Old farming dayz ,memorys.

[Fendt516profi]

Me and my brother used sit up on the sacks as they waited on the chute. Then when the cord was pulled we slid to the ground astride them only to dust ourselves off and run after the combine to repeat the process all day long.
Mum came to the field with tea at 6 o clock and while we were glad of the bottle of orange she brought us , it meant that we had to then go home with her while dad and uncle worked on.
I remember looking out of my bedroom window across the valley and seeing the lights of the combine still working away into the night and wishing l could be with them.

Also standing in the open door of the cow byre during milking ( by hand ) and my uncle would send a squirt of milk into our faces.

A spring night during lambing and l couldnt sleep so dad took me out to the field of ewes. We meandered around the flock with a lantern and found a ewe in trouble . I held the lantern and watched my first birth at 6 years old.

And finally a more unusual one.
Watching as Dad, Uncle ,Grandad and GFW took a corner each and lifted off the canvas Lambourn cabs from the Nuffield Universal 4 and the Fordson major.
We knew summer was now officially here.
(Never remember them going back on )

If romance involves hard work, exposure, a sore back and getting dirty then it may have something in common with the old days.

Great memories in this thread but nobody would do it now.

I think the first post has the answer to the 2nd. @oakleaf How many people on the farm now and how much bigger is it. Ours is the same here used to have granddad dad uncle and a farm worker now there's just me and uncle pottering around getting under feet

 

[puppet]

My great uncle had an old Austin van with a hole where his boot heel had broken the rusty floor. It went everywhere on the farm and I was usually sent to fetch it from age 8. Could only look through the steering wheel.
Best birthday ever age 9 driving a Dexta up the rows of stooks while the men threw them on. Then riding 2 miles back to farm along main roads clinging on to the top of the load and lying flat to get under the railway bridge.

 

[oakleaf]

I think the first post has the answer to the 2nd. @oakleaf How many people on the farm now and how much bigger is it. Ours is the same here used to have granddad dad uncle and a farm worker now there's just me and uncle pottering around getting under feet

Farm was 200 acres back then and supported 2 families and semi retired grandparents and had 2 GFW all year round and 4 in the summer.
Now its 300 acres , supports one family and one parent with only one part time helper.
Just 100 sheep and cereals and osr now.
Used be 40 dairy , 100 beef , 300 sheep , 30 fattening pigs & assorted poultry . Crops were cereals peas beans carrotts sugarbeet and mangolds.
Everything done in house except beet sowing and harvest.
Now contractor drills and combines.

 

[Still Farming]

Cutting hay with fergi or fordson major with finger bar mower.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

My favourite job was washing the clusters and milk buckets. Lifting the cluster out of the bucket to let the air in

 

[primmiemoo]

Dad's hayknife is still used sometimes to cut out a piece of silage or haylage from a big bale.

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

The romance has gone out of farming . Or I'm to old to see it

It hasn't if you make it yourself. I’ve been around our farm all day doing jobs and setting a new drill up with my 6 year old lad. It’s been a brilliant day for us both as we’re both sat chatting about all the jobs on the sofa after a home cooked tea.

 

[Cowmangav]

Helping Dad to feed the hens. Big metal byre bucket , some hot water in bottom to stop the meal sticking , then two hannies ( feed bowl with single stub handle used to measure the cow's cake ) of Paterson's Layers mash , plus one hanny of either flaked maize or bruised oats. Presumably to water the ration down a bit as they were on free range. More hot water poured into bucket and then it was stirred with a broken length of brush shaft kept for that purpose, to form a doughy mix.

Early 1960s.

Do hens still get fed hot mash ?

 

[jendan]

Dad's hayknife is still used sometimes to cut out a piece of silage or haylage from a big bale.

If its the old ones im thinking of,they are hellish hard work to use.How can you use it on a big bale?

 

[DeeGee]

My great uncle had an old Austin van with a hole where his boot heel had broken the rusty floor. It went everywhere on the farm and I was usually sent to fetch it from age 8. Could only look through the steering wheel.
Best birthday ever age 9 driving a Dexta up the rows of stooks while the men threw them on. Then riding 2 miles back to farm along main roads clinging on to the top of the load and lying flat to get under the railway bridge.

Also my first job, driving a Fordson Dexta along rows of bales in bottom gear, probably aged about eight.

 

[DeeGee]

My favourite job was washing the clusters and milk buckets. Lifting the cluster out of the bucket to let the air in

Well remember doing that, as well as ‘setting the bucket units’ prior to milking and spending many hours as a child watching the milk trickle down the corrugated cooler and into a small trough sloping to a central drain tap and into the milk churn.

Watching the ten gallon churns being loaded onto the trailer and then taken to a communal milk stand at the crossroads for subsequent collection by the Co Op’s Albion lorry. In 1960 we built our own concrete churn stand on the roadside by our dairy, so no more leisurely trips with the Dexta and trailer to the crossroads.

Also as a schoolchild’s Saturday morning job in the early sixties either stamping or writing out the churn labels with our farm name and address, which were then tied to every churn handle to identify the supplier.

 

[primmiemoo]

If its the old ones im thinking of,they are hellish hard work to use.How can you use it on a big bale?

It's a small one, and very, very, very sharp. With the bale on its flat end, stand on the top, and slice down like a choccy orange. Wedge size can be varied, and you don't have to unwrap the whole bale.

It used to be used on the clamp silage, too. Dad didn't have a shear grab, and would cut out along the top every morning to make sure the cows at the great oak tombstone barriers didn't undermine the face and cover themselves as they fed.

 

[jendan]

It's a small one, and very, very, very sharp. With the bale on its flat end, stand on the top, and slice down like a choccy orange. Wedge size can be varied, and you don't have to unwrap the whole bale.

It used to be used on the clamp silage, too. Dad didn't have a shear grab, and would cut out along the top every morning to make sure the cows at the great oak tombstone barriers didn't undermine the face and cover themselves as they fed.

It must keep you fit.

 

[primmiemoo]

It must keep you fit.

Only when it's needed.

And that's as infrequently as possible

 

[davieh3350]

The only thing to look forward to........the past.

Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be.


Steering the international 474 down the hill whilst standing on the transmission tunnel. Must've been about 4. such a long time ago.

It's getting an overhaul this year though