18. Farming 1995 - 2015 (Combine Harvesters)¶

Combine harvesters are the most expensive and the most least used piece of equipment on most farms. Once every farm that grew cereals had one, some like Monkton Court and Sayers of Acol had three. With massive advances in technology, reliability and capacities in the 1990’s even the big farms only needed one.

On Sheriffs Court Farm, our New Holland 8080 went and was replaced with a Class 108. With the same cutting width as the 8080, 5 metres. The main body was narrower. Its cutting capacity was 50% more, cutting from an average of 8 hectares a day up to 12 hectares. The time spent combining the crops dropped from 6 weeks to 4 weeks.

On Sheriffs Court, we tended to keep our combines longer than the big farms, on average for ten years. With each new combine the mechanics changed highly. In the old 8080 nearly everything that turned was driven by its own belt or chain, with the 108 one belt would drive several. With the 8080 all the mechanics had to be engaged/disengaged by pushing or pulling a lever. With the 108 they were all engaged by electrically operated hydraulic rams.

All combines were air conditioned and with a good radio/CD player.

The grain loss monitor was more efficient, enabling you to travel faster in thin crops or slower in a good crop.

Straw choppers on combines became more efficient. On most farms, straw was no longer required for keeping live-stock through the winter. The straw was roughly chopped and spread to enable the whole field to be burnt. Burning straw was banned, I think, towards the end of the 1980’s. To enable the straw to be incorporated into the ground more efficiently, the finer it was chopped and spread the better.

With the big increase in the volume of wheat we could now harvest in a day, our batch dryer was far so small to cope. We had to convert two of our barns to under floor drying. Fortunately, we already had a powerful fan still in place from our onion drying days.