Moan/thoughts/opinions

[Wood field]

How good are these combi clamp things for holding sheep for treatment, they look from a non sheepy person, that they would save a lot of back bending work. A neighbour of mine seems to have his up on a ramp ,so sheep are sort of handy height.

Not used one to be honest, I know lads with 400 ewes and pratley race combo clamp set ups, they swore by them but I can’t justify the cost
I have a self locking iae head yoke with two four foot hurdles that fits on the shedding gate , it’s a poor man’s combo clamp in a way, run a ewe in to yoke , open one of the four foot hurdles and dag, jab or whatever
As for foot problems, I don’t tip up and trim , saves my knees! 2ml of zactran and job done , if it limps again cull it out

 

[Nearly]

Don't discount it - never met a retired farmer with a decent sized garden who regretted it.

120 to 150 acres is about right.
Left hip? Round baler driver? Linked??
Clutchless shuttle on tractor might help.

 

[fgc325j]

small farm (120 acres)
150 breeding yows
25-30 suckler coos
do a wee bit o contract round baling and wrapping (roughly 12-1500 bales)
Current input prices unbelievable (for everybody)
Wondering wher exactly the whole job is going.
Just me n the wife, nae weans.

Im 52 been for xray on pelvis and got told today my left hips goosed (worn oot and bone growing wher it shouldny, looks like it's nearer 70 according to doc. socket half moon shaped rather than C shaped)
Also been told to avoid sheep at all costs as it could dislocate if one hits me wrong. Also after op don't work wi them in buchts

At the moment I'm thinking jack the whole job (A)
Sell sheep, keep coos. (I LOVE my coos ) (B)
Could I live on 30 sucklers??
Keep coos n possibly 50 sheep. (C)

If I jacked it what would I do, couldny be a sales rep (don't talk enough p!sh. no offense intended) (I'm an antisocial bugger according to my sister!!)
Enjoy baling but driving a tractor for a contractor would probably cause me to hit the Jack Daniels.

Bit of a rant for which I'm sorry, but any thoughts/opinions?

Cheers
Hagar

Well - i've had both hips replaced, (9years seperating the 2 ops) and being pain-free is a BIG Plus. The only advice about recovering after the op
is to follow - to the letter - the advice given by the physios. As a farmer you know everything about cattle and sheep, as physios they treat people
who have had joint replacements every day, they have seen it all and know exactly what needs doing to get you up to strength. I was told the target
was to get a patient standing, on the leg with the new hip, for 30 seconds, 6 months after the op. And the next was to be able to dress yourself, in the morning, standing in the middle of the room, without sitting down or with 1 hand on a chair/wall. I know of 1 farmer who decided he knew better, did not do the necessary exercises to build the strength back in his hips, and is now prone to losing his balance - last time he fell he broke his wrist, and being a farmer, it took him 3 weeks to admit he should see the medics. Problem now is that the bones in the wrist had started to mend -
incorrectly aligned, and his wrist is now very painful, especially driving. My experience was it took me 3/4 months to get up to the necessary levels.
Anyway, as you state you are 52, have the hip replacements and once you are pain free your can make plans.

 

[BrianV]

Well - i've had both hips replaced, (9years seperating the 2 ops) and being pain-free is a BIG Plus. The only advice about recovering after the op
is to follow - to the letter - the advice given by the physios. As a farmer you know everything about cattle and sheep, as physios they treat people
who have had joint replacements every day, they have seen it all and know exactly what needs doing to get you up to strength. I was told the target
was to get a patient standing, on the leg with the new hip, for 30 seconds, 6 months after the op. And the next was to be able to dress yourself, in the morning, standing in the middle of the room, without sitting down or with 1 hand on a chair/wall. I know of 1 farmer who decided he knew better, did not do the necessary exercises to build the strength back in his hips, and is now prone to losing his balance - last time he fell he broke his wrist, and being a farmer, it took him 3 weeks to admit he should see the medics. Problem now is that the bones in the wrist had started to mend -
incorrectly aligned, and his wrist is now very painful, especially driving. My experience was it took me 3/4 months to get up to the necessary levels.
Anyway, as you state you are 52, have the hip replacements and once you are pain free your can make plans.

Not sure if there is a difference but my aunt at 83 had a hip replacement and they had her out of bed and standing within 24 hrs and she was fine completely pain free, had the other one done 2 years later

 

[devonbeef]

small farm (120 acres)
150 breeding yows
25-30 suckler coos
do a wee bit o contract round baling and wrapping (roughly 12-1500 bales)
Current input prices unbelievable (for everybody)
Wondering wher exactly the whole job is going.
Just me n the wife, nae weans.

