Harry, your depth and detail of farm management, down to the last penny, is mind blowing. And to think that the success or failure of an entire years work is so dependent on the weather really brings the message home to the rest of us. Huge respect to all of our hardworking farmers and their co-workers.
That’s a fact . He has outlined it clearly as it. However from this year forward his operation is not looking financially viable for farming . On top of that he is taking the Kings pound to join the re wilding climate campaign . This gentlemen is a very grave situation for the future of British Food production.
Great video from Harry. I suggest renting the combine out to whatever neighbors' crops are ready earlier or later each year. One can make a ton in daily rent income during harvest season. It makes much more sense to charge by time rather than area, since that is the limiting factor.
No, they're the perfect length. Look at the American TH-camrs, their farming videos ramble on for far too long, and frankly, working farmers don't want to listen to another farmer talking to their dog, we're too busy to waste time watching another farmer waxing lyrical for 30 minutes.
As a "TOWNIE" who has little idea where my food comes from I find your vids a great insight, much appreciate your time and effort putting this together, cheers.
a bit of advice for you harry.........lower your front mounted spinner closer to the ground .......the seeds won't get caught by the wind so much closer to the ground........i sow grass seeds with a fertiliser spreader and you will probably find the seeds may even spread a bit further without the wind catching them
Good ole Harry, great video fella, i hate whats being done to farmers i really do. We have now changed all of our meat egg purchases to farm shops and get id say 30% of our veg from farm shops too.. working on being more farm friendly and supermarkets can sod off.
Thanks Harry. I'm not too surprised by your numbers. Back in the early 90s my parents bought a hay press and we did the family farm hay, and contracted out across the district. It was a family affair, I ran the hay truck. Helped get us through university. I did a careful accounting exercise after the first two seasons and it was apparent that it was a highly profitable business. We used second hand equipment but even accounting for depreciation and capital costs it was yielding a return on capital well north of 30%. The key however was utilisation, and staff. Having people who were gentle on the equipment and avoiding breakdowns and breakages. That's tough. Made it a business you couldn't really scale.
That's basically our model too. My son, Charlie, used to drive the combine for the contractor we used before buying our own combine. Without that in-house labour resource, it wouldn't make as much sense.
Yeah my uncle gave up his combine years ago in favour of contractors - I'm pretty sure he regrets it. WAY more in drying costs, endless agro from the luxury housing development they built next door cos they paid £1million for their house and dont want to listen to a grain dryer all-day. But once you give it up its hard financially to get another one - you are kinda trapped down that route.
@@Andy_T79 No farmers buys them for cash anyway. They are all on Bank loan, HP/Leased through various farming finance companies. It still makes sense for Harry to hang onto his Combine.
Thanks Harry for such a good, reasoned, video of the problems WE will face, if nothing is done to clue in the politicians! They haven't got a clue where their food comes from honestly! Lets get some of the older gen farmers to stand for parliament, and give a real view of how things are going on in rural life?
As always informative and engaging Harry , breaking down the costs of the combine compared with using a contractor was very interesting. Wishing you a high yield 25 harvest !
I’ve always wondered about the economics of combines, £250,000 for something which is used two weeks a year, factor in depreciation and running costs, it’s no joke.
My uncle gave up his combine years ago in favour of contractors - I'm pretty sure he regrets it. WAY more in drying costs, endless agro from the luxury housing development they built next door cos they paid £1million for their house and dont want to listen to a grain dryer all-day. But once you give it up its hard financially to get another one - you are kinda trapped down that route. Grain dryers use a LOT of LPG - there are big costs each side of the argument
@@fanfeck2844 He is old now - if he were 30 years younger he would have taken every window out with the 5h0tgun. He is past bothering now - but honestly, I was there one year, I dont know how he kept his cool. The sort of people that buy a £1 million + house in the countryside with electric gates and security cameras are not the type of people you want as neighbours trust me. These things were £1 mill back in 2005 so God knows what they would be now.
@@fanfeck2844 One of the houses when it sold they immediately ripped the brand new unused kitchen out and threw it and all the appliances in skips. We went around a couple of times and rang the doorbell to ask if we could take it - no one was living there. so the next day we took it out of the skips. Long story short they called the police - the police refused to do anything but they made a point of stopping the Range rover and telling us how disgusted they were and they could not believe they had moved to such a low life area "We have heard that things like this happen in LONDON but we never imagined it could happen here!" Im sorry - I was brought up to believe its a kind of moral obligation to make use of anything is a skip - not let it go to waste.
