Why dont people look after the land ?

[The Grinch]

Made some round bale silage on friends parcel of land today, whilst carting back, started looking at surrounding land and thought to myself how neglected a lot of ground is nowadays. Plenty of little smallholdings with 5 - 10 acres of land that’s never seen muck/slurry or weed killer in years. 4ft docks and a load of rubbish grass. Neighbour didn’t mow some fields at all last year but then topped it in March ! With land still demanding £10000 an acre why do people neglect it so much. Ground can be improved quite quickly and easily with muck, regular mowing and a bit of spray but instead they’d rather waste it away.

 

[Rossymons]

Made some round bale silage on friends parcel of land today, whilst carting back, started looking at surrounding land and thought to myself how neglected a lot of ground is nowadays. Plenty of little smallholdings with 5 - 10 acres of land that’s never seen muck/slurry or weed killer in years. 4ft docks and a load of rubbish grass. Neighbour didn’t mow some fields at all last year but then topped it in March ! With land still demanding £10000 an acre why do people neglect it so much. Ground can be improved quite quickly and easily with muck, regular mowing and a bit of spray but instead they’d rather waste it away.

It's been a long time since the value of land had any bearing on the ability to farm it profitably.

 

[tr250]

Made some round bale silage on friends parcel of land today, whilst carting back, started looking at surrounding land and thought to myself how neglected a lot of ground is nowadays. Plenty of little smallholdings with 5 - 10 acres of land that’s never seen muck/slurry or weed killer in years. 4ft docks and a load of rubbish grass. Neighbour didn’t mow some fields at all last year but then topped it in March ! With land still demanding £10000 an acre why do people neglect it so much. Ground can be improved quite quickly and easily with muck, regular mowing and a bit of spray but instead they’d rather waste it away.

Because it means work that’s why

 

[Bald Rick]

Made some round bale silage on friends parcel of land today, whilst carting back, started looking at surrounding land and thought to myself how neglected a lot of ground is nowadays. Plenty of little smallholdings with 5 - 10 acres of land that’s never seen muck/slurry or weed killer in years. 4ft docks and a load of rubbish grass. Neighbour didn’t mow some fields at all last year but then topped it in March ! With land still demanding £10000 an acre why do people neglect it so much. Ground can be improved quite quickly and easily with muck, regular mowing and a bit of spray but instead they’d rather waste it away.

Was on the train about 24 months ago down to London and thought lot of land viewed from the carriage looked farmed in a half arsed way.
Subs must be too generous

 

[7610 super q]

Reality setting in maybe ? Anything less than 10,000 acres ain't viable anymore ?
Milk contracts available for folks with 12 cows ?
Veg contracts available for 10 acres of cabbage ?
Egg contracts available for 200 layers ?

f**king supermarkets. f**king CAP. f**kING WASTELAND.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I thought people were payed to neglect land . Was offered a lot of money to let the land go back to srcub, I know Borth bog was drained with grant money many years ago then years after they where payed to block the drains

 

[Yale]

Hmm,

@Kiwi Pete ,all those weeds.......!

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Marks out of ten [emoji38]

 

[DanniAgro]

As said you see loads of little fields infested with huge clumps of nettles and docks, and the cows or sheep walking around them. Has no one heard of spraying them off, or is everyone secretly turning organic - I couldn't be doing with that. It always looks so manky to be farming in so unsightly a manner and I don't think there's any great environmental advantage to leaving them.

 

[ARW]

No worse than the barley Barron’s power harrowing every last bit of soil structure out to grow 10t t Ha of blackgrass with overflowing ditches and overgrown hedges

 

[Chae1]

Wanted: Farmer in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire (or within driving distance) to flail-mower and collect grass in 5-acre field

We are seeking a 'genuine' and 'reliable' farmer or landscaper to come and mow our 5-acre field and also collect the cuttings. The dock weeds are 4-ft tall, thanks to a farmer who very questionably 'chemical-fertilised' (without our permission) our entire field that was evidently full of weeds...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

 

[DanniAgro]

No worse than the barley Barron’s power harrowing every last bit of soil structure out to grow 10t t Ha of blackgrass with overflowing ditches and overgrown hedges

Touche.

