spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
when i can't go out....feed some sheep...chop some wood....cut some grass.....ect....i don't want to be here
What do you do on your farm?
- Thread starter Steevo
- Start date
when i can't go out....feed some sheep...chop some wood....cut some grass.....ect....i don't want to be here
holywell farmer
Member
- Location
- holywell, north wales
And general dogs body,
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Is that a problem? If it's not farming, butchery etc does it matter? Does it really? You are a programmer or something as I was for part of my life but I am also a gardener, plumber, electrician, farmer, carpenter, welder, engine rebuilder, shed erector, concrete layer, philosopher, writer, etc. No need to constrain ourselves is there? I worked in France on real time control software for coal fired power stations in China. I like a bit of all sorts.
everything electrician/mechanic/ engineer/builder/plumber/digger driver/ dumper driver/ tractor driver f**k it it would be a shorter list to list what I don't do
Goweresque
Member
- Location
- North Wilts
No one really has said it is, as far as I can see.
Whereas mending your grain store roof is farming, as its required to continue your farming operations. Who does it is irrelevant - if the fundamental purpose of the job has at its core something to do with the production of food, then to my way of thinking its 'part of' farming.
And maintaining a good shop front IS part of retail - if you don't and let it get shabby, that will impact on business.
come on you don't do anything on that listDrink
Drink
Feck
@rse
Girls
Red Fred
Member
- Location
- Hants/Dorset border
I'm in a bit of a quandary at the moment as I have to cut back on the land and animals so I am going to have to find other things to do to get by for the next ten years or so as I am in my late 50s.
On paper I can do loads of things as we all can, but I'm not qualified in any of them or good enough to do it for others with confidence. I think I am more capable of mending stuff like my balers than even the fitters from the local menders, but of course their knowledge is much broader whereas mine comes from intensely working on my single model over many years.
Similarly with bookwork, I can do my books far quicker than an employed book-keeper, but only because I have evolved my own system to fit my farm over 20 years. I couldn't go and do it for a job without formal training.
On paper I can do loads of things as we all can, but I'm not qualified in any of them or good enough to do it for others with confidence. I think I am more capable of mending stuff like my balers than even the fitters from the local menders, but of course their knowledge is much broader whereas mine comes from intensely working on my single model over many years.
Similarly with bookwork, I can do my books far quicker than an employed book-keeper, but only because I have evolved my own system to fit my farm over 20 years. I couldn't go and do it for a job without formal training.
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
not when your mums about did youwrong...i say 'feck' a lot
Putting foam eaves fillers and squirty foam in grain store today, because I don't want a repeat of last year's snow on the heap fiasco.
Car up on ramp waiting for new front hub, started off as a simple puncture repair....or so we thought.
Van needs clutch, but car on ramp etc.
Tidying up tree trimmings between times, and a bit of farming feeding sheep each end of day.
Not a lot of "farming" at moment.
It is easier to save a pound than to make one as clear profit.
Car up on ramp waiting for new front hub, started off as a simple puncture repair....or so we thought.
Van needs clutch, but car on ramp etc.
Tidying up tree trimmings between times, and a bit of farming feeding sheep each end of day.
Not a lot of "farming" at moment.
It is easier to save a pound than to make one as clear profit.
I thought we agreed it was straw ladyYou forgot straw slag
holywell farmer
Member
- Location
- holywell, north wales
Man of many skills,
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
not when your mums about did you
wrong again.
.....especially when she says 'that sheep is to pretty to go'
she welshwrong again.
kiwi pom
Member
- Location
- canterbury NZ
I think a lot would depend on how large your business is as to how many different jobs you did. Many of the posters on here seem to be one man bands and therefor have to do everything themselves .
Get a bit larger you might employ a GFW and split the jack of all trades roll.
Bigger again and you might employ a herdsperson, sprayer operator or mechanic so you can delegate jobs, the business may now tackle jobs in house you previously didn't have the skills for.
The bigger you get the more specialised your staff become and the less hands on the actual farmer becomes. Get to that sort of size and your time is better spent on improving/expanding/managing your business, rather than spending all day fixing a gate or digging a drain.
Get a bit larger you might employ a GFW and split the jack of all trades roll.
Bigger again and you might employ a herdsperson, sprayer operator or mechanic so you can delegate jobs, the business may now tackle jobs in house you previously didn't have the skills for.
The bigger you get the more specialised your staff become and the less hands on the actual farmer becomes. Get to that sort of size and your time is better spent on improving/expanding/managing your business, rather than spending all day fixing a gate or digging a drain.
Steevo
Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
Very true. Back to my OP.....all of those jobs are what people do on their farm. Nicely put.
- Location
- Fife
The whole point of taking on the DIY....roofing / plumbing / maintenance, is tradesmen charge £50 / hour plus. Farming earns less than £10 / hour at 1970's prices.
Why would you get tradesmen in at £50 / hour, to give you more time to earn £10 / hour ?
If you’re farming earns you less than £10/hr why on earth are you doing it?
- Location
- Ceredigion
It could be is hobby
kiwi pom
Member
- Location
- canterbury NZ
The whole point of taking on the DIY....roofing / plumbing / maintenance, is tradesmen charge £50 / hour plus. Farming earns less than £10 / hour at 1970's prices.
Why would you get tradesmen in at £50 / hour, to give you more time to earn £10 / hour ?
You're on the farm/at the house most of the day, one of the benefits of that is you can tackle any problems that turn up yourself. It may be something to do with the farm or it may just be fixing a knackered tap in the house or servicing the car or fitting a new kitchen, the farm allows the time to do that.
Someone with a job cant always do that as they just don't have the time, they may earn less than a tradie charges per hour but still have to pay it because they have to be at work. Its one of the advantages to farming I think, that you can be around home all the time.