My Godparents own a huge farm here in Australia where they produce cattle, canola, wheat and some other assorted crops depending on the year... They own all their machinery, including a huge Case combine and four prime movers with B-Double tippers and a couple livestock trailer sets. Another thing they do is breed, train and sell cattle dogs. What they actually make a lot of their money from is by contracting out their machines, particularly the combine, sprayers and trucks, along with the operators who are also staff on their farm. They say if they didn't do that, the costs of owning the machines and paying the staff just wouldn't make sense and their farm would produce a fraction of what it's capable of. You really do have to be a savvy businessman these days, who's not shy of talking on massive risk, if you want to operate a productive farm.
Case/New Holland seem to be reasonably priced as a manufacturer. I used to work at a New Holland dealership and a lot of the customers tended to be ex John Deere customers.
Buying the combine before a massive bout of inflation was lucky. But this may not be the norm going forward also interest rates have gone up since then so if you finance things have changed there too. A tricky decision
Love watching your video Harry. Been following them for years, seeing the highs and lows of job… sharing the joys and stresses of battling Mother Nature
I love these insights into the world of farming, I've been so ignorant most of my life in terms of how farming actually works! Thanks for opening up your world to us, it's totally fascinating.
Thanks Harry, always a well informed update from the farm, always amazed with you level headiness no matter what the elements through at you, keep up the great work. Thanks. Ian
I’m just glad that you work the land and manage to get crops from it. How you manage to do that despite ever changing rules and make money out of it to keep going seems almost miraculous to me. Thoroughly enjoy your videos and look forward to the next one. Very best wishes.
Very interesting video, I think your best so far. It is very satisfying to see the results of the harvest, with all the numbers & costs, good & bad and also the planning for the future in each field area. The planning for wet areas to be seeded with grasses for environmental reasons seems to me to be a positive step but the paper work involved must be a nightmare to keep up. Here in Finland we have had a wonderful summer with what looks like, ( to me, I am now retired), an excellent harvest. Unfortunately we do not have podcasts or videos that I have found giving interested parties anything like the information that is given on Harry’s farm. Congrats.
I really enjoy Clarkson's Farm. It revealed so much about what it takes to run a Farm and how difficult it is - definately increasing awareness. Having followed your car Channel (which I really enjoy BTW ) I have discovered your "adult" version of a Farming program and strangely, I really enjoy being educated by you about Farm management and the considerations and challenges facing farmers today. I grew up, and still live in the country but not at all associated with Farming.
Another fantastic and informative video Harry. A tough year weather wise, could have been worse, could have been better but you made the sensible investment in 2018 and have the technology to hand to be able to control your own harvest. The most important part of the farm calendar in my own opinion. Keep them coming and might see you in "The new local" one day.
Entertaining video as always while I do my boring dishes! I maintain a bowling green and so wish I had GPS guidance on the mower to get those stripes after liberal refreshment down the pub the night before! Looking forward to the next installment already :)
Thanks for the time to film, upload and share :) always good. i only wish harry would upload more often. even it's only to complain about his neighbour, clarkson or something. the farms always have tons of things going on that are worth filming.
Think British government could be creating a future crisis with amount of land taken our of production in terms of food security...although that plus lower yields should increase proce for farmers...Great videos keep it up
Reduced UK output for wheat will simply suck in imports from Europe, Russia and the Ukraine (or even further afield) once prices get high enough. Wheat is a world wide commodity and traded as such.
I have been talking about this for weeks now. The corn fields around here up in Newcastle and Northumberland have looked amazing despite the months of rain. I was saying it will be interesting to see what the yields are. This answers it. Cheers.
Harry massive respect for bringing the difficulties of farm management to the populas.the fairytale of green fields wheat swaying in the wind livestock all cooing mooing etc is the complete opposite of the harsh reality of dealing with bad weather costs of diesel fertiliser labour repairs and government legislation.a tough season for all but our farmers keep positive somehow.cheers for the post harry always look for the next chapter especially now as the farming calendar on the arable side starts again
When I was a kid in the ‘60s I remember we had a three-row corn head on our tiny combine and it took every bit of our resources to justify keeping it on (at the time) only 120 acres.