 

[The Grinch]

We are seeking a 'genuine' and 'reliable' farmer or landscaper to come and mow our 5-acre field and also collect the cuttings.

The dock weeds are 4-ft tall, thanks to a farmer who very questionably 'chemical-fertilised' (without our permission) our entire field that was evidently full of weeds.

Please note: Do not respond if you are a time-waster, or one of the farmers around here in cahoots with each other to financially benefit without a single penny coming our way.

If you are a reliable farmer, there is the potential to make around 80 large circular bales per year every single year, though this would require 3 field visits per year April to September, and the grass cut as short as possible for us, as we use the field to walk our dogs.

Otherwise, if you would like to come just the once this month (July 2020) as a one-off just to genuinely help us out, this would be greatly appreciated.

Please respond with your full name and to which farm or landscaping business you belong.

Thank you.

Quite ironic my post and this one posted within 20 minutes of each other. Not only docks but probably full of dog sh1t too ! Derricks photos look great, just wished the rest of the countryside was the same.

 

[Doing it for the kids]

No worse than the barley Barron’s power harrowing every last bit of soil structure out to grow 10t t Ha of blackgrass with overflowing ditches and overgrown hedges

not sure you can grow that sort of tonnage with blocked ditches!?

 

[andybk]

As said you see loads of little fields infested with huge clumps of nettles and docks, and the cows or sheep walking around them. Has no one heard of spraying them off, or is everyone secretly turning organic - I couldn't be doing with that. It always looks so manky to be farming in so unsightly a manner and I don't think there's any great environmental advantage to leaving them.

many small landowners cant access spray these days without getting the ticket and paying the clipboard holders ,(cant even use the small tractor sprayers without more cost for tests etc ) even accessing small quantities of fert in 25kg bags can be a trial , contractors not interested in liming / managing <10ac ,lack of profitability to invest back into the soil .
heap of bits i take on start out like that . can be a big initial cost to get it back to something reasonable

 

[Chae1]

Quite ironic my post and this one posted within 20 minutes of each other. Not only docks but probably full of dog sh1t too ! Derricks photos look great, just wished the rest of the countryside was the same.

Isn't Derrick great. Almost make you want to buy something off him.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Hmm,

@Kiwi Pete ,all those weeds.......!

All his dinner needed was some muck, some slurry, and a bit of spray...

 

[Colt12]

You're right. It's rather questionable that the land was immaculate last year when the farmer did turn up and mowed it during his contracted term - grass sewn first year (former grain field) to blend with the beautiful aesthetics of our surrounding land. Why any 'professional and experienced' farmer would want to use chemical fertiliser without the land owner's prior knowing or permission and fertilise weeds as opposed to weed-killing them first is truly beyond me. - In fact, not that I wished to suggest it the first time, but it would appear to be deliberate vandalism to run down what was otherwise a beautifully well-maintained field and for what purpose? - Because everyone else's field around here is overgrown and full of manure (or the other thing you mentioned) and full of rats. Anyone would think that as it's a village, the farmers would want to help as opposed to having the 'village mentality'. That's really not responsible farming, is it?

 

[The Grinch]

Isn't Derrick great. Almost make you want to buy something off him.

Too far away for us ? Got a good straw lad just down the road, but never say never @Derrick Hughes

 

[neilo]

Quite ironic my post and this one posted within 20 minutes of each other. Not only docks but probably full of dog sh1t too ! Derricks photos look great, just wished the rest of the countryside was the same.

That’s your opinion perhaps, but both nettles and ragwort support specific species of butterflies apparently. If you had everything neatly manicured, as it is in @Derrick Hughes ‘s gruesome post, where would those species live?

I hadn’t seen the post linked, where there is some mowing grass available with 4’ docks, and where you can harvest 80 bales off 5ac (3 cuts) without the use of those horrid chemical fertilisers. I might avail myself of such an opportunity, if only to further increase the biodiversity of my pastures.