How long would UK farmers last in the Outback ?

IIRC Australia has 9 of the worlds 10 most deadly snakes.

It might, or might not be 9 out pf 10, but it is quite high. Most of them tend not to be too aggressive. Only once did a snake try to bite me in 13 years there - a red bellied black (quite pretty in a weird sort of way) and it made the mistake of not knowing I always wear wellies - even in 45ºC. It failed to penetrate the welly and died under its heel.


I lasted 3 months. Trip to town once a week for supplies/food.

Working with cattle/driving tractors. I'm weird but i quite enjoyed the isolation.

Not too far from farmer roy, a place called walgett. Did look at going back, farmer agreed to sponsor me but never did.

Great people, great country. Back when they'd rain though 2001.

Once a week for supplies? You must have lived fairly close to town. I used to take my wife in about every six weeks. 97 miles each way (to Tamworth) when we first arrived, and then they built a supermarket in Moree, only 50 miles.

A while after the 1982/83 drought I decided I needed some extra cash so did a stint as Finance Director for the Council in Walgett. FYI Walgett Shire Council area is bigger than Wales so the road gangs could be a long way from home. When it is wet those black soil roads are a lot worse to drive on than when it is dry.

We lived in town during the week and just went back to the property at weekends and holiday times. I had become used to not seeing the cattle every day and they did not take any hurt. I had an arrangement with a neighbour to look in mid week so they were seen as often as they would be when I was home all the time. That idea of not seeing the stock every day was the hardest adjustment to make after farming in the UK, but the places are so big you would be doing nothing else. I would ride one horse out in the morning and another in the afternoons. About 15 miles of fencing to keep in order too, so best checking those on horseback and come back with a vehicle when necessary.

i quite fancy aus or America but it’s a hell of a step.

No, it is easy to move. We went to Aus in 1979, Black Isle in 1993 and here in 2003 at the age of 59, but our next move (the Azores) will be for retirement. In the meantime I pick olives every dry day for the next few weeks.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
It might, or might not be 9 out pf 10, but it is quite high. Most of them tend not to be too aggressive. Only once did a snake try to bite me in 13 years there - a red bellied black (quite pretty in a weird sort of way) and it made the mistake of not knowing I always wear wellies - even in 45ºC. It failed to penetrate the welly and died under its heel.




Once a week for supplies? You must have lived fairly close to town. I used to take my wife in about every six weeks. 97 miles each way (to Tamworth) when we first arrived, and then they built a supermarket in Moree, only 50 miles.

A while after the 1982/83 drought I decided I needed some extra cash so did a stint as Finance Director for the Council in Walgett. FYI Walgett Shire Council area is bigger than Wales so the road gangs could be a long way from home. When it is wet those black soil roads are a lot worse to drive on than when it is dry.

We lived in town during the week and just went back to the property at weekends and holiday times. I had become used to not seeing the cattle every day and they did not take any hurt. I had an arrangement with a neighbour to look in mid week so they were seen as often as they would be when I was home all the time. That idea of not seeing the stock every day was the hardest adjustment to make after farming in the UK, but the places are so big you would be doing nothing else. I would ride one horse out in the morning and another in the afternoons. About 15 miles of fencing to keep in order too, so best checking those on horseback and come back with a vehicle when necessary.



No, it is easy to move. We went to Aus in 1979, Black Isle in 1993 and here in 2003 at the age of 59, but our next move (the Azores) will be for retirement. In the meantime I pick olives every dry day for the next few weeks.
No it wasn't that far. It was more because we were working 7 days a week we only got in once a week.

You maybe know the farm if you worked in Walgett, was called Euroka, its shearing sheds were where the wolesley shearing machine was invented. Jim Obrien was farmer.
 

Hindsight

Member
Location
Lincolnshire
[QUOTE
, but our next move (the Azores) will be for retirement.
[/QUOTE]

But on the Brexit board you have been a strong advocate of Leave and I recall you saying you voted Leave as planned to return to UK for retirement. Unless I misread that or I made it up? In whuch case apologies. If you did though vote Leave and have strongly advocated Leave yet now are not retiring to UK I am somewhat disappointed. Hey ho.
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
But on the Brexit board you have been a strong advocate of Leave and I recall you saying you voted Leave as planned to return to UK for retirement. Unless I misread that or I made it up? In whuch case apologies. If you did though vote Leave and have strongly advocated Leave yet now are not retiring to UK I am somewhat disappointed. Hey ho.

Decision is probably more to do with the weather than politics
 

Hilly

Member
It might, or might not be 9 out pf 10, but it is quite high. Most of them tend not to be too aggressive. Only once did a snake try to bite me in 13 years there - a red bellied black (quite pretty in a weird sort of way) and it made the mistake of not knowing I always wear wellies - even in 45ºC. It failed to penetrate the welly and died under its heel.




Once a week for supplies? You must have lived fairly close to town. I used to take my wife in about every six weeks. 97 miles each way (to Tamworth) when we first arrived, and then they built a supermarket in Moree, only 50 miles.

A while after the 1982/83 drought I decided I needed some extra cash so did a stint as Finance Director for the Council in Walgett. FYI Walgett Shire Council area is bigger than Wales so the road gangs could be a long way from home. When it is wet those black soil roads are a lot worse to drive on than when it is dry.

