1

Sheep / Re: Boisterous wether lamb

« Last post by Marches Farmer on Today at 09:36:39 am »

You may not have the optimum breed for child-friendly sheep.  In the past I've sold Down sheep to folks with Lleyn and with Ouessant sheep originally bought for that reason.

2

Coffee Lounge / Re: I know it's been done before but...

« Last post by Rupert the bear on Today at 08:48:34 am »

naked

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Poultry & Waterfowl / Re: Breeding for Meat or Eggs

« Last post by SallyintNorth on Today at 08:38:41 am »

Thanks Charlie.  Lots of good pics on that link - very helpful.

And thanks for the advice, Dave. 

4

Equipment / Re: Flails for the rough stuff

« Last post by arobwk on Today at 12:14:26 am »

Regrets for delay in responding to "how you get on with" type Qs: 
The short answer is - I haven't yet managed to address the rough field and its tussocks with the flail.  Just too many other things to do on my two "usable" fields and I also needed to feel confident using/manipulating the flail (as a novice) and about tractor/flail balance before venturing onto the rough. 
There was also a long head-scratching period about what length to cut the cardon shaft - it sounds easy, but it took repeated unconnected alignments of shaft-halves in all positions - up/down, right/left, upper/lower hitch points and top-link float - to be finally confident with the hack-saw.  Farmer Pete, who turned up during the measuring, also threw me by querying whether I should consider a slip-clutch/shear-bolt arrangement - I decided in the end that a flail mower is probably forgiving enough to forego either, BUT I shall definitely do a very thorough trawl over the rough field with tractor alone and a good arm-full of bamboo canes to mark out any "very hard" points! 

What I can say for now, though, is that my Bowell flail's 1.5kg hammers made mince-meat of blackthorn (about 1"-1.5" stems) that had encroached around some field edges.  Tractor/flail balance also seems OK particularly as my "alpine" type tractor is weighted forwards over the front axle.  (Having eventually received tractor Cert' of Conformity, I now understand it produces some 30HP at the PTO which I find is very adequate for the flail. 

5

Coffee Lounge / Re: I know it's been done before but...

« Last post by Mad Goatwoman of Madeley on June 23, 2017, 11:15:05 pm »

Buff

6

Coffee Lounge / Re: A NEW SENTENCE

« Last post by Mad Goatwoman of Madeley on June 23, 2017, 11:14:41 pm »

EQUINES


"Extremely queer," Unwin interrupted, not exactly superciliously.

7

Land Management / Re: Massively overgrown land query

« Last post by landroverroy on June 23, 2017, 10:56:19 pm »

How many trees and how big are they?  You can't cut down trees that are over 8cm diameter at breast height, will nilly - you can only cut 5 cubic metres per calendar quarter, otherwise you need to apply for a felling license and that will involve you replanting (which you probably don't want to do).
For all the other scrub, the quickest way is to get a man in with a digger, and scrape all the vegetation away.

I'm sure you're correct in this Foobar - but surely no one is going to notice and come measuring unless you are obviously cutting down a 10 acre wood?
In the event that the trees are really well established and well grown, then you could graze the plot with goats and/or donkeys who will kindly bark the trees for you and kill them, as well as clearing the scrub fairly well. Or failing that you could bark them yourself to kill them and blame the local rabbits and deer.


We recently bought a 9 acre field that was very overgrown with gorse bushes and brambles. We did get a man in with a JCB for a few days to clear some of it. It wasn't too expensive and gave us a good start. He put all the wood and scrub in a pile and we burnt it. We then grazed it with Highland cattle and they made a pretty good job of the rest. 

8

Buildings & planning / Re: Best floor for a barn

« Last post by YorkshireLass on June 23, 2017, 10:40:57 pm »

We have quite coarse (is that the right word?) hardcore in part of a cow barn. Although it allows drainage, it's useless for mucking out, it will harbour any infection, it snags when you're trying to move kit across it, and it's annoying to walk on. It potentially could damage hooves too, though nobody is in there on a shallow enough bed for that to really happen.
In other words, I'm not a fan!

9

Sheep / Re: Rig yearling

« Last post by landroverroy on June 23, 2017, 10:34:50 pm »

If they are going through the cull ring I can't see any reason to declare. Going through store ring you would have to declare.

Exactly!
Llash clearly stated in the first post that these animals are destined for meat, ie the fatstock market. There was never any suggestion of sending them as stores, so clearly no need to point out their nuts.

10

Buildings & planning / Re: Best floor for a barn

« Last post by Buttermilk on June 23, 2017, 10:24:50 pm »

We put rammed chalk floors down in ours.  You just had to be carefull with the mucking out.  About 20 years later we had to top them up as they were getting a bit too uneven.