I remember the time when...

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Yes, we can look back with rose tinted glasses, but i am very thankful for telehandlers and bulk handling now.

Dad went for an X ray on his back when he had some trouble in his 40's. They said he had the spine of a 70 year old which worried us as a family. That's when he bought the Sanderson and his back lasted another 40 years.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Yes, we can look back with rose tinted glasses, but i am very thankful for telehandlers and bulk handling now.

Dad went for an X ray on his back when he had some trouble in his 40's. They said he had the spine of a 70 year old which worried us as a family. That's when he bought the Sanderson and his back lasted another 40 years.

This is why I don’t shear and have a combi clamp.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Same where I grew up. Quite a few still had and used the Nissen huts that had been erected to house the POWs. In our area they were mainly Italian, and it always surprised me how many hadn't gone back home after the war.

A lot here were/are German and reckoned there was nothing to go back to. We also had Polish refugees and airmen lodging in the farmhouse. These went on to be very successful businessmen and women but moved off the land to Birmingham with a start up loan from my grandfather. A Yugoslav worked on the farm. Strongest worker they had ever known.

European workers are nothing new here.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
Ex's mother was a retired nurse. Where she worked they saw more ruptures due to farm workers trying to pull cambridge roller pups to hitch up than any other cause. It was the angle of pull that did it. Most sacks were lifted on to mans back so it wasn't a dead lift.
I know a man who still uses those old things.
I sometimes do, but they are never folded in
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
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:eek:
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;)
Not the lady dairy farmer who milked the Jerseys, wearing only her knickers in the Summer?
 

DRC

Member
It's no fun. Or is it. Imagine loading 7 ton of spuds onto a lorry by hand, knowing that bit of graft earned you enough to buy a new tractor.....
Or a year of hard graft earned enough to buy a farm.
Alright for the farmer . Not so good for the men. It’s interesting listening to Derek talking, but I bet he wouldn’t give up the Merc and all the other luxuries we enjoy, holidays abroad etc, to return to day after day of toil until you popped your clogs.
It is very interesting to see how it was done though .
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
I remember the time the young lad working alongside me on a faraway farm decided to take the set of rolls over the concrete bridge over a river. That bridge was no more than a concrete slab and used to frighten me on a tractor with nothing behind it.
Of course he put the “pups” in the water, no idea what he thought was going to happen. :D

Boss gave him the bollocking of a lifetime and stormed off. Got 10 yards and turned back and sacked him altogether.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Alright for the farmer . Not so good for the men. It’s interesting listening to Derek talking, but I bet he wouldn’t give up the Merc and all the other luxuries we enjoy, holidays abroad etc, to return to day after day of toil until you popped your clogs.
It is very interesting to see how it was done though .
I'm looking forward to going to work today . I'm putting lands drains in a part of a field my brother never got to do . That was in the 60ts , apart from my family the most rewarding thing I do is working on the land and see it improve , if I can do that when I'm 85 all the better. Nothing wrong with dieing with your boots on if you enjoy what you do
 
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!).

Firmin railway sacks were cwt and half(12st) Barley

14st Wheat and 2cwt(16st) Peas all tied with bailer twine tied in a corn tie'ers knot.

All lifted using a hicking stick if you had a mate or winding barrow if alone.

Been there, done it and got the t-shirt. (2 knee replacements and metal plate in back)
 

DRC

Member
I'm looking forward to going to work today . I'm putting lands drains in a part of a field my brother never got to do . That was in the 60ts , apart from my family the most rewarding thing I do is working on the land and see it improve , if I can do that when I'm 85 all the better. Nothing wrong with dieing with your boots on if you enjoy what you do
I enjoy a bit of draining as well. The Terex digger is a pleasure to drive. Much better than digging by hand
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
I enjoy a bit of draining as well. The Terex digger is a pleasure to drive. Much better than digging by hand
Our first digger was one like this . The cog slew would slip on a slope . It had no leveling jacks and no power loader so if you got stuck you were stuck
20190416_162904.jpg
 
Our first digger was one like this . The cog slew would slip on a slope . It had no leveling jacks and no power loader so if you got stuck you were stuck View attachment 788478

I tell you what, that must have been viewed as the finest thing since bread was sliced when they started turning up. Those old cable drawn shovels were a bit of a nightmare from what I was told.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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