Best Time In Recent History To Farm ?

[bluebell]

theres a series made for TV called the village, i came across on youtube its about the village of peasanhall in suffolk where they used to make smyth seed drills, anyway theres a clip of a farmer moaning that farmland is gone over 200 pound an acre, that was made in 1969, please excuse the spelling of the village name, does anyone live locally near there ?

 

[Jackov Altraids]

31/12/19, 09.11-09.20 - The first lambs of this season were born!

I've not had any more born yet but I've had 3 ewes die. Normal service resumed.

 

[Campbell]

If the machinery trade is an indicator, I'd say the 70s. A bloke with tin shed and a set of A/F spanners could be signed up as a JD dealer...................

 

[KMA]

I think your dates are wrong, BSE only kicked in late 80’s.
The rendering temperatures were lowered about 1980.
It had been a legal requirement to include a certain proportion of MBM in feed to cut the import bill for proteins

Yes, your right early morning waiting to go for a gastroscopy obviously not thinking too well. There were rumblings among our Continental customers with imports being banned long before it was taken seriously in the UK. Regardless of legislation they should never have been feeding the stuff to calves whos' digestive and immune systems hadn't properly developed and I've got a pretty good idea what the product was. I still think there are a lot of improvements that could be made in the way we feed animals, the current systems seem to be a treadmill of creating problems so various entities can make money by 'curing' them.

 

[Two Tone]

theres a series made for TV called the village, i came across on youtube its about the village of peasanhall in suffolk where they used to make smyth seed drills, anyway theres a clip of a farmer moaning that farmland is gone over 200 pound an acre, that was made in 1969, please excuse the spelling of the village name, does anyone live locally near there ?

Yes, I used to live near there. It’s Peasenhall in Suffolk. There is some fascinating stuff on Google all about the Smyth family and their famous seed drills. My brother still has one in a shed not far away from Peasenhall. They used removable weights on each coulter to get the seed depth right. This meant that if the soils wasn’t quite level, all the seed would still be drilled at the same depth.

 

[Cowabunga]

Yes, I used to live near there. It’s Peasenhall in Suffolk. There is some fascinating stuff on Google all about the Smyth family and their famous seed drills. My brother still has one in a shed not far away from Peasenhall. They used removable weights on each coulter to get the seed depth right. This meant that if the soils wasn’t quite level, all the seed would still be drilled at the same depth.

Tiny little village that has an annual pea festival. Very nice place as far as I could see passing through. Didn't strike me as being the least industrial but I'm sure that it would have had a blacksmith that probably branched out into implement production.

This prompts me to do some research later tonight into the drill and the history of the place. Have you any online references other than the video, which I'll watch tonight?

 

[glasshouse]

1994-95-96
Fantastic times before some twonk dreamt up farm assurance
Dry weather
Cheap fuel
Big prices

 

[Two Tone]

Tiny little village that has an annual pea festival. Very nice place as far as I could see passing through. Didn't strike me as being the least industrial but I'm sure that it would have had a blacksmith that probably branched out into implement production.

This prompts me to do some research later tonight into the drill and the history of the place. Have you any online references other than the video, which I'll watch tonight?

If you go on to YouTube and search for The English Village is Alive and Well, you can find all 7 bits of the life on Peasenhall Village from the early 1900s to 1969. There is a lot about the Smyth drill amongst it and various bits about farming.

A word of warning though: I haven’t lived near there for 24 years and even I (now) struggle a bit to understand the local accent! Best of luck, but I’m sure you will enjoy it.

Which translates to “suffunt” like this:
U wud o wornen thoo: Oi hint livd over there fer for-un-twenty years und evun oi struggle t’understand the loocul acsunt! All-a-best, um shore yu’ll injoy ut.

It was narrated by Robert Dougall, who used to be a BBC newsreader and lived nearby. He as a keen birdwatcher and helped set up Minsmere Wildflowl Trust on the nearby Coast, just South of Dunwich and North of the Sizewell Nuclear Power Station.

As for the Peas, Birdseye used to grow a lot of them in the area for their factory at Lowestoft, presumably as an offshoot of the frozen fish business. I can remember hauling many lorry loads of freshly vined peas from Peasenhall to the factory and it is absolutely true that they are harvested and frozen within 2 hours.

 

[Cowabunga]

Thanks!

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Without any doubt the best time was during the early 70's through to the mid 90's.
It was joining the EU which made the massive difference in profitability as it opened up so many markets. The sheep price saw a massive lift with lambs trebling in price.
Calves were incredibly valuable with Holstein/Friesian bull calves immediately making a £100 plus for the veal units and good beef cross calves up to £300. Headage payments and relatively cheap grain and it was a marvellous time.
My Father bought a 300 acre farm on an overdraft and paid it off in a year!!

My greatest fear now is as we leave the EU this situation will be reversed for the next 20 odd years.

 

[bobk]

Now is the best time to make money , but 80's were the best cos I was fit as a butchers dog , youth is wasted on the young

 

[Lincs Lass]

If my graddad was still alive ,,he would say the war years ,39-45 ,,he allways talked about the community spirit ,,the farm work force taking proper meal breaks ,the banter and no job was a rush ,the land girls and farm blokes that couldnt serve their country for various reasons making lite of a bad situation,,Those were the days he often said.

 

[glasshouse]

Now is the best time to make money , but 80's were the best cos I was fit as a butchers dog , youth is wasted on the young

Now?
Pull the other one

 

[glasshouse]

If my graddad was still alive ,,he would say the war years ,39-45 ,,he allways talked about the community spirit ,,the farm work force taking proper meal breaks ,the banter and no job was a rush ,the land girls and farm blokes that couldnt serve their country for various reasons making lite of a bad situation,,Those were the days he often said.

The biggest thing i read was that during the war the farmers felt valued, after 50 odd yrs of bring treated like sh1t.

 

[bobk]

Now?
Pull the other one

Get yourself a better leader .

 

[Lincs Lass]

The biggest thing i read was that during the war the farmers felt valued, after 50 odd yrs of bring treated like sh1t.

They produced food to keep the country alive ,,every little thing was eaten,,no waste ,no wrong shape,size or color .

 

[glasshouse]

Get yourself a better leader .

Have you been on the vino again?

 

[bobk]

Have you been on the vino again?

If you're not making now it doesn't bode well when you're on your jack jones .

 

[690 multi-power]

Yes, I used to live near there. It’s Peasenhall in Suffolk. There is some fascinating stuff on Google all about the Smyth family and their famous seed drills. My brother still has one in a shed not far away from Peasenhall. They used removable weights on each coulter to get the seed depth right. This meant that if the soils wasn’t quite level, all the seed would still be drilled at the same depth.

just watched all the episodes, brilliant. that strong suffolk twang

 

[690 multi-power]

Without any doubt the best time was during the early 70's through to the mid 90's.
It was joining the EU which made the massive difference in profitability as it opened up so many markets. The sheep price saw a massive lift with lambs trebling in price.
Calves were incredibly valuable with Holstein/Friesian bull calves immediately making a £100 plus for the veal units and good beef cross calves up to £300. Headage payments and relatively cheap grain and it was a marvellous time.
My Father bought a 300 acre farm on an overdraft and paid it off in a year!!

My greatest fear now is as we leave the EU this situation will be reversed for the next 20 odd years.

that it wont, we will strive once again, pig prices are constantly on the rise albeit little by little