What do you do when a Pikey drives on the yard?

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
For 2 years on and off we rented out half our yard to subcontractors for the national grid that were painting the pylons on the line that go through our farm and across most of north wales. There were 3 shipping contsiners full.of paint and climbing gear worth a fortune there. The company was paranoid about people stealing things because they had lots of trouble in other sites they had buy none at out place. Mostly because i was about most of the time when one turned up and got very good at playing crazy redneck type :confused::confused::wacky::wacky: they werent trying to take my stuff so i had a lot of fun with them mostly winding them up and ice got a lot of good stories if i could he bothered to type them. They are mostly pretty decent people be nice with them and they will be mostly nice back but dont take any sh!t off them they will leave if you give them a way out. They all talk to each other if you stsrt buying off one they will all try and sell to you or if you are known as an easy target they will all know that and target you more. Best to keep everything out of sight they like to grab stuff and leave quickly closing a gate is enough most of the time just make it difficult. But i agree with neilo the best way to stop them stealing anything is to not have anything worth stealing which is what i do :oops:
One thing i did notice was after i started carrying a shotgun on the front of my quad for shooting moles that i didnt see any dodgy people in transit vans at all after a while. I hadnt really thought about it but speaking to someone who lived in rural mid Wales he told me that people down there had started firing a gun in the air towards the people who were stealing their quads to warn them off and they would leave to never see them again and would get to keep their quads. The police apparently wouldnt turn up when phoned but farmers had sorted it themselves by firing shots in the air like that. I wonder if its coincidence that i havent seen any "light fingered white van men" after i started shooting moles with a gun on the quad :scratchhead::scratchhead: i did have to pull over for a few to lass on the road and they definelty saw it. I havent seen any for a long while now (y)
 

hendrebc

Member
Livestock Farmer
It never surprises me on how much of the local area and people they know. We have the "Would you be interested in a diesel generator" brigade turn up around here around the same time every year, "I can be doing you a good deal as we're backon the boat tonight and I don't want to be taking them home". This year they spotted my motor and followed me into Aldi carpark, last year they called round at my house, that's the second year as they pulled up the year before saying that I might be interested as a mate of mine had said where I lived, I know damned well that he hadn't.
Nearly all of my contacts in the local Land Rover Club were called upon as well which by far was too much of a coincidence and it wasn't as if all of these people are linked by any one thing such as Farcebook as I'd suspected as there's the odd ones not on there. Give them their due, they do know where to find their "target audience" :eek:
Aboit 15 years ago one phoned my dad on his mobile which he NEVER uses. Trying to sell generators and then asked if he would like to sell "nice welsh dresser in the kitchen" he was standing on the front doorstep looking through the window :eek::eek::eek:
we raced back to the yard to give him a bolloking and he left very quickly and we phoned the police. Turned out he had got a list of farmers phone numbers from someone who was working for scottish power fixing the telegraph poles and he was going through the list. The one working on the poles was scouting the place out then sending his friend out to try and buy stuff maybe steal stuff. He was never caught stealing anything abd the generators were legit but that experience taugjt me to never trust anyone who comes anywere near the yard you never know who they are. Be even easier to do the scouting now with social media as popular as it is (n)
 

smcapstick

Member
Location
Kirkby Lonsdale
I’m always very polite, explaining that the [genuinely] very little scrap that accumulates during the year is weighed in to pay for Christmas drinkies.

Most visitors are fine with that, after a bit of back-and-forth. One wasn’t... but I’m not a small chap so he did nothing more than swear a bit.

I imagine keeping it friendly is the way to go. This isn’t the Wild West- you can’t just shoot somebody for stepping on to your property. If you give them an earful, they’ll remember you and if they’re the wrong way out one night, they may come back.

Be as forgettable as you can, I’d say.
 
Last edited:

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
For 2 years on and off we rented out half our yard to subcontractors for the national grid that were painting the pylons on the line that go through our farm and across most of north wales. There were 3 shipping contsiners full.of paint and climbing gear worth a fortune there. The company was paranoid about people stealing things because they had lots of trouble in other sites they had buy none at out place. Mostly because i was about most of the time when one turned up and got very good at playing crazy redneck type :confused::confused::wacky::wacky: they werent trying to take my stuff so i had a lot of fun with them mostly winding them up and ice got a lot of good stories if i could he bothered to type them. They are mostly pretty decent people be nice with them and they will be mostly nice back but dont take any sh!t off them they will leave if you give them a way out. They all talk to each other if you stsrt buying off one they will all try and sell to you or if you are known as an easy target they will all know that and target you more. Best to keep everything out of sight they like to grab stuff and leave quickly closing a gate is enough most of the time just make it difficult. But i agree with neilo the best way to stop them stealing anything is to not have anything worth stealing which is what i do :oops:
One thing i did notice was after i started carrying a shotgun on the front of my quad for shooting moles that i didnt see any dodgy people in transit vans at all after a while. I hadnt really thought about it but speaking to someone who lived in rural mid Wales he told me that people down there had started firing a gun in the air towards the people who were stealing their quads to warn them off and they would leave to never see them again and would get to keep their quads. The police apparently wouldnt turn up when phoned but farmers had sorted it themselves by firing shots in the air like that. I wonder if its coincidence that i havent seen any "light fingered white van men" after i started shooting moles with a gun on the quad :scratchhead::scratchhead: i did have to pull over for a few to lass on the road and they definelty saw it. I havent seen any for a long while now (y)
Like mad max?
 

nails

Member
Location
East Dorset
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!!

i just leave this in the yard..:eek::LOL:

latest
 

kelpiekid

Member
Location
North Wales
Haha not quite :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
I have an old padded gunslip held together with cable ties and is covered in mud i just tie that to the front rack with baler teine and put some cartridges on a coat pocket. Ive dobe it for years but found its very good for the crazy redneck look :confused::confused:
You still got that crazy walkabout ferrit.
 

glow worm

Member
Location
cornwall
What kind of official?? Seems very odd, didnt he reveal his own identity???
From the council and he said who he was and explained what he wanted but all he had was a plastic tag.and was unable to produce any kind of paperwork when challenged. Plus what he wanted was so ridiculous, being suspicious was very justified.
 

glow worm

Member
Location
cornwall
They can be latched open on busy days by sending a text , but pressing a button or dialling a number when half way up farm drive means they are open when you get there and isn’t really a lot of effort

Anyone who needs legitimate access like employees, agronomist etc all get the number so they can dial themselves in - you can restrict hours or remove permissions and check logs to see who came and went when if you have need to do so

Makes the yard feel 1000% more secure - seems mad they were ever open and anyone could drive or wander around our yard in the past now
Can you pse give some details of the gates. I've always assumed they would be a pain in everyday use but yours sound ideal in the way you can operate them
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
I have a tame scrapman. Decent honest old chap who I believe is related to the owners of a certain tractor sales company.

If anyone else appears touting for scrap I just mention this chaps name. They then bugger off sharpish.
 

Shutesy

Moderator
Arable Farmer
umm, just a question - how much scrap do you fellas generate or have lying around the place if you constantly have people asking for it ??? :scratchhead::scratchhead:
If they get some scrap/batteries etc thats often a bonus for them. They use it as an excuse to get in your yard and have a nose around to locate things like Quad-bikes, fuel, chainsaws and see your security measures so they can come back later and nick them. That said most (not all) places seem to have a few bits of scrap lying about in the nettles!
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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