Farming in the 80s and 90s was more fun

[livestock 1]

Bloody miserable now in comparison

 

[jamesy]

For sure

 

[Muddyroads]

Most things were weren’t they?

 

[Thick Farmer]

Everything was. I used to go for a few pints after work in those days...

 

[Muddyroads]

No snowflakes, no vegans, no political correctness, better music (in the 80’s anyway), less admin, no red tractor, fewer grey hairs, machinery and cars you could fix with spanners, no social media, only 4 tv channels......

 

[Hilly]

aye ya right ya nar .

 

[livestock 1]

Buying cows with big calves never see them anymore.

 

[livestock 1]

My father would never pass anything out at the mart and never expected to achieve a certain price or complained when he did unlike myself.
Although I think profits were easier to achieve.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Farming last year was better than this year

 

[livestock 1]

Farming last year was better than this year

That’s very true. Even the wet winter we’ve had was a bit of a pain here that’s fallen into insignificance now on the grand scale of things

 

[yellowbelly]

No snowflakes, no vegans, no political correctness, better music (in the 80’s anyway), less admin, no red tractor, fewer grey hairs, machinery and cars you could fix with spanners, no social media, only 4 tv channels......

............until the late 70's there was no air con either - but, on balance, I'll take the 70's and 80's and just open the back window

 

[yellowbelly]

Everything was. I used to go for a few pints after work in those days...

..........and then there was the young ladies ?? - mind you, most of them are still around, but just a bit more wrinkly ?

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

You'll get me misty eyed for the beef special premium, sheep annual premium, bull payment, exstensification etc etc

 

[Agrivator]

No snowflakes, no vegans, no political correctness, better music (in the 80’s anyway), less admin, no red tractor, fewer grey hairs, machinery and cars you could fix with spanners, no social media, only 4 tv channels......

I remember a branch NFU meeting in the late 80s, when the secretary warned we might have to provide a list of ear tag numbers for Hill-cow subsidy claims.

One member's reaction was: ''pissoff, it can't be true.'' And now we can't move a fence post without filling in a form retrospectively.

 

[Hfd Cattle]

............until the late 70's there was no air con either - but, on balance, I'll take the 70's and 80's and just open the back window

I still have to !!

 

[livestock 1]

............until the late 70's there was no air con either - but, on balance, I'll take the 70's and 80's and just open the back window

I still struggle to drive with the back window closed now

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

............until the late 70's there was no air con either - but, on balance, I'll take the 70's and 80's and just open the back window

I was going to say lucky you having a window to open(you obviously had a cab) but on reflection, poor you, I can remember sugarbeet lugging, corn lugging, cambridge rolling, fert speading, everything really, and all on a mf35 absolute heaven, you could just stand up, open her up, and have the snow,rain, wind in your face, gorgeous, loved every minute.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Aye them were the days you say,
No Internet to hear folks moaning about everything,
The mobile phone was a CB at best, and people rang up the day before they wanted something doing, NOT can you be here in 5 mins time,
And can you remember back then a 100hp tractor was all you needed to do all the work,
Air con was for softies,
Working 85 hours a week was deamed part time,
And after a long day, off to the pub for a pint, and stare at the bar maids tits before going home to shag the wife, with the light off,
And having to clean calf pens out with a fork, can you remember that ?
Cows fed on silage and cake in parlour, no feeder wagon,
Hay for young stock was easier made and we waited and got it good,
Potatoes was planted with a ferguson planter in a 135, that's a massey ferguson not 135 hp,
Turnips were hand hoed , yes a long shaft with a blade on it, and no seat,
In winter muçk was lead out with 2 wd tractors,
And pulling the headlands and breaks for the nets for turnip sheep on cold wet days, so cold, if you wanted a pee you had to lean towards a fence to get it out over the leggings, and nets were moved by hand,
Fencing was mainly done by hand, and getting a contractor in was unheard of,
Bait was carried, and by tea time was spewed all over the box, with dry turned up bread in one corner and cheese and tomato in the other,, and the chocolate bar bought at the village shop, yes there was village shops back then, was softer than skitter,
Flask would last a week before rolling under the seat on a bumpy track while carting silage in a single axle trailer, yes single not a girt big twin axle trailer,,
Hay was hand stacked in the barn under a hot tin roof on a very hot day, only thing to keep you cool was Top Deck shandy, remember that ?,
Girls were natural, no makeup or long nails,
Paperwork was something the boy delivered early morning to none workers,
A £20 note lasted you all week and still had change left over, as you had little time to spend it,
The roads had little traffic on them,
Money could be made, and more so kept,
Red diesel was about 11 a litre,
Summer holidays were in this country, I think think they still do holidays in this country today, back then taking the plain, was to get a bit off the bottom on a door after a new carpet was fitted,
Kids walked to catch the school bus,
And when they got home from school they had jobs to do,
Food not from the village shop, was got from traveling shops and butchers,

If They seemed the best years of your life, that was because you had youth on your side, as you get older, and things start to fall out or wear out, and they seem not so good today,
Remember it is not the things you did that you regret, it's the things you did not do,
More the life than work

