No time for a brew...

[Kevtherev]

yeah the odd family farm fetch some tea cakes and a drink etc when silaging but not many

I don't think people care anymore they just want the job done then shut the door in your face.

 

[stuart]

come give us a hand chucking tyres on teh clamp next week, my mum will make you a good dinner

I don't think people care anymore they just want the job done then shut the door in your face.

that's it though they would get help sheeting up

 

[Kevtherev]

I look after the customers who look after me.
The tight a!ses have no discount.

 

[itsintheblood]

I was bought up were every one is welcomed into the kitchen for food and drink , we are still keen now on every body gets invited in for a cuppa , social skills can get you a long way .. Even at hay making or lambing we all stop for meal times as you can generally have a bit of banter on whose broke the most

When my wife was working she'd put up every thing ready for me to serve out , we keep are employes a long time , we have very little trouble with getting people to help us and even the shearers will turn up the same week every year

At my mothers funeral we had to book a double slot and there were so many people there it was standing room only inside and out , hundreds and hundreds ....... I think it shows how much people appreciate being treated as a equal and a brew goes a long way !

 

[DRC]

I think its the weather. We have all been dealing with the poor summers of the last 10 years and have gotten into a mentality of 'Got to keep going while the weathers good', rightly or wrongly. I genuinely think that you can't compare the summers of 20/30/40 years ago with today, I think there was much drier weather then and more chance of 'Ok, we'll finish it tomorrow', knowing that June/July and Aug would predominantly be hot and dry. A bad summer was an exception, now a good one is remarkable. Its become a case of get as much done as possible before the next belt of rain arrives.

I think we believe summers were better, but I'm sure there's been plenty of bad ones
Dad remembers lifting beet in the morning and cleaning trailers to try and get wheat in the afternoon.
It's not just farmers, office workers snatch a sandwich at work or are seen rushing along carrying a coffee from Starbucks .

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

I think we believe summers were better, but I'm sure there's been plenty of bad ones
Dad remembers lifting beet in the morning and cleaning trailers to try and get wheat in the afternoon.
It's not just farmers, office workers snatch a sandwich at work or are seen rushing along carrying a coffee from Starbucks .

i think this is very true, people think it was hot and dry all summer from end of may till october and this is simply not true, and all the work took a lot longer to do even though there was a lot more labour, and today if you cannot lift 140 acre of silage or cut 60 acre of corn then the consensus is your just not getting on well enough,

the big difference between a gentleman and a greedy bar steward, is one will offer you a brew and food if it is a long day of hard work, the other might give you a thank you

 

[John 1594]

i think this is very true, people think it was hot and dry all summer from end of may till october and this is simply not true, and all the work took a lot longer to do even though there was a lot more labour, and today if you cannot lift 140 acre of silage or cut 60 acre of corn then the consensus is your just not getting on well enough,

the big difference between a gentleman and a greedy bar steward, is one will offer you a brew and food if it is a long day of hard work, the other might give you a thank you

its quite true, take for example the farm im working at currently

years ago, grandfather was head tractor driver, there were 4 employees besides him including a full time fitter/lorry driver who also did a share of the tractor work

they had 700 acre, grandfather cut the entire acreage with a 10ft Claas combine, they had a gascione batch drier that was manned 24/7, one of the blokes had a caravan outside the barn all harvest. Add to that they had 20 acres of strawberries which took up 2 mens jobs for a month to keep an eye on the pickers and organise everything. All the main drainage ditches were mowed with a scythe on piecework, per chain. Potatoes lifted clamped, then ladled back through the grader and bagged, before being stacked on a lorry and sent away

they managed with a mutitude of MF35s, a couple of nuffileds, a 990 and a 1212

they still managed to get it all done, for the life of me i cant work out how

 

[Kevtherev]

As well farmers are generally farming more acres now than say 20 years ago seems to be less staff and contractors are brought in for harvest etc.
People seem to be rushing around like mad things no time for nothing!
Market day people now drop lambs off and go home to do other things.

 

[rc mx110]

Trouble I find and my dad is a good example, he cannot forward think to the next job. very often he'll leave something somewhere only to have to move it 10 mins later.

 

[grumpy]

surely it is actually illegal not to allow your workers a food break and tired and hungry workers are a danger to them selves and every one else.also they are less productive so you are actually hindering the pace of work not improving it.

