Tractors and tractor drivers

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mudsticks

Obviously an Aubergine
Lovely picture @mudsticks. Green manure or grain?

Thank you.

Both purposes.

In some places I let it reseed itself and go through another winter - the straw adds lots more bulk to the soil :okay:

As an aside (I have many tractor stories - I’ll spare you all) average food spend per week per person Uk is £45.
Here are some statshttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-food-201718/family-food-201718
All I can add is: food banks.

Yes - food banks..
Something has clearly gone badly wrong.

But this government's response, to this failure ??

Give all those good caring folk a pat on the back for picking up the pieces.
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
Sounds very plush.

I think I started on an old International yard scraper..

Oh the glamour :blush:
Yep my main task was scraping muck out of the cows sheds, as much time going backwards as forwards. We also had a similarly plush David Brown 25D. Both tractors are still running today I think. The massey went to a long retired farmer who never passed a car driving test, who previous "run to the shops" tractor went to the scrap yard in the sky.
 

mudsticks

Obviously an Aubergine
Yep my main task was scraping muck out of the cows sheds, as much time going backwards as forwards. We also had a similarly plush David Brown 25D. Both tractors are still running today I think. The massey went to a long retired farmer who never passed a car driving test, who previous "run to the shops" tractor went to the scrap yard in the sky.

Yes going backwards skilfully is just as important as going forwards

Trailer reversing needs to be spot on, round tight corners.

You still see a few tractors parked outside pubs hereabouts...

Farming can be thirsty work 😉
 

ianbarton

Veteran
Yep my main task was scraping muck out of the cows sheds, as much time going backwards as forwards. We also had a similarly plush David Brown 25D. Both tractors are still running today I think. The massey went to a long retired farmer who never passed a car driving test, who previous "run to the shops" tractor went to the scrap yard in the sky.
We still use an International as a yard scraper.
 

nagden

Über Member
Location
Normandy, France
We have lived in Normandy for 16 years now. During that time we have seen a huge increase in the size of tractors and machinery. At first there was a huge range of tractors varying greatly in size and age. I regularly used to see a farmer in an old Deuz tractor no cab pulling two trailers of hay and straw. It has all changed now. Every tractor seems to be enormous and brand new towing equally large pieces of machinery. I have to get onto the verge on my bike when I meet them on small roads.
Sadly the purchase of this machinery is all on credit and I understand that a John Deere of a 150bhp is in excess of €150k. Now the banks are not giving out so much credit and farmers are now leasing the tractors.
I cannot see that modern agriculture carrying so much debt is sustainable. Listening to the radio yesterday 1 in 5 French farmers live in poverty. Every 2 days a French farmer commits suicide. 40% of farms sold are bought in order to form one large farm. I suppose it is the industrialation of agriculture. In the next
ten years 180,000 French farmers will retire and there are not enough young people willing are able to enter farming. It doesn't paint a hopeful picture.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Are you referring to the case that was dropped due to his disability, he has a tendancy to believe anything he's told.
Yes, thats the one. He can personally negotiate book and tv contracts, but when someone offers to sell him a drivers licence in a pub he can't tell its a fake, because all irish drivers licences are issued in pubs in exchange for cash and he therefore thought this was normal procedure.

The Irish DVLA, yesterday.

560285
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Yes, thats the one. He can personally negotiate book and tv contracts, but when someone offers to sell him a drivers licence in a pub he can't tell its a fake, because all irish drivers licences are issued in pubs in exchange for cash and he therefore thought this was normal procedure.

He can personally negotiate book and tv contracts
Nah he's got a man to do that if you read his books, he just turns up and does the daft stuff.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Yes, thats the one. He can personally negotiate book and tv contracts, but when someone offers to sell him a drivers licence in a pub he can't tell its a fake, because all irish drivers licences are issued in pubs in exchange for cash and he therefore thought this was normal procedure.

The Irish DVLA, yesterday.

View attachment 560285
Off topic but it's not like coppers are always honest either,

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/police-officer-who-paid-7p-23072560
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Forgive me perpetuating the off topicness, but that is disgraceful. Shows how effective HR are as they keeo recruiting these idiots. Still, perhaps he'll do better in his new role as a tractor driver.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
I was going to say that modern tractors are capable of going too fast for safety but that's not actually true. ON good roads they can be be safely driven at high speeds. The problem is not the tractors but the attitude of the people who drive too fast on narrow roads with poor sight lines because they are in a hurry and don't care about anyone else but you find them in all vehicle types, including cyclists in some cases.
 
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