- Location
- The moon
I sincerely hope your adding in the non biodegrade charge at a tenner an acre with bale twine and net?
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Not everyone who wants relaxing years , last day I worked with my father who was 86 years old had bad legs and dementia he got most most upset because his body wouldnāt allow him to do work the mind wanted to do , I know a guy who is nearly 80 just bought a heap more land already farms thousands acres thousands sheep cattle pigs the whole lot and when you tak to him he is keener than most teenagers are on farming and farm work .There are many benefits of muck but in DrW's specific situation there is a human factor whereby he's looking to simplify his system, reduce workload and enjoy life and farming. This takes priority IMO, he's a good and sympathetic farmer who looks after his land and the way he treats it, it will continue to improve with or without muck. He's earned a few easier years, there's more to life than just the land. My neighbour died last week, 63, always worked hard to the highest standards, he more than earned a few relaxing years but never got them
My father was similar but he got rid of the stock at 50 same as we have done. Only got them back when the next generation took over. We have had 20 years of stock and can see why father got rid when he did.Not everyone who wants relaxing years , last day I worked with my father who was 86 years old had bad legs and dementia he got most most upset because his body wouldnāt allow him to do work the mind wanted to do , I know a guy who is nearly 80 just bought a heap more land already farms thousands acres thousands sheep cattle pigs the whole lot and when you tak to him he is keener than most teenagers are on farming and farm work .
So I am offered 500 tonnes 2 miles away through a twee village with very narrow streets and badly parked cars, inhabited by people who like ringing the council. I am expected to haul half of it myself which might end up me doing the entire mucking out job, you never really know. I have an aged 8 t dump trailer with holes in the floor patched up with boards and an elderly tractor. The livestock (beef) farmer wants all my straw off say 150 acres in return which he will bale and haul. He also takes in straw from land infested with blackgrass but apparently the seed dies in the heap. Not guaranteed stone free or wrap free either. I have to spread it and incorporate it, maybe plough it in. I have an elderly muck spreader and telehandler which donāt really like breaking a sweat, a bit like myself.
I know muck benefits the soil, but my gut says āavoidā, mainly because of the haulage, the disruption to my simple cheap direct drilling system and the blackgrass risk.
Am I being idiot, or am I avoiding being a busy fool? My gut says no and I think itās right but just wondered what people thought. That straw chopper switch doesnāt half save some trailing about IMO.
Thatās what contractors are for.My father was similar but he got rid of the stock at 50 same as we have done. Only got them back when the next generation took over. We have had 20 years of stock and can see why father got rid when he did.
And then there is the economics of hauling and spreading muck, spending money and wearing kit out. I reckon itās a pence per hour job, and Iām sick of those. Nor am I very enthusiastic about hauling in blackgrass and wild oats. It certainly wonāt fund a new telehandler and trailer after its prematurely worn ours out. No, Iāll leave it to young and enthusiastic twin beacon boys with dodgy calculators.
Itās still a crap deal.Thatās what contractors are for.
The problem here is, being in a NVZ with just enough stock on.I must be missing something here.
I'm a livestock farmer who buys in straw.
I want the muck for my own land.
We have stock and all our straw goes through the animals and back into the fields, any surplus is lent to someone else to use and then returned and if anyone has any surplus I'll have that as well. I'll gladly put two tractors and 14t trailers on if there's some poo to be had and that includes pop from unknown sources of straw I can cope with some weeds for the long term gains.I must be missing something here.
I'm a livestock farmer who buys in straw.
I want the muck for my own land.