Harry, those zebra stripes are a striking new feature in the fields around Hemel Hempstead. Technology making changes to the agricultural landscape. Fascinating stuff
I love farmers who do it properly - Excel spreadsheets and keep an eye on costs, depreciation etc.... It is business. You've got to be on the ball and diligent.
Really interesting video. I seriously thought that, with the reduction in farmed acres it would be uneconomical to own your own combine. Glad its working for you 👍🏻
Great explanation of the combine cost. Not sure it will still be justifiable with fewer acres to combine. I like the detail you go into and wish politicians would listen to your videos.
Food prices going to be up then. I was driving from West Cornwall to East Devon a while back, saw the cabbage picker trucks all heading west, they were very distinctive with their treadles and cups.
Hi. I really enjoy these videos. Interesting to see the cost comparison of owning combine vs hiring contractor. But what i like most is the scale of the farm. its not super large like most farms nowadays.
Thanks Harry, in my experience trying to get grasseed to travel anymore than 6 or 8 foot is next to impossible with a spinner. Keep the combine, she’s doing the job fine…. Give Charlie a few more quid😁
Great stuff Harry, we live on an arable farm in North Yorks where the owners let the land to another local farmer( who incidentally follows your TH-cam channel) . Last year there were quite a lot of issues with flooding and it was clear to see that the crop (Wheat) wasn't as good as it could have been with some very poor patches due to the rain and flooding. We still have stubble and we are waiting to see what they are going to do with it for the next growing season. The figures you give are very interesting and a real eye opener, I should think that many people would be surprised to see the costs involved with farming generally, not only the cost of seed, fertiliser etc but also costs of running and maintaining machinery it's also important for the public to realise that essentially arable farming is one big expensive gamble! Let's hope next year is kind with the weather and everyone has a good yield to compensate for this years poor results. Cheers!
The seed spinner appears to be well off the ground. Perhaps a spinner located to just above the ground would eliminate the offset seed scatter due to the wind. Enjoy your Farm series very much.
Fantastic bookkeeping Harry, that should impress the Bank Manager when going cap in hand. Only works when the manager is human otherwise a "Computer says no" comes back.
have serviced combines I would agree with Harry that the engine doesnt need a service every year. I would change the engine oil ( but not the filter) before winterising and drain the fue filters though. Oil is cheap compared to fuel and whats left in the filter wont do any harm vs leaving all the oil for another season. For those that have never done it, a service on a combine is hard work and takes a lot of time. Things are hard to reach, lots of climbing up and down for tools and parts, you get covered in dust, and worse. First job is to start and run all the parts, to ensure any mice or rats are cleared out.
Another interesting video thank you. There is no need to apologise for using acres in the video. I can picture an acre in my minds eye but not a hectare .
You definitely have a advantage on having your own combine. Plus if you did need extra income you could always contract it and your operator out to neighbouring farms who haven't got a combine to help them with the harvest.
Here in Australia the break even point for a farm to own a million dollar harvester is about 100,000 acres. Harrys farm is only the size of a paddock down here. In harvesting seasons (2 per year) we keep our two going 24/7 for 4 months of the year. We do ours first than they are off to do our neighbours and further.
Here in West Wales some of the small but go-ahead farmers would buy themselves machinery that was maybe a bit extravagant for the size of farm but then do some contracting with it to make it earn its keep.
Hi Harry. Enjoyed the video. I wondered if you had you ever considered Agroforestry? Have you visited Stephen Briggs at Whitehall Farm, Peterborough who, like you, runs an arable farm but with one major difference - he grows his wheat alongside rows of apple trees, spaced 24 metres apart? I wonder if he faired better in this recent wet growing season? Thank you
Manage soil compaction, aerate soil, put nitrogen biding plants somewhere around your planting season, keep compost around (build composting routine). In areas affected by flooding -> do some earth work and include canals / french drains that would take the surface water out of your fields.