We lived in town during the week and just went back to the property at weekends and holiday times. I had become used to not seeing the cattle every day and they did not take any hurt. I had an arrangement with a neighbour to look in mid week so they were seen as often as they would be when I was home all the time. That idea of not seeing the stock every day was the hardest adjustment to make after farming in the UK, but the places are so big you would be doing nothing else. I would ride one horse out in the morning and another in the afternoons. About 15 miles of fencing to keep in order too, so best checking those on horseback and come back with a vehicle when necessary.



No, it is easy to move. We went to Aus in 1979, Black Isle in 1993 and here in 2003 at the age of 59, but our next move (the Azores) will be for retirement. In the meantime I pick olives every dry day for the next few weeks.
It’s big step when already have my dream farm here , the thing that makes me want to leave is the sh!t politics and crap weather.
 
No it wasn't that far. It was more because we were working 7 days a week we only got in once a week.

You maybe know the farm if you worked in Walgett, was called Euroka, its shearing sheds were where the wolesley shearing machine was invented. Jim Obrien was farmer.

I have never been on Euroka, but obviously knew of it due to Wolseley. I found some old papers in the archives when I was in Walgett and photocopied them. It is a while since I last read them and they are stored in a suitcase in the attic so did a bit of Googling before I responded, partly because I remembered when wandering around the internet a couple of years ago that my search about Walgett threw up a story about one of the O'Briens. My search a few minutes ago turned up a couple of interesting ones. The one I remembered was about Euroka registering its large waggons in Queensland instead of NSW. The other is about another O'Brien switching from sheep to cropping a few years ago. Very interesting to read again of the scale of properties out there. If you do a search you just need Euroka and Walgett, but ensure the word "street" is exccluded from it otherwise you will have multiple entries about Euroka Street in Walgett. There is a very good bograpy of F.Y. Wolseley on there.

I do not know if they still do it, but from time to time the Wolseley Owners Car Club used to visit Walgett.


[QUOTE
, but our next move (the Azores) will be for retirement.

But on the Brexit board you have been a strong advocate of Leave and I recall you saying you voted Leave as planned to return to UK for retirement. Unless I misread that or I made it up? In whuch case apologies. If you did though vote Leave and have strongly advocated Leave yet now are not retiring to UK I am somewhat disappointed. Hey ho.
[/QUOTE]

You are correct, I said our next move will be for retirement. Also correct that I voted to be out in both referendums. My wife and I intend to return to the far north of Scotland, or possibly one of the islands, prior to death.

We have not taken a holiday for well over 40 years (made the occasional trip for our son's first graduation, wedding and a christening) and rarely even taken a day off, so have decided that we will have an extended holdiay of a small number of years if and when we sell the farm. So, our next move will not be to buy another farm, but to retire from full-time working. The Azores, and it will probably be Pico, has an extremely mild climate. Max mid 20s in the summer and mid teens mid winter. I want to grow some things, fruit and veg, that I have never been able to, because everywhere we have been, including Australia, winter tempertures have included frost at some time. My wife is keen on her ornamental gardens and wants to do the same. We both also want to do some shore based fishing for the table.

It’s big step when already have my dream farm here , the thing that makes me want to leave is the sh!t politics and crap weather.

I can understand your feelings about both reasons, and your reluctance because of what you have. We left Hazza Farm (think about the name) when I was 59 because both my wife and I were working over 100 hours a week year round producing and retailing eggs, various mushrooms and honey. We decided that we could not keep it up. It was a big wrench to part with the place because I could never repeat its name, but the sensible thing to do.

It is possible that the politics could get worse. As above I voted out in both referendums. On the losing side in the first one and the politicians went with the majority vote. On the supposed winning side in the second one and too many of them are hell bent on making sure that the majority vote is annulled. If they do that then we might reconsider our plans. I am qwuite happy to live in Portugal as part of the EU because the country benefits immensely from the donations of the taxpayers of those countries who contribute to the gravy train, but I have always been of the opinion that the UK is different to mainland Europe. As for the weather ..........?? I have a nasty suspicion it will become colder and wetter despite the rest of the world warming.

Apologies to @bobk for posting off topic, but I am responding to other posts.
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
I could move to the outback no probs.
Heat doesnt bother me
Too many inspectors here.
And other di.ckheads
Our local pub used to be full of farmers and workers on a friday night, now its mobbed with land agents
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Not outback but the Eastern side is having a hell of a time with wildfires.
The one around Sydney is now as big as Sydney itself and like the newsreader said their summer coming.. its gonna be blinkin hot and hard for them .
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
Ive got a 20yr old Landcruiser Colorado, fantastic motor.

I spent a bit of time in the bush in WA from Banana plantations to sheep stations and clover harvesting in the south, which wasnt quite the green lush haymaking i imagined. It was the forerunner to the enclosed picture, a single machine behind a Chamberlain with the windows knocked out.. by f+++ those first four stubbies barely touched the sides.. Would say the Aussies and their country is/was/are brilliant..(y)
View attachment 847407
I used similar on a White 150 tractor with broken air con. Dunking your head in a cattle trough helped for a bit as did wrapping a wet sweater round your head.It was probably the most unpleasant job i did in Australia next to working on a sheep farm in the drought for a farmer who thought bullets were too expensive. The clover seed farm was in Naracoorte SA which could n't be classed as outback more of a metropolis
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
That grader was my yoke
Wrist breaker!
 

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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 50-75%

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

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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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