People with paddocks.

[Muddy Boots]

Why do people with little bits of ground think that you would be interested in cutting their grass and baling it. It's usually full of weed,probably got hidden trenches and detritus from when they converted their part of heaven,got access no wider than 9ft with over hanging trees that if you ask to lop low limbs they go into melt down and why do they always think to ask after the baling contractor has finished and that he would also be interested in coming back especially for less than 8 bales!!
Oh and you just know that if you leave any mark on their verge to gain access they'll feel more agreaved than losing a family member.
No thanks I say politely to the lady looking at me like I've turned down a winning lottery ticket!!

 

[Blue.]

My neighbour has one complete with fecked fence and no water supply,a numpty from 10miles away has dumped 7 stores in just over an acre and all they want to do is get out.

 

[Henarar]

there are loads of folk with a bit of land that they don't know what to do with

 

[multi power]

im thinking of starting a small sheep flock, i recon i could get enough free or nearly free grazing for about 100 sheep, sounds a no brainer to me

 

[CopperBeech]

Thank god for those idiots or my current business model would work!

 

[tr250]

im thinking of starting a small sheep flock, i recon i could get enough free or nearly free grazing for about 100 sheep, sounds a no brainer to me

We probably graze 40 odd acres for free to keep tidy all can be run so no loading up vast majority we just have to open the gate. We usually spray thistles and do bits of fencing as a goodwill gesture

 

[Red Fred]

We used to have a neighbour with a couple of acres full of ragworts who told me that I was welcome to hop over the fence any time and pull them up if they were bothering me. He really thought he was doing me a big favour. And another nearby horse lady was asked to remove her dobbins due to non-payment of keep, and got really uppity as she reckoned they had been doing a wonderful job of keeping my pesky grass down so I didn't have to graze/mow it myself. The mind boggles

 

[Henarar]

Thank god for those idiots or my current business model would work!

the thing is they buy there house with a bit off land and don't realise that stuff will grow

 

[rob1]

When I first left school I used to do a lot of small paddocks for people within a couple of miles as the old man paid me feck all but I could use any of the kit to earn more, still do the odd one now for friends but mostly tell folks I can sell them my hay cheaper than I can make it for them on their own bit, minimum size about 5 acres now. I do have a couple of fields one of 10 acres one of fifteen that I have for nothing in exchange for cutting the hedge and a hand full of bales, old pasture so it makes lovely smelling hay for my horsey folks

 

[rob1]

the thing is they buy there house with a bit off land and don't realise that stuff will grow

Especially the hedges, five years after they have bought it the field is half the size and takes about a dozen swipes with the hedger to get it back in shape, missing the old tin baths, sheep hurdles and five different sets of electric fencing in the process

 

[Muck Spreader]

im thinking of starting a small sheep flock, i recon i could get enough free or nearly free grazing for about 100 sheep, sounds a no brainer to me

Twentyfive years ago an enterprising farmer friend near Oxford used to put his sheep on these types of paddocks and charge the owners rental for the sheep as well.

 

[Grassman]

. I do have a couple of fields one of 10 acres one of fifteen that I have for nothing in exchange for cutting the hedge and a hand full of bales, old pasture so it makes lovely smelling hay for my horsey folks

That is about the value it wants to be but these little landowners see the ridiculous prices paid for summer let and that usually buggers things up!

 

[Jhabc]

im thinking of starting a small sheep flock, i recon i could get enough free or nearly free grazing for about 100 sheep, sounds a no brainer to me

A bloke around here started out with about 5 sheep in a few small paddocks. He now has about 200 in umpteen paddocks spread for miles around. There are so many people with a paddock or two. 20 years ago many local farmers would have willingly taken hay off the same paddocks but now they just don't have the kit, or their kit is too big, nor do they have the time.

As well as getting free grazing he sells a great deal of lamb to the paddock owners! He also sells them logs & hay, does fencing & tree work for them and often looks after their houses when they are away. A couple of years ago he also started doing lamb roasts for parties etc and the majority of the ones he does are for the paddock owners!

They all think thank that he is is helping them out by grazing their paddocks off but the reality is he is making a semi-decent wage from them.

 

[MrNoo]

A chap round here does exactly that with 2000 sheep, pays bugger all rent, most of the grass is free. It's a total ball ache though going around them all checking etc has sheep in Wilts too.
Some of the stories he recounts are well, most amusing! Had one woman phone him up complaining that his sheep had nothing to eat, the lambs were so hungry they were jumping up trying to catch flies for food apparently. Needles to say she was a London W-ender!
Sat in my chair now, I can see 2 fields in grass totaling circa 40 acres that have nothing on them, just weeds and grass, again London w-enders buying their little piece of Britain. Interesting to know how many acres are lost each year like this.

 

[DrWazzock]

The owners have no concept that native grasses are almost useless as feed value for silage or hay. Most need ploughing up, liming and reseeding, even if they were big enough to be worthwhile to do that.

I no longer make hay or silage for these people. Complete waste of time.

 

[Henarar]

The owners have no concept that native grasses are almost useless as feed value for silage or hay

If that were true our cows would be dead

 

[rob1]

Was asked on Sat to cut two fields that used to belong to a farm that we used to rent till the old chap died 25yrs ago, I bought some of the land but not this acre and a half, I said it just wasnt economic to do it but would top it, said the last time we made hay was the first live aid day with little kit, he said he was going to buy a mower, turner and baler to do it himself next year, good luck with that then, these people just have no idea

 

[Lofty1984]

This is the feckng definition of all above posts near 40ac of prime arable land sold off in bits from 1ac to 3 it's totally ruined it fecking caravans sheds with no planning cattle that prob not been Tb tested and fudging lamas or alpacas oh and of course fecking nags there is more to the left of the picture and to the right is a beautiful valley! It's criminal honestly it is

 

[DrWazzock]

If that were true our cows would be dead

But why go to all the effort of raising stock or making forage on a tired old grass ley that has become infested with poor quality grasses?

I've bought stores off high level stewardship grass because I felt sorry for them. Huge guts and not a bit of flesh on them. Get them on a nice ryegrass ley with a bit of clover in it and you soon see a difference.

 

[CopperBeech]

"Sold as a whole or in lots" the last three words are pretty much the death of the British countryside. Seeing farms chopped up and vanish off the map, never to exist again. It's extremely sad. The countryside in many areas is becoming the playground of the rich and retired.