Fascinating figures on the running of your combine as opposed to paying a contractor. I’ve often wondered how the costs stack up for such a rarely used large (and expensive) machine, but now I know! …… I suppose you should also include any financing costs into the equation, even if you had the cash to purchase the machine you have still lost the use of that money whilst it’s tied up in the combine. Great insight as ever Harry 👍
Have you considered hiring or renting the combine to your farming neighbours. You gave figures for hiring a unit, it’s quite likely you could do it for a lot less than a company which is highly profit driven and still make a profit which would at least offset the service/maintenance and depreciation costs
I guess the challenge in the UK is that weather is deeply unpredictable. So when the weather is right for harvesting in the area (probably a small window of opportunity) every Farmer needs to be out havesting their fields, so all the Combines will be in use. By the time one of the Combines are free to use, the rain has started.
I was thinking about your combine after seeing 2 for sale here in the wheatbelt WA. Surely it has to be worth keeping just for the fact you can combine at the exact moment you choose to thereby reducing your chances of drying costs etc. This year proved the point with you having to wait. A contractor will always prefer to work for a larger acre customer as that reduces the downtime moving between customers. May I politely suggest, as a diesel mechanic, that yourself and Charlie learn how to spanner the combine. Engine servicing is not hard. Changing belts cannot be that difficult as they are designed to be changed. Also is there a possibility to hire your machine out? Mr Clarkson up the road must need a hand now and again Harry. Thanks for the video!
I live in Catalunya where this year's wine/grape harvest is down around a third on last year and 40% overall over 5 year period. All other sectors of agriculture the same broadly speaking. No rain for 5 years now. My father in rural Wiltshire meanwhile complains of increased temperatures and markedly increased rainfall over the same period, albeit anecdotally.
Hi Harry, ever considered growing Millett as a break crop, on your cornbrash soil I would have thought it an option. I understand usually around 30cwt to the acre and some £40 to £80 /tonne over feed wheat, surely worth looking into
Yield mapping is an essential must have these days with such high imput costs. Now with a change in direction with various schemes etc Yield mapping becomes an even more essential tool in order to make sound management and business decisions.
You can't beat the peace of mind of having a Combine ready to go when conditions are right, Being Independent of Contractors is Priceless.
Harry, your depth and detail of farm management, down to the last penny, is mind blowing. And to think that the success or failure of an entire years work is so dependent on the weather really brings the message home to the rest of us. Huge respect to all of our hardworking farmers and their co-workers.
That’s a fact . He has outlined it clearly as it. However from this year forward his operation is not looking financially viable for farming . On top of that he is taking the Kings pound to join the re wilding climate campaign . This gentlemen is a very grave situation for the future of British Food production.
Are the immense taxpayer subsidies ever included in his #'s?
Great video from Harry. I suggest renting the combine out to whatever neighbors' crops are ready earlier or later each year. One can make a ton in daily rent income during harvest season. It makes much more sense to charge by time rather than area, since that is the limiting factor.
Do you spend much time looking up Harry?
I wish these were an hour long and weekly - feels like the perfect therapy session listening to Harry natter about farming.
No, they're the perfect length. Look at the American TH-camrs, their farming videos ramble on for far too long, and frankly, working farmers don't want to listen to another farmer talking to their dog, we're too busy to waste time watching another farmer waxing lyrical for 30 minutes.
As a "TOWNIE" who has little idea where my food comes from I find your vids a great insight, much appreciate your time and effort putting this together, cheers.
This is why you command so much respect Harry, honesty, reality and transparency
a bit of advice for you harry.........lower your front mounted spinner closer to the ground .......the seeds won't get caught by the wind so much closer to the ground........i sow grass seeds with a fertiliser spreader and you will probably find the seeds may even spread a bit further without the wind catching them
City boy here, grateful for you explaining the mysteries!
ciddy booi
Staggering numbers. So grateful to our farmers. So informative, Thanks Harry
More of Stanley please!! Best supporting cast of Harry's Farm.
STAAAAANLEEEEEYYYYY!!! 🥰🤗💖🐾 Total scene stealer 😂
Good ole Harry, great video fella, i hate whats being done to farmers i really do. We have now changed all of our meat egg purchases to farm shops and get id say 30% of our veg from farm shops too.. working on being more farm friendly and supermarkets can sod off.
Thanks. 👍👍
If house builders had their way, there would not be a single farm left in England.
Thanks Harry.
I'm not too surprised by your numbers. Back in the early 90s my parents bought a hay press and we did the family farm hay, and contracted out across the district. It was a family affair, I ran the hay truck. Helped get us through university. I did a careful accounting exercise after the first two seasons and it was apparent that it was a highly profitable business. We used second hand equipment but even accounting for depreciation and capital costs it was yielding a return on capital well north of 30%. The key however was utilisation, and staff. Having people who were gentle on the equipment and avoiding breakdowns and breakages. That's tough. Made it a business you couldn't really scale.
