What happened to

[fermerboy]

I used to do odd bits of work on farms and found it was an area thing. Certain areas you could be 100% sure no food / drink would be offered and other bits nearly always. Some reps have said the same to me.

Think a lot of places nowadays the lady of the house is away working and simply isn't there to prepare food. I have been on farms (usually a one man/smaller type farm) and been invited in to the house to eat my own food with the farmer who is maybe making a sandwich etc. It was fine and you get a bit of conversation, also been in farms where i have wished i was eating my own!!!

Most contracting guys carry a days food anyway as they don't know where they are going to end up.
Bloody long day of you don't get a stop for dinner!

My neighbour used to make about 400ac silage using his own staff and contractors hired in. He fed the gang a chippy tea if they were working over tea time. A few years ago it was a real lousy year with wet mornings and early stops so he had lots of short days which seemed to land over tea time, it was said it cost him £2/ac in chips alone!!!
He has his outfit now so not sure if they get fed.

 

[CornishTone]

I used to do odd bits of work on farms and found it was an area thing. Certain areas you could be 100% sure no food / drink would be offered and other bits nearly always. Some reps have said the same to me.
.

I found the same when I was on the road. Some places you be invited in, given tea, cake and friendly chat even if they weren't customers. I called on one farm and was given a full fry up, then about half way through the meal the farmer looked up and said "and what can I do for you?" Never met the bloke before and he wasn't interested in talking shop until we were all eating! Loved those types of farms. They keep you sane and make up for all the times you're told to "f*#k off", roundly ignored or, in one case, the farmer sending his mother out to say he's not interested!

 

[Tomtrac]

Long time ago ,I could never understand how anyone could sleep in the day, I can now!

Dont tell me
You have started to use reading glasses
You can easy take a nanna nap in the afternoon
And you knees click and are stiff first thing
Oh and you miss half of what people tell you
I never gave birthdays etc a second thought untill i got past fifty
Its like i am getting to think whats gonna brek next been to docs more times in last couple years than in rest of me life given up going now after they gave me some shoe insoles to help the arch in my foot as i could hardly walk i feel bloody 80 not fifty odd rolmfao think i should of looked after my self when younger kept dryer and wormer lol

 

[glasshouse]

Very rarely have I worked on farms where I got fed by the farm, first pace used to bring out a cooked tea for the family members and a flask for us other workers and we were expected to sit elsewhere. I can say hand on heart that was the only place apart from the large estate where the old dear that lived in the house next to the sheep yards would come out at 3pm with a tray with a full teapot, china cups and a slice or three of a homemade cake or the like. If you were on night lambing she would come out at 10pm with the same.
Everywhere else it's been up to me to have enough food with me and I allways used to do my own sandwiches, me ex did them once and I thought "How sweet" untill I opened up the box at 10am after starting at 6 to find the aroma of Marmite wafting round the cab, I absolutely hate the stuff and cannot bring myself to eat anything that has been contaminated by it! I got desperate enough to try to eat round it but couldn't and nearly resorted to eating the seat by 6pm, bloody long days drilling that was!
It wasn't restricted to farming, I spent a few years making and erecting wooden stables and I took a gang of four of us to finish off a really posh block of stables for a well moneyed customer on a really really hot day. The wife asked us if we wanted a cold drink and threequarters of an hour later a groom appeared with three glasses of tap water, all mismatched and absolutely filthy!

The richest are the worst, they wouldnt give you the steam off their pish.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

Long time ago ,I could never understand how anyone could sleep in the day, I can now!

Must be an age thing

 

[Alicecow]

Dont tell me
Its like i am getting to think whats gonna brek next been to docs more times in last couple years than in rest of me life given up going now after they gave me some shoe insoles to help the arch in my foot as i could hardly walk i feel bloody 80 not fifty odd rolmfao think i should of looked after my self when younger kept dryer and wormer lol

Big problem is it

Wellies are the worst for no foot support, need to wear workboots instead if at all possible.

 

[Tomtrac]

Big problem is it

Wellies are the worst for no foot support, need to wear workboots instead if at all possible.