 

[John 1594]

Trouble I find and my dad is a good example, he cannot forward think to the next job. very often he'll leave something somewhere only to have to move it 10 mins later.

its called thinking on your feet

take a few years back, we was combining a block of 200 acres, we started at 1 end, leaving the header trailer in that field, worked our way through the farm before finishing at the far end. The next block of land was up over the road, but where was the header trailer...down the other end of the farm????

well it would have been...had some bright soul not chained it to the back of the grain trailer and bought it with him on the previous return journey

 

[Notquiteretired]

surely it is actually illegal not to allow your workers a food break and tired and hungry workers are a danger to them selves and every one else.also they are less productive so you are actually hindering the pace of work not improving it.

It's more like the macho pub crawl culture where eating is cheating

 

[Qman]

I eat my lunch on the move in my combine, there's plenty of time to sit eating when it's raining.

Years ago I was combining for an old fashioned chap who wanted to stop for lunch, I said no we'll keep going. No trailers arrived for an hour, I was very tempted to tip the grain in a ruck in the field. I didn't!

 

[DRC]

I'd have thought most contractors would take enough food and drink with them if harvesting or something.
It's very much a welsh thing , being invited in for a meal , but when doing some drilling for a welsh family who moved around here , I was expected to stop and join them for lunch , and probably offended them , when I said I have my butties and would rather finish and get home .

 

[bobk]

I'd have thought most contractors would take enough food and drink with them if harvesting or something.
It's very much a welsh thing , being invited in for a meal , but when doing some drilling for a welsh family who moved around here , I was expected to stop and join them for lunch , and probably offended them , when I said I have my butties and would rather finish and get home .

I went to llanidloes to get some bits for the mower last year , and I to was invited for lunch , I had to refuse due to the 3 hour drive home but in hindsight I probably should have accepted , offers like that don't happen around here .

 

[GTB]

My wife works full time so when the silage contractors are here I ask them to bring sandwiches but my wife always makes them a cooked supper. They have it about 7-8pm unless they're going to finish earlier than 9 in which case they have it when they've finished. They are always very appreciative fair play.

 

[Robigus]

its quite true, take for example the farm im working at currently

years ago, grandfather was head tractor driver, there were 4 employees besides him including a full time fitter/lorry driver who also did a share of the tractor work

they had 700 acre, grandfather cut the entire acreage with a 10ft Claas combine, they had a gascione batch drier that was manned 24/7, one of the blokes had a caravan outside the barn all harvest. Add to that they had 20 acres of strawberries which took up 2 mens jobs for a month to keep an eye on the pickers and organise everything. All the main drainage ditches were mowed with a scythe on piecework, per chain. Potatoes lifted clamped, then ladled back through the grader and bagged, before being stacked on a lorry and sent away

they managed with a mutitude of MF35s, a couple of nuffileds, a 990 and a 1212

they still managed to get it all done, for the life of me i cant work out how

Trouble is that nowadays the experts will tell you that 700 acres of arable is a one man job with maybe a little part time help at harvest, you need 1,200 acres before you can employ a man!

 

[rob1]

When I was a kid my mother always made a tea for the guys who helped us silage but when I got married it was hard work trying to get my first mrs to do the same,no she didnt work, as her father was a miserable twunt and never gave his blokes anything. Have done plenty of days not stopping in the past but have learnt that stopping for a brew for 15 mins at 5 helps you to work later than not stopping, less haste more speed

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

My wife works full time so when the silage contractors are here I ask them to bring sandwiches but my wife always makes them a cooked supper. They have it about 7-8pm unless they're going to finish earlier than 9 in which case they have it when they've finished. They are always very appreciative fair play.

personally I think you have it about right, for the likes of off farm workers like contractors coming to do a job on your farm, lets face it here there is no worker in there right mind expect to get fed through the day, and think they should bring their own bait and flask, so a worker starting at say 7am should have enough food and drinks to last till evening meal time of say 6pm when he would get home,

now if they are expected to work on later, then think that the person there working for should give them some supper, even if the likes of the baling man did not get to you till 5pm, he still had a long day and you should give him supper, as there will be days he will be leaving yours at 5 to go elsewhere,
and All day out of 18 hours out of a bait box is no good for anyone, ,
a good boss would not expect a worker to do anything they would not do themselves, and good bosses don't eat out of a bait box for weeks on end,

 

[multi power]

I'd have thought most contractors would take enough food and drink with them if harvesting or something.
It's very much a welsh thing , being invited in for a meal , but when doing some drilling for a welsh family who moved around here , I was expected to stop and join them for lunch , and probably offended them , when I said I have my butties and would rather finish and get home .

no its not a welsh thing, its a perfectly normal polite thing to feed somebody who is working for you