That's basically our model too. My son, Charlie, used to drive the combine for the contractor we used before buying our own combine. Without that in-house labour resource, it wouldn't make as much sense.
It’s a no brainier!
Don’t even think about not having your own Combine.
Just the ability to cut it dry when you want to is a huge advantage.
Not every farmer is a millionaire and has a spare 90k laying around.
Yeah my uncle gave up his combine years ago in favour of contractors - I'm pretty sure he regrets it. WAY more in drying costs, endless agro from the luxury housing development they built next door cos they paid £1million for their house and dont want to listen to a grain dryer all-day. But once you give it up its hard financially to get another one - you are kinda trapped down that route.
@@Andy_T79 The ones who own the farms are, they just never admit it! Farmers are notoriously tight it is ingrained in the culture.
@@Andy_T79 No farmers buys them for cash anyway.
They are all on Bank loan, HP/Leased through various farming finance companies.
It still makes sense for Harry to hang onto his Combine.
@@Thetache Harry hasn't made any money from farming, it's all been from his Evo publishing business.
Thanks Harry for such a good, reasoned, video of the problems WE will face, if nothing is done to clue in the politicians! They haven't got a clue where their food comes from honestly! Lets get some of the older gen farmers to stand for parliament, and give a real view of how things are going on in rural life?
As always informative and engaging Harry , breaking down the costs of the combine compared with using a contractor was very interesting. Wishing you a high yield 25 harvest !
I’ve always wondered about the economics of combines, £250,000 for something which is used two weeks a year, factor in depreciation and running costs, it’s no joke.
My uncle gave up his combine years ago in favour of contractors - I'm pretty sure he regrets it. WAY more in drying costs, endless agro from the luxury housing development they built next door cos they paid £1million for their house and dont want to listen to a grain dryer all-day. But once you give it up its hard financially to get another one - you are kinda trapped down that route.
Grain dryers use a LOT of LPG - there are big costs each side of the argument
@@piccalillipit9211don’t know about the economics of drying, but I would ignore these idiots in the houses
@@fanfeck2844 He is old now - if he were 30 years younger he would have taken every window out with the 5h0tgun. He is past bothering now - but honestly, I was there one year, I dont know how he kept his cool. The sort of people that buy a £1 million + house in the countryside with electric gates and security cameras are not the type of people you want as neighbours trust me.
These things were £1 mill back in 2005 so God knows what they would be now.
There is always the trade off of flexibility with your own machine to cut when its fit and save drying costs vs using a contractor
@@fanfeck2844 One of the houses when it sold they immediately ripped the brand new unused kitchen out and threw it and all the appliances in skips. We went around a couple of times and rang the doorbell to ask if we could take it - no one was living there. so the next day we took it out of the skips.
Long story short they called the police - the police refused to do anything but they made a point of stopping the Range rover and telling us how disgusted they were and they could not believe they had moved to such a low life area "We have heard that things like this happen in LONDON but we never imagined it could happen here!"
Im sorry - I was brought up to believe its a kind of moral obligation to make use of anything is a skip - not let it go to waste.
I never dreamed farming could be so interesting. love your videos!
Thanks for putting so much of the big boy stuff in perspective.
My Godparents own a huge farm here in Australia where they produce cattle, canola, wheat and some other assorted crops depending on the year... They own all their machinery, including a huge Case combine and four prime movers with B-Double tippers and a couple livestock trailer sets. Another thing they do is breed, train and sell cattle dogs.
What they actually make a lot of their money from is by contracting out their machines, particularly the combine, sprayers and trucks, along with the operators who are also staff on their farm.
They say if they didn't do that, the costs of owning the machines and paying the staff just wouldn't make sense and their farm would produce a fraction of what it's capable of.
You really do have to be a savvy businessman these days, who's not shy of talking on massive risk, if you want to operate a productive farm.
As with all vehicles, not being ripped off by the manufacturer is the key. It was a good buy at £86,500, giving a piddling ~3%pa depreciation.
Case/New Holland seem to be reasonably priced as a manufacturer. I used to work at a New Holland dealership and a lot of the customers tended to be ex John Deere customers.