Im 52 been for xray on pelvis and got told today my left hips goosed (worn oot and bone growing wher it shouldny, looks like it's nearer 70 according to doc. socket half moon shaped rather than C shaped)
Also been told to avoid sheep at all costs as it could dislocate if one hits me wrong. Also after op don't work wi them in buchts

At the moment I'm thinking jack the whole job (A)
Sell sheep, keep coos. (I LOVE my coos ) (B)
Could I live on 30 sucklers??
Keep coos n possibly 50 sheep. (C)

If I jacked it what would I do, couldny be a sales rep (don't talk enough p!sh. no offense intended) (I'm an antisocial bugger according to my sister!!)
Enjoy baling but driving a tractor for a contractor would probably cause me to hit the Jack Daniels.

Bit of a rant for which I'm sorry, but any thoughts/opinions?

Cheers
Hagar

What about a bit of storage, a few livery horses and rear calves to slaughter or big stores, 40 well bought calves would run over that never be short of grub, keep costs down

 

[fgc325j]

Not sure if there is a difference but my aunt at 83 had a hip replacement and they had her out of bed and standing within 24 hrs and she was fine completely pain free, had the other one done 2 years later

Same here, Op Monday morning, Tuesday morning up on the walking frame, Wednesday - taught how to use crutches and get up/down stairs,
Thursday i was home 3.30pm. Second hip-op, home on Wednesday afternoon. Compare that with my mother's experience when she had her hip done in 1992, 8 days in bed after the op, and a whole 15 days before she was allowed home. The difference was due to her op being done under full anaesthetic, which took time to recover from itself, and mine were done with the spinal injection.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

get a new hip first and foremost ,i know plenty of people with new hips ,rejuvenated their lives ,worry about the rest later .you get fixed first

didn't Clive on this Yorkshire Farm have a new hip in an episode?

 

[neilo]

Not used one to be honest, I know lads with 400 ewes and pratley race combo clamp set ups, they swore by them but I can’t justify the cost
I have a self locking iae head yoke with two four foot hurdles that fits on the shedding gate , it’s a poor man’s combo clamp in a way, run a ewe in to yoke , open one of the four foot hurdles and dag, jab or whatever
As for foot problems, I don’t tip up and trim , saves my knees! 2ml of zactran and job done , if it limps again cull it out

I used to do the same with a head yoke & 4’ hurdles. The CombiClamp is so much faster and easier on the knees. I bought it to extend the life of the shepherd’s knees, which is a job to put a price on. Life’s too short to make hard work of a job.

I’m not sure I’d necessarily buy a CombiClamp now though, as other options are available.

 

[Wood field]

I used to do the same with a head yoke & 4’ hurdles. The CombiClamp is so much faster and easier on the knees. I bought it to extend the life of the shepherd’s knees, which is a job to put a price on. Life’s too short to make hard work of a job.

I’m not sure I’d necessarily buy a CombiClamp now though, as other options are available.

What would you go for now rather than the combi clamp

 

[ajcc]

You could get £million plus why not enjoy it at your time of life? Opportune time to re-evaluate regrets/ambitions what you and Mrs would only dream about doing.
20 years down line when you really worn down/out what you going to do with the asset value? Pay it out for nursing home at £1000 a week? Like others say if you can’t live without farming go benefit/help someone younger with gentle advice but seriously think of this as opportunity for change.

 

[DaveGrohl]

Get hip done, how much pain are you in, you didn’t say? You’re young enough to have a metal resurfacing (Birmingham replacement). Had mine done a couple of years ago, got a new lease of life since. I can recommend a surgeon if you’re interested?

 

[serf]

You could get £million plus why not enjoy it at your time of life? Opportune time to re-evaluate regrets/ambitions what you and Mrs would only dream about doing.
20 years down line when you really worn down/out what you going to do with the asset value? Pay it out for nursing home at £1000 a week? Like others say if you can’t live without farming go benefit/help someone younger with gentle advice but seriously think of this as opportunity for change.

Wouldn't have thought there could be a worse time to turn your assets to cash in such an inflationary environment, unless you got a better asset class to put it in to !

And at 52 he could have soon piśśed it away to nowt in no time the way things are and taxed on top , and get to 60 something and not have a pot to pee in and wonder where it all went !

Keep what you got I say and even if you can't do the job your self let out on grazing licence so your getting a bit coming back and your asset value is still increasing and not going the opposite way if it was cashed in .