 

[Muddyroads]

Aye them were the days you say,
No Internet to hear folks moaning about everything,
The mobile phone was a CB at best, and people rang up the day before they wanted something doing, NOT can you be here in 5 mins time,
And can you remember back then a 100hp tractor was all you needed to do all the work,
Air con was for softies,
Working 85 hours a week was deamed part time,
And after a long day, off the the pub for a pint, and stare at the bar maids tits before going home to shag the wife, with the light off,
And having to clean calf pens out with a fork, can you remember that ?
Cows fed on silage and cake in parlour, no feeder wagon,
Hay for young stock was easier made and we waited and got it good,
Potatoes was planted with a ferguson planter in a 135, that's a massey ferguson not the hp,
Turnips were hand hoed , yes a long shaft with a blade on it, and no seat,
In winter muçk was lead out with 2 wd tractors,
And nets for turnip sheep were moved by hand,
Fencing was mainly done by hand, and getting a contractor in was unheard of,
Bait was carried, and by tea time was spewed all over the box, with dry turned up bread in one corner and cheese and tomato in the other,, and the chocolate bar bought at the village shop, yes there was village shops back then, was softer than skitter,
Flask would last a week before rolling under the seat on a bumpy track while carting silage in a single axle trailer, yes single not a girt big twin axle trailer,,
Hay was hand stacked in the barn under a hot tin roof on a very hot day, only thing to keep you cool was Top Deck shandy, remember that ?,
Girls were natural, no makeup or long nails,
Paper was something the boy delivered early morning to none workers,
A £20 note lasted you all week and still had change left over, as you had little time to spend it,
The roads had little traffic on them,
Money could be made, and more so kept,
Red diesel was about 11 a litre,
Summer holidays were in this country, I think that still do holidays in this country today, back then taking the plain, was to get a bit off the bottom on a door after a new carpet was fitted,
Kids walked to catch the school bus,
And when they got home from school they had jobs to do,
Food not from the village shop, was got from traveling shops and butchers,

If They seemed the best years of your life, that was because you had youth on your side, as you get older, and things start to fall out or wear out, and they seem not so good today,
Remember it is not the things you did that you regret, it's the things you did not do,
More the life than work

Great post. Particularly reminding me of that sinking feeling you got when you realised the flask had gone under the seat. Being the smallest on the farm for several years, I too used to get the job of packing the last few loads under the hot corrugated roof of Dutch barns.
1 boss used to pay me at the end of each week in £1 notes, pausing as he gave me each one to make sure I was grateful.
Putting netting on metal stakes each time we moved sheep on roots was hard, but they never broke through, and I remember seeing a topless woman for the first time as a teenager when we stopped for a breather on the banks of the river Wye while hand hoeing sugar beet. She was canoeing on a beautiful day in the middle of nowhere when she spotted 4 scruffy farm workers on the bank watching her every move!

 

[clod hopper]

Aye them were the days you say,
No Internet to hear folks moaning about everything,
The mobile phone was a CB at best, and people rang up the day before they wanted something doing, NOT can you be here in 5 mins time,
And can you remember back then a 100hp tractor was all you needed to do all the work,
Air con was for softies,
Working 85 hours a week was deamed part time,
And after a long day, off the the pub for a pint, and stare at the bar maids tits before going home to shag the wife, with the light off,
And having to clean calf pens out with a fork, can you remember that ?
Cows fed on silage and cake in parlour, no feeder wagon,
Hay for young stock was easier made and we waited and got it good,
Potatoes was planted with a ferguson planter in a 135, that's a massey ferguson not the hp,
Turnips were hand hoed , yes a long shaft with a blade on it, and no seat,
In winter muçk was lead out with 2 wd tractors,
And nets for turnip sheep were moved by hand,
Fencing was mainly done by hand, and getting a contractor in was unheard of,
Bait was carried, and by tea time was spewed all over the box, with dry turned up bread in one corner and cheese and tomato in the other,, and the chocolate bar bought at the village shop, yes there was village shops back then, was softer than skitter,
Flask would last a week before rolling under the seat on a bumpy track while carting silage in a single axle trailer, yes single not a girt big twin axle trailer,,
Hay was hand stacked in the barn under a hot tin roof on a very hot day, only thing to keep you cool was Top Deck shandy, remember that ?,
Girls were natural, no makeup or long nails,
Paper was something the boy delivered early morning to none workers,
A £20 note lasted you all week and still had change left over, as you had little time to spend it,
The roads had little traffic on them,
Money could be made, and more so kept,
Red diesel was about 11 a litre,
Summer holidays were in this country, I think that still do holidays in this country today, back then taking the plain, was to get a bit off the bottom on a door after a new carpet was fitted,
Kids walked to catch the school bus,
And when they got home from school they had jobs to do,
Food not from the village shop, was got from traveling shops and butchers,

If They seemed the best years of your life, that was because you had youth on your side, as you get older, and things start to fall out or wear out, and they seem not so good today,
Remember it is not the things you did that you regret, it's the things you did not do,
More the life than work

"Here Here!!" Dam it was good ?