Don’t listen my dads 80 in Oct still does the sheparding feeds all sheep with a bag. Carts silage does all the rolling goes round the cows at night. But he’s sensible and isn’t afraid to ask and doesn’t go in with cows likes his own tractor etc.
Farming and the ageing process
- Thread starter Bald Rick
- Start date
Jane Fonda... a very young Jane Fonda?
Now for a meeting with her at the peak of her gorgeousness, I would dust off the Viagra box and go kill some Oysters!
- Location
- Limousin/Charentes toad land
Tubbylew
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
When "the boy" starts paying for the glass, i remember coming home from work and dad had managed to rip a door off my cattle crush and bend the top door on the shed it was in, I still haven't a clue how he did it and he was in far too much of a temper for me to ask at the time. I'm quite looking foward to not giving a f**k.
- Location
- North West
My old man will turn 70 this year and he’s still doing a full weeks work driving machines etc (mainly because he can’t go to his house in Spain at the moment 
). BUT Jesus Christ he can scare the sh!t out of me sometimes 
and why oh why are older folks obsessed with driving tele-handlers when it’s the one machine that can do the most damage I’ll never know!
I didn’t manage to get my grandad to retire until he was 78 (he’s now 96) and that was only because his eyesight pretty much went altogether. So I my have another 18 years before I can get my old man to retire
). BUT Jesus Christ he can scare the sh!t out of me sometimes and why oh why are older folks obsessed with driving tele-handlers when it’s the one machine that can do the most damage I’ll never know! I didn’t manage to get my grandad to retire until he was 78 (he’s now 96) and that was only because his eyesight pretty much went altogether. So I my have another 18 years before I can get my old man to retire
- Location
- Limousin/Charentes toad land
Best part of 20 years ago, a Brit bought this place. It was a run down sheep farm with a near derelict house. He set up a herd of limousins from scratch. He didn’t speak french... he was 83 when he came here! I think he must have been mad but what balls. I have far more respect for him than all those I meet « oh, we did so well, we came here to retire in our 50’s »
.
It doesn’t quite have the perfect end, he was found dead in a 20 ha field of cows in December, when he was 88
.It doesn’t quite have the perfect end, he was found dead in a 20 ha field of cows in December, when he was 88
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My old man will turn 70 this year and he’s still doing a full weeks work driving machines etc (mainly because he can’t go to his house in Spain at the moment
I didn’t manage to get my grandad to retire until he was 78 (he’s now 96) and that was only because his eyesight pretty much went altogether. So I my have another 18 years before I can get my old man to retire
My late Uncle modified several buildings here with the old Teleshift. The Dutch Barn legs are a continual reminder of the perils of old age!!
- Location
- North West
Yes he’s left his mark on most of the machines and buildingsMy late Uncle modified several buildings here with the old Teleshift. The Dutch Barn legs are a continual reminder of the perils of old age!!
Devil's advocate
Member
- Location
- Posh side of Barnsley
I'm 56 and feel, I'm just starting out.
Am I too old now for harvesting veg by hand, stacking hay bales by hand (3,000 hay & 12,000 straw) & lambing ewes.
Odd how I find so many women in their 60's attractive, that was not the case when I was 16. edit Oh & so often think gosh that young girl has got greys early, then find out the young girl is late 40's or early 50's.
Am I too old now for harvesting veg by hand, stacking hay bales by hand (3,000 hay & 12,000 straw) & lambing ewes.
Odd how I find so many women in their 60's attractive, that was not the case when I was 16. edit Oh & so often think gosh that young girl has got greys early, then find out the young girl is late 40's or early 50's.
He’s a baler man really he still does a bit of that if my brother needs to do something else. He’s never driven a combine in his life done plenty of bagging and maintenance for his father but never actually driven it.
Best part of 20 years ago, a Brit bought this place. It was a run down sheep farm with a near derelict house. He set up a herd of limousins from scratch. He didn’t speak french... he was 83 when he came here! I think he must have been mad but what balls. I have far more respect for him than all those I meet « oh, we did so well, we came here to retire in our 50’s »
It doesn’t quite have the perfect end, he was found dead in a 20 ha field of cows in December, when he was 88
At least he had far more ambition than to just give in to old age, and die dribbling by a window. Hats off to him.
- Location
- Exeter, Devon
We took this place on 5 years ago when we were both 50. Sheep, beef, arable, holiday cottage, commercial kitchen and started veg last year. Only some part time help since we started the veg. I can run rings round the youngsters with the manual work and often have a resting heart rate of 57. Hopefully the experience which comes with age also means I’m more safety conscious. No doubt it will catch up with me at some point, but the idea of stopping at 60 would do me far more harm than good.
