{"id":844,"date":"2020-09-11T08:36:32","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T08:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/?p=844"},"modified":"2020-09-11T08:37:24","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T08:37:24","slug":"reap-what-you-sow-tims-lincolnshire-harvest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/highlights\/reap-what-you-sow-tims-lincolnshire-harvest\/09-2020","title":{"rendered":"Reap What You Sow: Tim’s Harvest…"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the time of writing, Lincolnshire\u2019s skies are blue, temperatures are high and the county\u2019s fields are golden brown. This month we\u2019re sitting cabside with World Champion farmer Tim Lamyman who enjoys gathering in the harvest on his farm in the undulating Wolds…<\/h3>\n
\"Tim
Tim harvesting in the Wolds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In A Year Of Uncertainty, a bit of familiarity can prove a real comfort. The sight of the combines, rolling around the fields, reminds us that nature is a constant, even in volatile times.\u00a0A couple of times when discussing the consequences of lockdown, I\u2019ve heard businesses remark that all of a sudden their plans, budgets and financial forecasts have been turned completely on their heads. They\u2019ve spoken about how disconcerting such uncertainty is.<\/p>\n

And yet that\u2019s a condition which farmers have had many years to get used to\u2026 if not tolerate. Everything can be going well until those vital weeks leading up to harvest and a whole year\u2019s work can be upset. Uncertainty and being at the mercy of nature is something that goes with the territory for farmers, and you have to wonder how they cope.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get on with it,\u201d says Tim Lamyman philosophically. \u201cYou accept the ups and downs and try to foster a sense of resilience, much like you do in any other aspect of life.\u201d\u00a0Easier said than done with such important consequences, but if anyone should know, it\u2019s Tim. The farmer is the third generation of his family to tend the fields of arable crops on his land, exactly equidistant between Louth, Horncastle and Alford\u2026 he\u2019s in the centre if you were to draw a triangle between the towns.<\/p>\n

Tim farms over 1,500 acres plus a further 400 acres under contract and his entirely arable operation comprises wheat, barley, peas and beans as well as hay and haylage.\u00a0But Tim is no ordinary farmer. Whilst wheat yields an average six and a half or seven tonnes per hectare, Tim\u2019s whopping world record winter wheat yields topped 16.5t\/ha in 2015.\u00a0He has also achieved pea yields of 7.5t\/ha in 2019 breaking that world record for a second time and he has achieved barley yields of up to 13 t\/ha.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of pride I suppose, but the whole farming industry has to stay sharp and continue to innovate,\u201d says Tim. \u201cWe need to feed an ever growing population and improving farming practices is a hard fight, but a good one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe practise a high input and high output model which in simple terms means putting lots of effort in and using different varieties to ensure resilience. I\u2019m planting KWS Colosseum and Parking wheat, and a few others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe farm also uses a range of different nutrition, not just fertilisers but other inputs to de-stress the roots and lower the risk of fungus as much as possible. It\u2019s not a cheap way to farm, but the results are there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim\u2019s cereals will be sold for milling, for animal feed and for seed production. Naturally he\u2019s been called upon to give talks on increasing yields across the industry and is proud not just of his own efforts but the whole of the farming sector in Lincolnshire.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also fair to say that Tim\u2019s job isn\u2019t made any easier by virtue of the fact that his land isn\u2019t flat, as is the perception of Lincolnshire from outsiders. Yellowbellies are familiar with the gentle undulations of the Wolds, but none more so than the poor farmer who has to try to achieve consistent results from the hilly region.<\/p>\n

By the time this appears in print, Tim will be well into sowing oilseed rape and wheat, doubtless with cooler weather and murkier skies. But at the time of writing, in mid-August, the skies are a dazzling blue with cotton wool clouds and temperatures in their mid to late 20s. And where better to take in the view of the Wolds on such a splendid day than through the windscreen of Tim\u2019s Claas Lexion 750.<\/p>\n

Tim\u2019s combine is a whopper, boasting some 550hp of grunt, weighing in at a hefty 16 tonnes and capable of swallowing up 11,800 litres of grain before offloading into an amenable tractor and trailer.<\/p>\n

For a monster machine though, it\u2019s a pretty civilised experience. Beginning at around 10am, by which time any morning dew will have evaporated off the crop, Tim enjoys the civility of climate control set to a fresh 19\u00b0c and switches between the equally patriotic Lincs FM and BBC Lincolnshire whilst trundling methodically round each field at a leisurely 25mph.<\/p>\n

Some combines can sport a header of up to 50 feet, but the one of Tim\u2019s Claas is a little more modest at 25ft because of the tricky turns and undulating grounds it has to traverse on its combination of tracks and wheels. The term combine harvester refers to a consolidation of the roles of cutting, and threshing to separate the crop from its unwanted stalks and chaff which are then chopped and spread.<\/p>\n

Despite its macabre appearance the adjustable header\u2019s job is simply to comb the crop and feed it uniformly into the combine\u2019s jaws in preparation for the reciprocating row of teeth to cut the crop at its base.<\/p>\n

The crop is then sent by conveyor towards the threshing drum which spins at anywhere between 160 and 900rpm depending on the crop being harvested. Grain falls through sieves to the collecting tank and is taken by auger towards the grain tank, whilst the rotors take the rest to the rear of the machines where rotating choppers cut and spread the straw ready for baling.<\/p>\n

Modern combines have become increasingly clever and can drive themselves using GPS but beyond his laser pilot \u2013 a device which assists in maintaining straight lines \u2013 Tim prefers to pilot the machine manually. His working day continues until dusk, or mist or the desire to go in for a bit of supper, if time allows. From his father Peter\u2019s day and certainly from grandfather Leonard\u2019s day, the industry has changed significantly, but as Tim\u2019s yields prove, technology is an ally at most, rather than a substitute for the good judgement and experience of a farmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son Robert is 20 and has just finished his agriculture Foundation degree at Bishop Burton and is already helping on the farm. My daughter Emma is a bit younger and helps my wife Sarah with the luxury holiday cottage we\u2019ve created on the farm, Woody\u2019s Top.\u201d Emma starts work at a local accountancy firm in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be interesting to see what the future of the industry is,\u201d he says. \u201cBut even though we can\u2019t predict how farming will change, and especially the farming of cereals, we can say with reasonable certainty that it will remain an important part of the sector, one that I hope will always be as much of a challenge and a pleasure as it is right now!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the time of writing, Lincolnshire\u2019s skies are blue, temperatures are high and the county\u2019s fields are golden brown. This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14],"tags":[154,153,74,27],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-of-the-county","category-highlights","tag-combine","tag-harvest","tag-lincoln","tag-lincolnshire"],"acf":false,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions\/848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}