Farming and the ageing process

flowerpot

Member
One reason that farmers (land owners) don't retire is Agricultural Reliefs. If you officially retire but continue to live in the farmhouse where you have lived all your life, you immediately loose agricultural relief.
 

flowerpot

Member
I was taken to task by neighbours wife for my comment on the same lines...

I said, "that the one advantage of getting old, is that the age range of women one finds attractive, increases as you get older.... At 20 say, it was probably 16-25, at 50 it is 18- 50, at 60, well, the range is even wider". I will give no ages to avoid suggestions of being a dirty old man :)

That's what my husband says as well!
 

bkg

Member
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 😂
Can beat you, picture the scene was working on a machine on a local farm, Chris turns up with a fancy fast track with a even more fancy trailer the ones with hydraulic sides to stop bales falling off, H would load him with big square bales, H is 83 !! first 3 bales H picks up off the top off the stack, top one rolls off removing mirror, light arm etc on a 634 mantiou Chris, wonders over to me in the shed opposite and said do i have a mirror, me wondering out side thinking is fast track was needing a mirror no he said H as just removed the mirror on the fork lift i said that's fucck all wait till he gets the bale spicks into them fancy trailer side boards Chris just sh!t his self saying no he cant do that i just said just wait and see he will, Chris runs off to direct loading operations. !!!
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
58 , work full time and no partner living at home and it will be a while if / when F takes on, so I'm busy inventing and investing in things that make my farming life easier / safer singlehanded. Much is involved in planning ahead including fetching and preparing cattle hurdles etc

I dread the day someone else dictates I cannot drive anymore but until then I plan to carry on living the dream thanks all the same
 
I'm sure my father in law is losing it, 68 ish.

Spent 10 mins telling me the loader frame has come loose on the MX and a head has sheared off a bolt.
And it wants some backend oil in too apparently - yes you know where the oil is.

Next thing I know hes gone off up the hill to fetch bucket loads of stone down with it.

f**king why!?
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
Haha yes I do, when I first met them they were bedding up, she pulled me to one side and said “watch him, he will run you over!”
Yes he’s a rare chap is loader driver, been a hell of a grafter over the years. He still turns up at 6 am most days, think he prefers to go there than sit at home waiting for god...

he was champing at the bit to go working land in front of me drilling the other day. He can still drive arrow straight more accurately than most gps systems as well.
 

Jupsterfarmer

Member
Arable Farmer
Comments in the H&S thread got me thinking as I’m now within a few months of turning 60.

I suppose I am increasingly a bit of a liability.

I won’t drive tractors unless forced to but any machine has to be hitched on for me; Mechanical jobs take me longer as I like to get everything just so - I do most of the slurry scraping and spend hours over it; I can’t milk as the parlour is too fast for me; I can’t roll a cow on my own any more; I refuse to get up at 5am unless we are staff critical; I wear more clothes than anyone else so can’t get through squeeze gaps (might also have something to do with the tum too); I spend longer fussing cows than others; and so on.

But I do do the monthly VAT; I do take some of the fingering; I am generally around the yard when others aren’t; I moan until jobs get done; i am the gofer to the Ag merchants; I am a sounding board even if I get ignored; I get to wear freebies especially beanies ....

Damn it all, I’m not ready to retire thankee
I'm 60 this year and I'm convinced the job keeps me fit and active. I say use it or lose it.
 

fgc325j

Member
Comments in the H&S thread got me thinking as I’m now within a few months of turning 60.

I suppose I am increasingly a bit of a liability.

I won’t drive tractors unless forced to but any machine has to be hitched on for me; Mechanical jobs take me longer as I like to get everything just so - I do most of the slurry scraping and spend hours over it; I can’t milk as the parlour is too fast for me; I can’t roll a cow on my own any more; I refuse to get up at 5am unless we are staff critical; I wear more clothes than anyone else so can’t get through squeeze gaps (might also have something to do with the tum too); I spend longer fussing cows than others; and so on.

But I do do the monthly VAT; I do take some of the fingering; I am generally around the yard when others aren’t; I moan until jobs get done; i am the gofer to the Ag merchants; I am a sounding board even if I get ignored; I get to wear freebies especially beanies ....

Damn it all, I’m not ready to retire thankee
Well - i took myself and my then girlfriend off on a holiday to Canada around 10 years ago, and in Jasper, halfway up Whistler mountain, we stopped
to talk to a couple - turned out they were Kiwi dairy farmers, early 50's, and after spending 30 odd years building up a 400+ dairy herd, they had gone
into partnership with a share milker "in order that we can have time off to travel the world whilst we still can". So there you are, you have a son who is
probably able to deal with any crisis that turns up whilst you are travelling . In fact, i'd ask you to name a potential crisis occurring, while you were away,
which he could not deal with ???.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Farming has changed a lot , gone are the days when we have to do everything ourselves , how many of those Massey Tractors JF foragers and Fraser Trailers did Willis Bros sell in the 70ts, every farm around here had them
Now its just a matter of picking up the phone
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
age is just a number

there are over 60’s that are sharper and fitter than some 20 yr olds !

all depends how well you have looked after your body and mind

that said i would happily retire by 60 (or less !)............. more to life than work surely
 
I used to have a business that involved a lot of desk work and a lot of driving. I was regularly at the osteopath for back problems. Since coming back to practical farming and selling that business I have never had so little backache and I've just turned 63.

I firmly believe you use it or lose it. The conundrum I have at the moment is about longer term investment. For example most of our cattle buildings are old, inefficient and in need of a major revamp.

We've just learnt they are going to be compulsorily purchased in the next couple of years. If I was 20 years younger I wouldn't hesitate to put up a really good cattle shed with the compensation, but now??

Alternative is to sell most of the cows and keep more sheep. No family interested in following on
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.2%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.3%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 6 3.3%

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

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  • 1
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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