- Location
- North West
Thing is, hand picking veg and manual Labour isn’t likely to cause a major accident.
However backing over someone with a machine because you can’t twist round to look over your shoulder properly, or forgetting to put the handbrake on etc is far more likely to happen. It’s knowing what you can and can’t do safely. Could you save yourself if you stumble on top of the hay stack like you could do 10 years ago? I’m only 40 and know I can’t jump around like I could 10 years ago!
Paddington
Member
- Location
- Soggy Shropshire
Our sheep breeding over the years has been successful, ewes are much heavier and nimble now and lambs are much speedier than we used to get and can jump the higher stock fencing that fence manufacturers introduced secretly some time ago.
Goweresque
Member
- Location
- North Wilts
The much quoted figure of the 'average farmer' being 59 is in fact the average age of the farm business owner, ie the average age of the names on the BPS application. Not the average age of the people out sitting in tractors, milking cows and generally doing the risky stuff that can result in accidents. Many of the 'farmers' included in that 59 age stat will be people who rarely do hands on farm work, typically a older woman. For example my 80 year old mother is still a partner in 2 farming businesses yet she never does a days work on the farm (understandably!). Yet she's adding to the 'average age of farmers'
If one imagines the average family farming partnership there could be 2 older/elderly partners and maybe one or 2 younger ones of the next generation. Or indeed the younger generation may not even have been brought into the partnership, yet they are doing the bulk of the day to day work. The average age of the farming business owner has little to do with the average age of the people out working on the farm (be they partners, family members, paid employees or contractors). It is ludicrous to imagine that the average age of the people doing the day to day work on farms is 59. For that to be true there would have to be huge numbers of 70+ year olds out there putting in 90 hour weeks on silage carts and at grain harvest to match all the 20 somethings that we know do such work. Its just not the reality.
- Location
- Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos
There is a big difference between being fit to work at 60 and being unfit to run a business at 80, thinking they still have the business acumen and savy-ness to do it all, When what they are really doing is making a complete plonker of themselves because they are so selfish enough as to hate the idea of their successor doing a better job than themselves.
There really should be a way of telling these people that it genuinely is time to stop and pass the reigns on.
I am 60 and convinced that I act more safety consciously than I have ever done. Forcing people to stop work at this age is ridiculous, especially if they cannot actually afford to retire yet. What else exactly can they do until they actually do retire?
Strangely enough, regarding my main job, I am the only one here now. People ask how I do it all. I just do - with far less panic, than when I was a younger man. I enjoy it and take enormous pride in it all. If and when I need help, we have a joint venture with our neighbours on a machinery and labour sharing basis. We have the lions share of the machinery and they have the staff numbers to use it. Which 90% of the time is on their farm, not ours.
As long as you feel willing, safe and able to carry on working, do so. But there will come a time when everybody needs to stop. People should not be afraid to tell them so and those being told so, should not be arrogant enough to not listen to them.
There really should be a way of telling these people that it genuinely is time to stop and pass the reigns on.
I am 60 and convinced that I act more safety consciously than I have ever done. Forcing people to stop work at this age is ridiculous, especially if they cannot actually afford to retire yet. What else exactly can they do until they actually do retire?
Strangely enough, regarding my main job, I am the only one here now. People ask how I do it all. I just do - with far less panic, than when I was a younger man. I enjoy it and take enormous pride in it all. If and when I need help, we have a joint venture with our neighbours on a machinery and labour sharing basis. We have the lions share of the machinery and they have the staff numbers to use it. Which 90% of the time is on their farm, not ours.
As long as you feel willing, safe and able to carry on working, do so. But there will come a time when everybody needs to stop. People should not be afraid to tell them so and those being told so, should not be arrogant enough to not listen to them.
Seem to be plenty of oldies about here and on the forum!
willie waver
Member
- Location
- walking in the ayr
37 posts in and i'm still trying to figure out what bald ricks fingering is referring to?
if your reactions are still sharp what does age matter? Some are done by 50 others can climb the Matterhorn at 90. If the enthusiasm is still there, don't give up. The only hardship I suffer is the ever increasing regulating to pander to the current fickle public mood. The physical part of the job is of enormous benefit for someone lazy like me.
This thread seems to indicate a surrender attitude among posters. Death follows soon after retirement so keep the grim reaper away and keep farming!
This thread seems to indicate a surrender attitude among posters. Death follows soon after retirement so keep the grim reaper away and keep farming!
- Location
- West Somerset
Couldn't agree more,!