The farm innovations and inventions displays at this year’s Norfolk Show included everything from high-tech moisture measurement to 
fox-foiling wheezes. David Cousins explains.

1. Ron Giles’ fox-proof henhouse

Fed up with foxes getting into the henhouse? Ron Giles, from Langley Street, near Loddon, designed this simple spring-loaded ramp (pictured above).

Light things (such as chickens) can walk up the ramp without any problems, however anything heavier (such as a fox) will trip the spring and make the one-way henhouse door slam shut.

2. Brian Clark’s drain cleaner

Brian Clark, from Morley St Botolph, took an old industrial pressure washer and its engine and converted it into an easy-to-move drain-cleaning machine.

A redundant sprayer provided the tank but the only new pieces were pipes and tyres and the overall extra cost was just £350. It works well and is easy to tow, he says, and a new one would cost nearer £8,000.

3. David Whatling’s front cultivator

David Whatling from Bayfield, Brecklands, turned an existing rear-mounted machine into a useful front-mounted cultivator. He got hold of some second-hand crumbler rings and added a set of new sprung clod-breaker tines to make a unit that fits nicely on the front of the tractor.

He’s on light land where there’s no need for a power harrow, so the new home-made cultivator levels the land nicely in front of the drill.

The cultivator is rigid when he’s doing the land, but when he shifts to the headland he pulls out a couple of pins to allow it to steer itself.

A flashing beacon helps improve safety when he drives out of the field gateway on to the road, though he also plans to add V-formation mirrors so he can see when it’s safe to pull out.

4. Robert Smart’s dual wheel carrier

Dual wheels are great if you’ve got soft soil, but transporting them can be difficult since they’re not allowed on the roads. However, farmer Robert Smart, from Black Drove, Wisbech, sorted out the problem with his Smart Mover wheel carrier.

The carrying frame looks simple enough but the angle of the wheels was carefully worked out so that one man can shift them from the holder and attach them to the tractor. Four clamps hold the wheels in place and careful balancing should make them easy to deal with.

5. John Deere’s Field Connect moisture probes

John Deere dealer Ben Burgess was showing one of the first Deere Field Connect moisture probes at this year’s Norfolk Show innovations area.

It’s not any old moisture tester, though. Instead, four moisture probes at a depth of 10cm, 20cm, 30cm and 40cm are fitted to a single pole beneath ground. They measure the conductivity of the soil every 30min, which in turn gives an accurate guide to soil moisture levels.

A solar panel above the ground provides power to allow the underground probes to send the readings to the farmer every two hours via the GPRS network. Meanwhile a GPS receiver tells him, via his smartphone, where the dry and wet parts of his fields are and a rain gauge keeps an eye on water levels. He can then switch on the irrigation equipment to bring soil moisture levels back to where they should be.

Having hour-by-hour information on soil moisture levels is also becoming increasingly important as farmers move away from classic raingun or reel irrigators to drip tapes. These lie along the rows of potatoes and onions and provide just 3mm of water a day compared to the typical 20mm output of a classic, less efficient irrigator.

Cost of the moisture unit is £1,700. It will be available next year although three units are already being tested.