Buying the combine before a massive bout of inflation was lucky. But this may not be the norm going forward also interest rates have gone up since then so if you finance things have changed there too. A tricky decision
Great video. I loved to see the actual costs of running a combine.
Love watching your video Harry. Been following them for years, seeing the highs and lows of job… sharing the joys and stresses of battling Mother Nature
I love these insights into the world of farming, I've been so ignorant most of my life in terms of how farming actually works! Thanks for opening up your world to us, it's totally fascinating.
how can it be environmentally good to have to import MORE food rather than grow it in the uk?
The logic of eco-mentalists. They freak out over the things that are easier to be tyrannical about and let the major offenders slide.
Same as importing steel from China and India...more damage gets done there.
@redjacc7581 its about box ticking
When you've got foreign business's in the pockets of leading politicians, you've got no hope of getting what's best for our Country.
Thanks Harry, always a well informed update from the farm, always amazed with you level headiness no matter what the elements through at you, keep up the great work. Thanks. Ian
So informative, a real education, thank you for your unique communication skills, love the farm and the garage. Kind regards.
I’m just glad that you work the land and manage to get crops from it. How you manage to do that despite ever changing rules and make money out of it to keep going seems almost miraculous to me. Thoroughly enjoy your videos and look forward to the next one. Very best wishes.
I find these videos fascinating, really show the reality of farming.
Thanks, Harry. Hopefully this winter weather is a bit better for you.
Fascinating Harry, I always enjoy the updates of how things are going, take care 👍
This is a great presentation of farm's costs ....welll done indeed from a retired agricultural economist/accountant!
Always love the annual round up. Fascinating. Thx Harry.
Super video. a great learning curve, whether you farm or not. Many thanks for all the efforts and input.
Most interesting Harry. Please keep us informed. Thanks, David
Thanks Harry. Love the detail on yield etc. Farming is not an easy job.
Always a good enjoyable watch. I hope farming and harvest for 2025 is better. Thanks for sharing.
All of the integrity and interest of your content….and Stanley too!
Very interesting video, I think your best so far. It is very satisfying to see the results of the harvest, with all the numbers & costs, good & bad and also the planning for the future in each field area. The planning for wet areas to be seeded with grasses for environmental reasons seems to me to be a positive step but the paper work involved must be a nightmare to keep up. Here in Finland we have had a wonderful summer with what looks like, ( to me, I am now retired), an excellent harvest. Unfortunately we do not have podcasts or videos that I have found giving interested parties anything like the information that is given on Harry’s farm. Congrats.
I really enjoy Clarkson's Farm. It revealed so much about what it takes to run a Farm and how difficult it is - definately increasing awareness. Having followed your car Channel (which I really enjoy BTW ) I have discovered your "adult" version of a Farming program and strangely, I really enjoy being educated by you about Farm management and the considerations and challenges facing farmers today. I grew up, and still live in the country but not at all associated with Farming.
Another fantastic and informative video Harry. A tough year weather wise, could have been worse, could have been better but you made the sensible investment in 2018 and have the technology to hand to be able to control your own harvest. The most important part of the farm calendar in my own opinion. Keep them coming and might see you in "The new local" one day.
Ah yes, love Harries farm videos, hallo from South Africa.
Entertaining video as always while I do my boring dishes!
I maintain a bowling green and so wish I had GPS guidance on the mower to get those stripes after liberal refreshment down the pub the night before!
Looking forward to the next installment already :)
Thanks for the time to film, upload and share :) always good. i only wish harry would upload more often. even it's only to complain about his neighbour, clarkson or something. the farms always have tons of things going on that are worth filming.
Think British government could be creating a future crisis with amount of land taken our of production in terms of food security...although that plus lower yields should increase proce for farmers...Great videos keep it up
Reduced UK output for wheat will simply suck in imports from Europe, Russia and the Ukraine (or even further afield) once prices get high enough. Wheat is a world wide commodity and traded as such.
At only £1,500 a season for charlie, i'd be contracting him + the combine out.... 😉
He gets to drive some pretty cool cars though😂
It’s a real tease seeing old farmhouse and buildings behind the combine! We’ll get a tour one day I’m sure…
Lovely, thank-you!
The micro geology of an English field puts me in mind of AG Street's book 'Farmers' Glory' :'Don't 'ee do it sor! 'Baint roight!'
