Time to abandon haylage/silage??

[icanshootwell]

This has got to be the way to go surely?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Twin-Wire-Mesh-656-High-Security-Perimeter-Fencing-2-4m-High-/222620130878

This should work well

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I can't remember if you have cattle @yellowbelly - time for an all grass/ forage crop wintering experiment?

 

[Bogweevil]

Second security fencing is affordable I am told.

 

[yellowbelly]

electric fence around bales surely problem sorted?

Mains electric fence round it already - they never bat an eyelid at it (see post #20 above)

 

[yellowbelly]

This should work well

Will I need to 'show my papers' every time I go for a bale

 

[yellowbelly]

I can't remember if you have cattle

Only buy some stores in to use up surplus haylage/silage. Due to crazy store price not had any lately, hence more bales left, hence bigger problem

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I would find the ringleader and offer him part time work

 

[Lincs Lass]

I would find the ringleader and offer him part time work

Lazy little sh!ts wouldnt know what work was ,,they earn more from nicking stuff and dealing ,work is a nasty word to them

 

[Alf]

I would find the ringleader and offer him part time work

its the only way . . some unbelievable suggestions have been made . Some folk must live in there own little world and eat there young !

 

[yellowbelly]

UPDATE.

It's dark, not seen the little fudgers today


The Police patrols seem to have had the desired effect

 

[Lincs Lass]

If your PCSO s are anything like the useless oaf we have here ,,the rats stick two fingers up at them.
Actually its one as they cant count beyond that

 

[yellowbelly]

If your PCSO s are anything like the useless oaf we have here ,,the rats stick two fingers up at them.
Actually its one as they cant count beyond that

The one that rang up this morning sounded a decent chap. Their visits have obviously done a bit of good - although it'll only have meant they're annoying some body somewhere else

 

[Old Boar]

Thistles.
Sow a strip around 6 ft wide - I can send you some seed if you need it! Add nettles, a couple of gorse bushes and the odd bramble and call it a "nature strip". Top it high when the thistles are in flower so they dont overtake anywhere. We all know the pain of grabbing a handful of hay and then picking out the thistle needles from our fingers for the next few days. Dried thistles put around the bales would also work.
If you wanted to be really nasty, bung in some giant hogweed.

 

[Danllan]

They are 50 yards from the house, supposedly so we can keep an eye on them - but you can't be there all the time or you never get anything done. There's straw and hay there too.
Don't like having too much in the yard as it wouldn't be the first time we've had a fire
@icanshootwell has the best solution

You cant fight fire with fire . phycology is your weapon . But how you use it I don't know . Use the ring leader and pay him . like a protection racket type thing

This is stupid. I have prosecuted and defended this type of scum loads of times and they simply do not care for anything but the pleasure of the moment. If you try and 'buy off' one, the rest will kick the sh*t out of him and then you'll have to do it again, and again, and again... this isn't Africa, don't get yourself into a stupid cycle that can't be exited. And it would spread too.

Violence won't work because you will either end up nicked or beaten up, or there will be another fire at your place, possibly residential. However, I am reminded of the maxim that a Sergeant Major I knew used to live by 'If violence doesn't work, you're not using enough'.

The police are, in my experience, not much help... the decent ones are overwhelmed because there are not enough of them, and the cr*p ones - a large majority - either couldn't care less or would be more interested in taking you to an 'encounter' group. PCSOs are another step down again...

If you really can't move, you have to mitigate the situation; but I am at a loss as to what you can do. You have my sympathy. I'll ask a friend who farms near Luton what he does.

Edited to note that @Old Boar's suggestion is very good, if you can get it thick enough and permanent enough, and fireproof enough....

 

[yellowbelly]

Thistles.
Sow a strip around 6 ft wide - I can send you some seed if you need it! Add nettles, a couple of gorse bushes and the odd bramble and call it a "nature strip". Top it high when the thistles are in flower so they dont overtake anywhere. We all know the pain of grabbing a handful of hay and then picking out the thistle needles from our fingers for the next few days. Dried thistles put around the bales would also work.
If you wanted to be really nasty, bung in some giant hogweed.

Environmentally friendly security measures

 

[Lincs Lass]

Environmentally friendly security measures

along with Berberus ,Pyracantha and gorse bushes

 

[Grassman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heras-Tem...038086?hash=item4409ca7046:g:tDwAAOSwImRYdfuR
Surely some of these would help.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

So,it's the school holidays again
Unfortunately we farm well within cycling range of the housing estate where the TV series 'Skint' was filmed. Many of the kids there are what you could describe as feral. They get shoved out of the house first thing in the morning and are left to their own devices for the rest of the day. No manners, no respect and they all know 'what their rights' are.
Stacks of wrapped haylage/silage bales are like magnets to them. No amount of signs or fencing will keep them off.

We've had 4 visits in the last 2 days. Needless to say, eight or ten 12-15 year olds pulling themselves up onto a stack of silage bales and then running about on top of them does nothing to the quality of the grass inside the wrap.

We usually have to resort to calling in the local constabulary but that is easier said than done - it took them 24 minutes 49 seconds just to answer the phone tonight All I got was a log number and no visit. Presumably their older siblings were tying up Plod with more serious crime elsewhere.

I'm thinking, before we pack in wrapping bales all together, I could try covering the bales with something obnoxious to try and deter the little barstewards. Obviously I want to try and avoid cow/pig slurry. Anybody had experience of non-drying paint or other such material? The muckier or stinkier the better.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.
TIA.

My uncle had problems with kids sitting on and destroying his front garden fence a few years ago.

Creosote mixed with diesel kept them at bay. It stinks and doesn't dry.

 

[Lincs Lass]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heras-Tem...038086?hash=item4409ca7046:g:tDwAAOSwImRYdfuR
Surely some of these would help.

They dont stop anybody ,,you have to concrete the feet in or they just get pushed over or trashed .
I used to deliver them to sites and in no time they get wrecked .
The fully sheeted ones are better

 

[General-Lee]

Nice wee nasty bull, warning sign and electric fence around bales surely problem sorted?

Fü€kers would probably shoot, harpoon, crossbow or all of the above!