Pictures and Information on Benedict Farm Northiam East Sussex

We have for the first time in 24 years managed to get one of our steiger tractor's stuck, As you can see the field is laying a bit wet still. The John deere 8200 came to the rescue and pulled it out, Hopefully before to  many people noticed, As it was right by the road.

This is how we apply any fertilizer that the crop may require over the year. The tractor in the picture is a Class Ares 836, It is 4wd with about 215hp, It can lift about 9tonnes on the lifting arms at the back of the tractor.The spreader is an Amazon Zam twin disc spinner,This spreader can spread up to 36 meters wide.We have it set on 24 meters because this is the same width as our crop sprayer, That means we only need one set of wheel marks in the crop,Less damage to the crops. In this picture we are applying 150kgs/ha of 34.5% nitrogen (nitram)

Land rover defender 110 diesel with a stocks fanjet pro 65 fixed to the back,this is how we control the slugs, usually only needed when growing oil seed rape.We have fitted some 31-15.50-15 flotation tyres.The aim of the wide tyres are to keep it very low ground pressure which stop's it sinking in making ruts and hopefully getting stuck.In normal conditions you can not see where it has been, because of this we have to use gps to guide the driver to the correct next went in the field.The stocks spreader on the back, can spread slug pellets upto 24 metres wide.There has been alot of new rules brought in regarding slug pelleting, you now have to have training,  then you can take your test (pa4s), once you have passed this you can spread pellets.

Here we show in more detail the modification to the Simba Disks with the capability to be able to tow the spring tine cultivator behind. This allows a single pass cultivation immediately after the combine has finished. The spring tine cultivator can, if you look closely, be seen with the extra modification of lifting wheels that allow this to be raised for headland turning and for transport. Yes for those of you that handle tractors yourself can appreciate that this is quite a handful to turn, lifting the disks and then the cultivator, you must also remember to turn the tractor!

Immediately after harvest the FW30 is attached to a set of modified Simba disks, these having the addition of two sub soiler legs in the middle used to loosen the ground for better drainage. Being towed behind these is a set of spring tine cultivators, although depending on the crop to be planted these are some times swapped with a 4 tonne roller. Although it has only 270 HP, the grip its weight and the dual tyres give it is quite something. We tried a John Deere 300HP 4WD equivalent and whilst there was plenty of power we could not get the grip down on the inclines of our farm land. Just prior to sowing the FW30 is paired up with a simba spring tine cultivator and pulled behind this a set of ring rolls to fine cultivate the ground.

With the FW30 starting to get on in years the worry of it breaking down has been ever increasing. Without it we have nothing to cope with the SImba's and cultivation tools. Plus there are often times we could use two tractors of this size but have to wait on until first cultivation (immediate post harvest) is finished until the FW30 can have implements swapped. This beast has nearly 400HP, but more importantly has some 1400 Newtons of Torque which is quite some pulling power, the FW30 has a meagre 900 in comparison! We are very pleased to have found the Steiger Panther shown here. Not many know this but the Ford FW30 is actually a Steiger, for more information check out the Steiger Web Site.

With our ground being very heavy clay loam, the more we can encourage drainage the better. To this end we have added the two sub soiler legs you can see here that lift the ground whilst we are cultivating immediately behind the combine. Behind the disks we either pull a spring tine cultivator (as can be seen in the FW and Steiger pictures above and in the picture below) or a 4 tonne roller. The roller is used to prepare the ground prior to fine cultivation for planting the Oil Seed Rape. It is being able to pull all this through our heavy soil that has required us to work with the larger tractors, the FW30 and now the new Steiger Panther.

Having fairly good engineering facilities only goes so far, this unit started life with a complete home made chassis, everything from there up was also created and added on to this using the Lister engineering skills so we had a purpose built sprayer unit with the capacity we required. Unfortunately ever increasing safety standards have meant that we can no longer use her and she is now a redundant reminder of times gone by.

As can be seen in this picture we have added a complete new raising system for the cultivator both in the field and for transportation. You can also see that drawbar that is used to tow the Simba 6m ring rolls behind this unit. Even this does not really slow up the FW30 except for the larger inclines we have around the Farm. We have tried some of the 300HP type JD tractors, whilst they had power they lacked the grip (Even with dual wheels), we get with this tractor to pull both components.

Although she is a bit aged now, this Muir Hill 121 was modified to house a DAF 8.25L 180HP Engine plant as we needed a machine with a little more grunt than the standard would produce. Along with this are the oversized tyres that pretty much transfer all the power to its ability to pull almost anything. We use this during sowing to pull the modified seed drill. Whilst most people have nicknames, this old girl is lovingly referred to as 'Daphne' on our Farm!

The Ford 8100 is used with the large floatation tyres to ensure minimal ground compression, whether for fertilising or during cultivation. For cultivation it is used for harrowing after the FW30 has been over the ground once and the seed has been planted.

With the ever increasing expense of Farm equipment, particularly combines, we have for several years worked with a neighbouring farmer during harvest. Nick and Robert Hales have been long time friends of the Listers as well as also being Farmer's themselves and to make extra money they contract out their combine along with one of them operating it of course. As seen here the nature of the land surrounding us is some what hilly so they have used a Claas Lexion 470 Montana with the rather unique tilting header as can be seen.