on large-scale operations, so I wanted to change that before heading off on my professional work experience next year. I made a contact in England and enquired about going over there. They were crying out for workers so it didn’t matter that I had very little experience.”
Landemere Farm covers 2,400ac across the southeast of England. The farm is run by Strutt & Parker Farms, which has several large-scale farms across England. This year in Essex, 950 acres of potatoes were grown across 43 miles. The rest is in wheat, sugar beet, maize and onions. All crops except for wheat are contracted out which help with the rotation.
The main focus for Landemere Farm is potatoes. In 2009, the farm became the centre of growing potatoes for Strutt & Parker Farms.
Seán Murray studies animal and crop production in UCD. Here, he is pictured with the Dewulf potato harvester in Essex.
Seán gained experience on a range of machinery over the summer.
“My main jobs included irrigation, carting spuds from trailed and self-propelled harvesters, carting wheat, carting spud boxes up to 100 miles away, topping rape stubbles and loading wheat and spud lorries. I really got a broad range of experience that I definitely would not have had before.”
Like contractors in Ireland, the harvest time means working hard and seizing the opportunity when the weather suits. “Usually, the start time is 7am but we are to be in the field with the harvester at 7.30am, meaning varying start times depending on the location of the field.
Working long hours to get the milling wheat in: Sean driving a John Deere 6155R pulling a 16t Larrington trailer.
‘‘There is generally work to do until 8pm. The longest day we did so far started at 7.30am and did not finish until 2am the next morning. We were under pressure to get the milling wheat in.”
The farm employs five people full-time during the harvest plus Michael, the farm manager, and Jim, the assistant manager.
Another six local staff are employed for the harvest.
“Most of the people I am working with are from Northern Ireland and everyone lives in mobile homes about 15 minutes from the yard on an outfarm,” said Seán.
Irrigation and harvest 2018
The farm uses two methods to sow potatoes. The first one involves three processes happening in the field at the one time: bed tilling, destoning and seeding. The second is a one-pass system which involves the one-pass cultivator and the seed drill.
The tractors use RTK technology to follow the same line in the field. This is a labour-saving use of technology, which Michael insists is important for the farm. Selected varieties are sown under fleece to give them a two-week start over their competitors. They grow 11 different varieties on the farm.
The weather affected England as well as Ireland this year. Harvest has been very poor compared with other years, but price is good.
“We are very near the coast and a lot of irrigation is used on the potatoes and vegetables. There are massive reservoirs of water that are used for this.
The 14t trailers deliver potatoes to the yard to be washed and transported. These potatoes are processed and bagged within 12 hours of lifting from the field
‘‘The farm has invested significantly in irrigation over the last two decades. It is one of the driest places in the country. The farm owns 23 rain guns which are run by four people 24/7 from late April through until harvest.
‘‘The irrigation reel is a giant hose pipe 4in in diameter under 10 bars of pressure, giving out about 60m3 of water per hour. Neutron probes are used to tell the soil moisture deficit to indicate how much to irrigate. There are eight pumps, some of which pump water up to eight miles away.”
Too wet and too dry
The last 12 months in Essex mirror what Ireland has experienced, according to Seán. “They had a very wet winter but the early summer was too dry, similar to what I’m hearing from back home. We lifted salad potatoes that got 2mm of natural rain in the space of 80 days of being in the ground. Parts of the field only yielded 2t to the acre. Main crop potatoes such as Marfona have only started to be harvested in the past week. Scab is an issue with the lack of rain but because of the shortage of spuds this year they’re not being rejected.”
Machinery fleet
“The tractors on the farm are not something I’m used to seeing around Ballymacward in Galway. They have a fleet of John Deeres consisting of five 6155Rs, two 6150Rs, one 7310R and one 8370R.
‘‘As well as that, they have one 718 Fendt. During the harvest, the tractors pull four 30ft Bailey flatbed trailers for the spud boxes. They can hold 10 boxes each.
‘‘There is one smaller eight-box trailer. When drawing to the yard for washing and grading, we use 14t Westman trailers, which tip the spuds on to the washers. For the grain harvest, we use 16t Larrington trailers.”
The John Deere 6155R, the Fendt 718, the John Deere 6150R with 30ft Bailey flatbed trailers and the Dewulf potato harvester, which harvests 300t per day.
Aside from the tractors there is a self-propelled Dewulf potato harvester, a self-propelled sprayer, a C670i John Deere combine harvester for the wheat, a Grimme trailed potato harvester and two industrial forklifts in the yard.
“The Dewulf potato harvester was only bought last year and to see it in action is something else. Michael says it can harvest up to 300t of potatoes per day, which is twice the capacity the farm was doing before. It has revolutionised the potato side of the business over here.”
The main yard is where the potatoes are washed, graded and collected by the processors. Most of the potatoes go for early packaging or crisping. The farm supplies Tayto for crisp processing and from field to crisp packet, the whole process takes about 12 hours.
Seán returns to college in September and will undertake nine months of professional work experience from January to September next year. “Overall, the experience has been eye-opening. It has given me a glimpse of the scale of different farming enterprises outside of Ireland. I’m confident now to move into my work experience in January with this under my belt.”
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