Archived News

13th December 2009

It’s certainly a lot colder out and the wind is picking up, so just the weather to prepare Manor Farm Beltie Beef in Stout.  As delicious aromas waft from the kitchen, I am being pestered by children who want to eat it NOW! 

Edward noticed a broken window in the combine harvester a few weeks ago which we had replaced by Claas, however the consequences of the rain getting into the cab had not been considered.  As soon as Laurence began harvesting at Raikes yesterday, the electrics decided to pack up. So the control panel was dismantled in the field, dried, put back together and eventually the combine was rolling.

It is now time to harvest grain maize so the combine harvester will be out in the fields and the tractors hauling the grain back to the drier at West Lane.  Grain maize is harvested in November or December and has a high moisture content which must be reduced to below 15% before the grain can be stored or sold.

I have written about the technique of grain drying in the past, but I’m prompted to do so again as a passing motorist stopped at our door last night to inform me that he thought there was a fire in a silo across the field.  As I explained to this kind gentleman, hot air in the drier dries the grain, creating steam.  In winter the steam looks like a white cloud as it hits the cold winter air before quickly disappearing. 

Exactly the same technique is used during the summer harvest, however the steam is not really noticed as it is passing out into warmer air.  If this was smoke, it would smell smokey and would linger in the sky and along the valley.