31 August 2016

More Farming Stuff






The boys came yesterday with their big tractors and trailers and cut the maize fields.  One minute our garden was surrounded by a sea of tall leafy plants and within an hour or so the fields had been reduced to stubble.  They worked so quickly, shredding the maize and shooting it directly into the trailer running alongside the harvester.  It will be used for animal feed.



The fields surrounding our house provide a constantly changing scene.  Last year the fields were golden with wheat.  Reeshard’s fields are now left for hay or grazing since he retired but previously he grew tobacco and sunflowers.  Watching the harvesting of the tobacco plants used to fascinate me; the plants were cut with something like a giant pair of scissors and then taken along a conveyor belt and laid flat on the adjacent trailer.


Reeshard (aka Richard Escalier)
tobacco plants on their way to the drying sheds

sunflowers
.





10 comments:

  1. Interesting to see the tobacco on the trailer. Never likely to see that about here. Our maize harvest starts a little later in September and then it is best to keep off the roads for a day or two until the contractors have moved on across the county. The maize is harvested and shredded like yours but it goes off to the power station. Big business.



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    1. I'm always surprised at how quickly and efficiently the farmers harvest the crops with their state of the art kit. It's quite ruthless really, especially when you see the hares running out looking for cover.

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  2. I do enjoy reading about different farming in different parts of the world. First time I have read anything about tobacco - so thanks for that.

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    Replies
    1. Not so common round these parts anymore as the industry is in decline.

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  3. The end of summer also here.

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    1. Still hot and sunny here but the nights are cooler.

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  4. I see that Reeshard is wearing his jeans cut off, also very fetching. My husband has a pair so trimmed when they 'went at the knee'.

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  5. One year my husband and I grew tobacco plant up here in North Idaho, and thought it was a pretty plant.
    Coffee is on

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  6. I rather miss the Tobacco plants. They used to attract one of Europe's biggest Moths, which of course have now gone too.

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