 

[Lowland1]

Retiring at 52 blimey. What if he lives til 80 what are you going to do for the next 28 years. 28 years ago he was 24 to put it in perspective. He’s going to need a lot of money to do nothing for another 28 years. I’d say spend a little getting fixed up .

 

[ollie989898]

I'm going to play the boring Mr sensible and put a damper on some of these suggestions, sorry.

1. Your hip could well need replacing if you had sat behind a desk counting your millions all day. I've met people aged 40 with worn out parts of their skeleton. Others with interesting 'battle damage' from ridiculous extreme sports. Never met anyone who seemed to regret it though. I reckon a few people are probably born with a funky skeleton or otherwise do themselves a mischief in their youth that probably starts them down the road of prematurely wearing out a joint or two. Again, it is not uncommon to find people with slightly different hip/leg/foot alignments either having a very minor congenital oddity in play or because their muscles are compensating for something they incurred long after they are born. Check the soles of your shoes and see if the 'wear pattern' is the same- they very rarely are identical but sometimes this is due to more than just the peculiarities of ones gait- longer leg/pelvis not level (i.e. a compensated back injury). Once I started learning about this I began to realise that I probably should have worn my school back pack with the straps on both shoulders!

2. Do what you enjoy in life. If you don't enjoy farming, then don't do it. If you want to keep sheep/cattle/3 Fendts on hire purchase, go you ahead. Plenty of people out there doing what they enjoy. If you enjoy what you do, then adapt how you do it so that it is safer and easier on your body a bit?

3. The idea that 'people giving up and retiring' to do fudge all with their time and being magically better/happier/whatever-er is not always 100% accurate. I've known people who worked themselves hard all their working lives. Give it all up and with 18 months they are dead from stroke or heart attack. I can't medically explain why this would happen but I have a genuine belief that occupying your day with work is good for body and mind and a bit of stress is actually beneficial for you. Human beings were designed to face hunger, famine, climatic extremes and disaster often being just around the corner- they lived like that for eons. This modern living where people need not bend their back or lift so much as a bag of sugar, living stress-free in centrally heated comfort etc etc etc. Human beings were never designed for that level of comfort. Farmers must be some of the fittest people about- their work literally is bringing them closer a lifestyle that nature intended. How many other working people do you know who have done 10,000 steps before 10am in the morning? I used to do that daily on the farm and I didn't work 7 days a week.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Farming is drugery it's not exersise, I used to be a long distance runner , nothing I did in farming prepared me for that , if you think farming makes your you fit your kidding yourself , unless your loading a few thousands small bales by hand every day , lifting sheep when your cold and wet just wears you out

 

[ollie989898]

Farming is drugery it's not exersise, I used to be a long distance runner , nothing I did in farming prepared me for that , if you think farming makes your you fit your kidding yourself , unless your loading a few thousands small bales by hand every day , lifting sheep when your cold and wet just wears you out

Derrick, you can't do that level of physical work day in day out without getting a lot of exercise into the bargain. On the farm I was on in the past I used to do very limited manual work, just a slurry squeegee and a shovel from time to time but my 10am my phone would usually buzz saying thanks, you've done your 10,000 steps today. I didn't even start that early. 10,000 steps is roughly 5 miles. There won't be many people in everyday jobs walking 5 miles AND then climbing into a machine, handling livestock, driving a tractor, etc etc etc. I could tell I've been on the farm after a few months- I had much more upper body strength.

Last summer in the arable game, I watched guys both younger and older than myself, the way people in agriculture use a grain shovel is nothing short of extreme- a fully loaded grain shovel takes more grunt to move than a builders shovel full of sand.

 

[DRC]

Yes I’d agree with Derek. You get to an age when farming doesn’t make you fitter ,it wears you out .

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yes I’d agree with Derek. You get to an age when farming doesn’t make you fitter ,it wears you out .

The stress in the job don't help , I'm going cycling tommorow with the local cycling club ,
most of those are office workers who a super fit

 

[Lakes Nash]

Get your hips sorted, my dad had his 1st back in 94, was like a jcb digging again in no time!

 

[Bury the Trash]

Farming is drugery it's not exersise, I used to be a long distance runner , nothing I did in farming prepared me for that , if you think farming makes your you fit your kidding yourself , unless your loading a few thousands small bales by hand every day , lifting sheep when your cold and wet just wears you out

might need to watch your knees .

tilling the field garden tomorrow , bit of bending up and down sowing seed but nice comfy tractor seat to sit on for most of it .