Harry and Charlie and Bob. I'm sure I watched this show as a lad back in the sixties. Great update as always, ta Harry 👍
Really enjoy these videos. Yield maps really interesting.
I have been talking about this for weeks now. The corn fields around here up in Newcastle and Northumberland have looked amazing despite the months of rain. I was saying it will be interesting to see what the yields are. This answers it. Cheers.
Harry massive respect for bringing the difficulties of farm management to the populas.the fairytale of green fields wheat swaying in the wind livestock all cooing mooing etc is the complete opposite of the harsh reality of dealing with bad weather costs of diesel fertiliser labour repairs and government legislation.a tough season for all but our farmers keep positive somehow.cheers for the post harry always look for the next chapter especially now as the farming calendar on the arable side starts again
Love the way you're doing your bit for the wildlife
Great, really enjoyed that as a layman. Well put across and informative. What a nightmare being a farmer!
The biggest winners on the AB8 areas are the seed merchants. £12k/tonne that seed costs. Frightening!! Always enjoyable, thanks again Harry
When I was a kid in the ‘60s I remember we had a three-row corn head on our tiny combine and it took every bit of our resources to justify keeping it on (at the time) only 120 acres.
Harry, those zebra stripes are a striking new feature in the fields around Hemel Hempstead. Technology making changes to the agricultural landscape. Fascinating stuff
Looking forward to see what the wildflower / grass mix looks like blooming on that landscape.
Much more sense investing in a concubine , works all year round
Lol, the service costs may be similar!
Useful at night, too.
😏🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I love farmers who do it properly - Excel spreadsheets and keep an eye on costs, depreciation etc.... It is business. You've got to be on the ball and diligent.
so much more detail than Clarkson's farm, enjoy learning about it all.
Love looking at the L322. Same colour as mine.
Brown? 😂
Really interesting video. I seriously thought that, with the reduction in farmed acres it would be uneconomical to own your own combine. Glad its working for you 👍🏻
Great explanation of the combine cost. Not sure it will still be justifiable with fewer acres to combine. I like the detail you go into and wish politicians would listen to your videos.
As always very interesting Harry , keep up the great
work !
Food prices going to be up then.
I was driving from West Cornwall to East Devon a while back, saw the cabbage picker trucks all heading west, they were very distinctive with their treadles and cups.
very interesting nice to see the numbers. And I thought the 80 pounds sack of bee mix last year was expensive, turns out not.
Hi. I really enjoy these videos. Interesting to see the cost comparison of owning combine vs hiring contractor. But what i like most is the scale of the farm. its not super large like most farms nowadays.
Fascinating as always!!!
Cheers Harry, keep well.
Thanks Harry, in my experience trying to get grasseed to travel anymore than 6 or 8 foot is next to impossible with a spinner.
Keep the combine, she’s doing the job fine…. Give Charlie a few more quid😁
Great stuff Harry, we live on an arable farm in North Yorks where the owners let the land to another local farmer( who incidentally follows your TH-cam channel) . Last year there were quite a lot of issues with flooding and it was clear to see that the crop (Wheat) wasn't as good as it could have been with some very poor patches due to the rain and flooding. We still have stubble and we are waiting to see what they are going to do with it for the next growing season. The figures you give are very interesting and a real eye opener, I should think that many people would be surprised to see the costs involved with farming generally, not only the cost of seed, fertiliser etc but also costs of running and maintaining machinery it's also important for the public to realise that essentially arable farming is one big expensive gamble! Let's hope next year is kind with the weather and everyone has a good yield to compensate for this years poor results. Cheers!
The seed spinner appears to be well off the ground. Perhaps a spinner located to just above the ground would eliminate the offset seed scatter due to the wind. Enjoy your Farm series very much.
Fantastic bookkeeping Harry, that should impress the Bank Manager when going cap in hand. Only works when the manager is human otherwise a "Computer says no" comes back.
Fuzz Ground - in Devon Fuzz was the name for Gorse, which used to grow on poor ground.
I've heard furze, but not fuzz. We call is whin in the north, funny how something so familiar gets completely different names around the country.
have serviced combines I would agree with Harry that the engine doesnt need a service every year. I would change the engine oil ( but not the filter) before winterising and drain the fue filters though. Oil is cheap compared to fuel and whats left in the filter wont do any harm vs leaving all the oil for another season. For those that have never done it, a service on a combine is hard work and takes a lot of time. Things are hard to reach, lots of climbing up and down for tools and parts, you get covered in dust, and worse. First job is to start and run all the parts, to ensure any mice or rats are cleared out.