Lived in wellys when younger
In boots 90% of time now dryer job no cow sh_t lol

 

[davedb]

We find when silaging the rougher the farm you work on the better they are for feeding you regularly get invited in the house for a full English at 12 at night after finishing silage our crew usually make it to the pub after a days silage as long as the weather is on side and all have a good laugh it's what makes the job bearable because it certainly ain't the pay

 

[bumkin]

we supply the silage crew tea and digestives in the afternoon and tea and B L T s in the evening

 

[bumkin]

so many things have changed,my early memories are of the threshing box and the crew ,it was like the circus coming it was pulled by a marshal put putting down the lane with the box behind then an elevator then the baler and at the back of the train a sort of shed on wheels full of spare parts and bale wire and the drivers bike of course it would be illegal now meal times were a big thing,in those days we had farm workers and shire horses wet days cleaning tack by the stove lunch was bread cheese and a spanish onion that was eaten like an apple,years later i remember my uncle and his man carting bales with the radio hanging on the tractor so the could listen to the cricket they remained friends till death

 

[Kevtherev]

@david

 

[Kevtherev]

@David.

 

[Still Farming]

My Grandparents came from horse and cart era to Supersonic Concorde era .
Where are we going???

 

[Kevtherev]

My Grandparents came from horse and cart era to Supersonic Concorde era .
Where are we going???

Race to the bottom???

 

[Tim Howard]

so many things have changed,my early memories are of the threshing box and the crew ,it was like the circus coming it was pulled by a marshal put putting down the lane with the box behind then an elevator then the baler and at the back of the train a sort of shed on wheels full of spare parts and bale wire and the drivers bike of course it would be illegal now meal times were a big thing,in those days we had farm workers and shire horses wet days cleaning tack by the stove lunch was bread cheese and a spanish onion that was eaten like an apple,years later i remember my uncle and his man carting bales with the radio hanging on the tractor so the could listen to the cricket they remained friends till death

Ahhh the good old days. Iv'e done my stint on a thrashing box, one job thrashing clover seed where I didn't see the ground for 3 days for dust, Odd places they would bring out a jug of tea and cakes but that was rare. Pitching bales with a pitch fork and bags of wheat off the field with a stick after turning them end to end for 2 or 3 days to dry. Unloading 10 stone bags 16 ton at a time and carrying them up the granary steps. Loading sugar beet lorries with a ladle. Sat on a tractor all day in an old overcoat with a bag on you lap to help suck up the wet. Ah yes and those wire bales
And they were the good old days?

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

Wam Bars
Kids building dens
Kids building bmx tracks
Proper hedging skills
Tractor engines sounding ace

 

[Kevtherev]

No one seems to have any time no more.
Is it for the better?
I think not.

 

[Forever Fendt]

I do a bit of contracting here and there, more as a favour for neighbours than a business. Sometimes I have to ask them if the kettles broken.

We do the same

 

[bumkin]

Ahhh the good old days. Iv'e done my stint on a thrashing box, one job thrashing clover seed where I didn't see the ground for 3 days for dust, Odd places they would bring out a jug of tea and cakes but that was rare. Pitching bales with a pitch fork and bags of wheat off the field with a stick after turning them end to end for 2 or 3 days to dry. Unloading 10 stone bags 16 ton at a time and carrying them up the granary steps. Loading sugar beet lorries with a ladle. Sat on a tractor all day in an old overcoat with a bag on you lap to help suck up the wet. Ah yes and those wire bales
And they were the good old days?

at least in those days you didn't have to do it alone!
ah a bag stick i remember those i have tried to explain to the next generation but i don't think they can imagine sack that weigh more than half a hundred weight that don't have loops for the forklift, i have just been on a trip down memory lane courtesy of google maps (i emigrated to west wales thirty years ago)its depressing what used to be cheshire dairy farms are now horse stables and boarding kennels
i think farmers are an endangered species these days

 

[Tim Howard]

at least in those days you didn't have to do it alone!
ah a bag stick i remember those i have tried to explain to the next generation but i don't think they can imagine sack that weigh more than half a hundred weight that don't have loops for the forklift, i have just been on a trip down memory lane courtesy of google maps (i emigrated to west wales thirty years ago)its depressing what used to be cheshire dairy farms are now horse stables and boarding kennels
i think farmers are an endangered species these days

My life started in south Shropshire and I feel privileged and honoured to have seen so much change.
I loved every minute of it. Things are changing faster than ever in farming, thank god we now have computers and mobile phones but who knows were we will be in 50 years, I cant fathom that one but change it will. Iv'e got used to lone working, at least I have no one to fall out with and can work at my own pace. Friends are a god send helping someone who will help you when needed makes a big difference.
Merry Christmas
Tim