- Location
- Ceredigion
Most smaller farmers around here worked in the milk factory part time
The good old days
I remember the time when...
- Thread starter Landless Gentry
- Start date
The good old days
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Were her churns particularly large?They would still have to be lifted on to the stand , which was rarely the height of the lorry. once on the lorry sometimes they would carry a few extra on top which again was a straight lift.
A steel churn would weigh 30lbs. so with 10 gallons was 130 and if we were short of churns and we had filled to the 11 gallon mark 140lbs.
imagine turning up at a farm with 40 odd of those to lug about every day
We would always give the driver a hand if anyone was about but that was not the case always.
These guys did it every day and as I posted somewhere else, when we went bulk our churn driver stayed on the churns, as he fancied a lady dairy farmer down the road with about 5 cows
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
sorry I had misread the date on the post
I have just seen quoted in Hansard the following
In December 1950 milk returned 4shillings (20p) per gallon to the farmer ( 4.41p /Litre)
in Dec 1960 the price had fallen to 3 shillings (15p) per gallon 3.3p/litre
This would have been a weighted price and the price would drop sharply in the Spring
The MMB were currently selling milk into processing at the time for 1s/3p to 1s/5p (6-7p) per gallon ( 1.5p/litre)
The retail price was 8p ( 3p ) per pint ( delivered to the doorstep)
- Location
- Northumberland
I will have shovelled 1000s of tons of cow muck into them in my youth by hand from the Byre.I thought they were quite a good spreader in their time,with the PTO drive.Better than the old Massey Harris or International land wheel drive types with ratchet floor chains.
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
20 acres would turn many a mans head in those days
sadly she never did find true love as far as I know
- Location
- Northumberland
There was an art to it.You had to tilt them over slightly, then spin them around on the bottom.To lift them,it was two people,one on either side handle.
- Location
- Northumberland
Did you manage to "keep" as many of the old ex MMB aluminium cans as you could
.They made really good temporary cricket stumps,with a great "ping" to them when you bowled someone out
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- Location
- Fife
Plenty Irish dairy farmers on grass based spring block systems making profits of £1000/cow.
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glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
It still would20 acres would turn many a mans head in those days
sadly she never did find true love as far as I know
- Location
- South Wales UK
Think stick for that or barrels?
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
I've just moved farms. At my old place all that's left is four small square holes in the concrete where the stand posts have rotted away.
At my new place (which I have known for 50 years without cattle) the only sign of where it once stood is a length of coping stones missing off the drystone wall. I remember the stand though, and many others that are long gone.
Folks must puzzle why there are squares of concrete at the end of so many farm drives.
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
I thought railway bags were 2cwt, if not a bit more?
One man would carry these up a flight of slate steps to the granary (but only one at a time!).
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
They would still have to be lifted on to the stand , which was rarely the height of the lorry. once on the lorry sometimes they would carry a few extra on top which again was a straight lift.
A steel churn would weigh 30lbs. so with 10 gallons was 130 and if we were short of churns and we had filled to the 11 gallon mark 140lbs.
imagine turning up at a farm with 40 odd of those to lug about every day
We would always give the driver a hand if anyone was about but that was not the case always.
These guys did it every day and as I posted somewhere else, when we went bulk our churn driver stayed on the churns, as he fancied a lady dairy farmer down the road with about 5 cows
My memory of milk collections is from the perspective of a nine year old when Dad had to stop milking. Our stand was the right height for the lorry, afaicr, but it does have a fair two steps up. I have a feeling that it was around that time that the creamery wanted milk stands at the top of every lane, regardless of how well maintained the lanes were.
I marvel at how people carried 2cwt sacks of corn up the steps to the seed tallet. Slate steps, Devon rainfall and damp, ... and hobnail boots
Full churns certainly are heavy at a straight lift. One has to engage one's core, sure enough
Barley was 2 and a quarter the farmers wife down the road could carry them up the steps to the loft
primmiemoo
Member
- Location
- Devon
Did you manage to "keep" as many of the old ex MMB aluminium cans as you could
They weren't kept deliberately, but after Dad died and we felt able to open the dairy door again and have a look around, there they were. Enough for winter output of 20 cows.
Obviously, the two legged rats that came out from the village and from a particular farm the other side of it hadn't opened the door before then, or they'd be gone. Just like much of Dad's workshop tools.
I remember the time when theft stemmed from locals.
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Grain was sold by the quarter, but there were five quarters per ton!
- Location
- East Essexshire
Wheat was two and a quarter here, barley two, and beans two and a half. Oats were whatever you could get in there!
I'm told that my grandfather's party trick was to lay face down, have a full sack laid across his shoulders, and stand straight up with it.
- Location
- Ceredigion
I lifted churns at 14 we had muscles like Johnney England then , thought nothing of itMy memory of milk collections is from the perspective of a nine year old when Dad had to stop milking. Our stand was the right height for the lorry, afaicr, but it does have a fair two steps up. I have a feeling that it was around that time that the creamery wanted milk stands at the top of every lane, regardless of how well maintained the lanes were.
I marvel at how people carried 2cwt sacks of corn up the steps to the seed tallet. Slate steps, Devon rainfall and damp, ... and hobnail boots
Full churns certainly are heavy at a straight lift. One has to engage one's core, sure enough
Exfarmer
Member
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
I was lucky, we went bulk in 1962 so only ever remember helping lift, but I was only 11
- Tags
- agronomist docks roots varieties