Great analysis of a fascinating subject.
Very informative, thanks Harry.
Thanks for the update. Very interesting.
Another interesting video thank you. There is no need to apologise for using acres in the video. I can picture an acre in my minds eye but not a hectare .
Love the facts and figures- it’s what’s missing in most other TH-camrs I see
You definitely have a advantage on having your own combine. Plus if you did need extra income you could always contract it and your operator out to neighbouring farms who haven't got a combine to help them with the harvest.
16:02 looks like a C17 going into Brize.
Interesting as ever. Did you come to any conclusions regarding the two drilling methods you were using?
Good point.
Love the honesty
Here in Australia the break even point for a farm to own a million dollar harvester is about 100,000 acres. Harrys farm is only the size of a paddock down here. In harvesting seasons (2 per year) we keep our two going 24/7 for 4 months of the year. We do ours first than they are off to do our neighbours and further.
Really interesting video about after-harvest “admin” around the farm.
Here in West Wales some of the small but go-ahead farmers would buy themselves machinery that was maybe a bit extravagant for the size of farm but then do some contracting with it to make it earn its keep.
Another great and informative video, thanks!
Hi Harry. Enjoyed the video. I wondered if you had you ever considered Agroforestry? Have you visited Stephen Briggs at Whitehall Farm, Peterborough who, like you, runs an arable farm but with one major difference - he grows his wheat alongside rows of apple trees, spaced 24 metres apart? I wonder if he faired better in this recent wet growing season? Thank you
Manage soil compaction, aerate soil, put nitrogen biding plants somewhere around your planting season, keep compost around (build composting routine). In areas affected by flooding -> do some earth work and include canals / french drains that would take the surface water out of your fields.
Fascinating figures on the running of your combine as opposed to paying a contractor. I’ve often wondered how the costs stack up for such a rarely used large (and expensive) machine, but now I know! …… I suppose you should also include any financing costs into the equation, even if you had the cash to purchase the machine you have still lost the use of that money whilst it’s tied up in the combine. Great insight as ever Harry 👍
ty, Harry - fascinating stuff!
Have you considered hiring or renting the combine to your farming neighbours. You gave figures for hiring a unit, it’s quite likely you could do it for a lot less than a company which is highly profit driven and still make a profit which would at least offset the service/maintenance and depreciation costs
I guess the challenge in the UK is that weather is deeply unpredictable. So when the weather is right for harvesting in the area (probably a small window of opportunity) every Farmer needs to be out havesting their fields, so all the Combines will be in use. By the time one of the Combines are free to use, the rain has started.
It was a wet winter, spring, early summer. A few sunny days, then autumn arrived prompto....😕
Those wild fruits must taste amazing! 😋
I was thinking about your combine after seeing 2 for sale here in the wheatbelt WA.
Surely it has to be worth keeping just for the fact you can combine at the exact moment you choose to thereby reducing your chances of drying costs etc. This year proved the point with you having to wait. A contractor will always prefer to work for a larger acre customer as that reduces the downtime moving between customers.
May I politely suggest, as a diesel mechanic, that yourself and Charlie learn how to spanner the combine. Engine servicing is not hard. Changing belts cannot be that difficult as they are designed to be changed.
Also is there a possibility to hire your machine out? Mr Clarkson up the road must need a hand now and again Harry.
Thanks for the video!
I live in Catalunya where this year's wine/grape harvest is down around a third on last year and 40% overall over 5 year period. All other sectors of agriculture the same broadly speaking. No rain for 5 years now. My father in rural Wiltshire meanwhile complains of increased temperatures and markedly increased rainfall over the same period, albeit anecdotally.
Amazing videos! 👍
Hi Harry, ever considered growing Millett as a break crop, on your cornbrash soil I would have thought it an option. I understand usually around 30cwt to the acre and some £40 to £80 /tonne over feed wheat, surely worth looking into
Yield mapping is an essential must have these days with such high imput costs. Now with a change in direction with various schemes etc Yield mapping becomes an even more essential tool in order to make sound management and business decisions.