A heads up on live stock/horses feed shortage or price hike!

[TerryG]

That's superb heat reactive paint, it completley changes colour when warm

[Martin Evans]

And the wings bulge Shock I think

[rich.]

martin, im sure fleming & co had a night out now and again...
you really sound depressed, have you been watching eastenders again??
the weather has been crap here too the farmers who have normally finished combining the harvest buy now havent even started yet.. im a month behind on my job.....summers coming

[Mitsuru]

....summers coming

Starting in November and ending in March

[Young Farmer]

I can't see a shortage of fodder this year as in wet conditions grass grows like mad and when farmers can cut silage there will be heavy crops to be gathered. Haymakers have not been badly affected yet because it is constantly raining, no one in their right senses will have cut hay. Grass will not spoil until after it is cut and left to dry. What farmers need now is a reasonably dry August/September to gather the grain harvest when I think there will be heavy yields due to growing conditions being favourable for grass and cereals. The last week it's been dryish around here and between showers a lot of silage has been gathered and the fields that have been cut will regrow fast especially if we get a bit of heat. Growers of soft fruit and veg are the ones who have been hit the hardest as they have such a short period in which to harvest and sell their produce. this year has been a disaster for them. Potatoes are growing well and we should have good crops if it will dry up enough for the farmers to spray for blight, which will spread like wild fire as soon as it warms up. Biggest threat to higher food prices is the supermarkets greed. They have cut the price paid to farmers twice this year already even though their gross margin on milk is the same as a farmer gets for producing it. Better stop now or I will have a real rant at the way they are treating the farming industry.

[Martin Evans]

martin, im sure fleming & co had a night out now and again...
you really sound depressed, have you been watching eastenders again??
the weather has been crap here too the farmers who have normally finished combining the harvest buy now havent even started yet.. im a month behind on my job.....summers coming

Mildy irritated perhaps but I never plan anything for the Second Winter Period, as I know what to expect. I did manage to dodge the pig<>i*t yesterday and get MOTs on both MGs. At least if or when the weather breaks, I can put them on the road. Some of my bikes have mudguards and I am well used to riding in bad weather (Doesn't bother me; can mean quieter roads) and so long as you can keep the crap on the road off you, it's not too bad.

I know my friends in Anglouleme said some of the native folk were saying the weather is poor but my friends say the locals don't know what bad weather is

There's no chance of my house getting flooded (Not unless Noah plans a comeback) and the roof is good. I am lucky to be well sheltered from the wind and I have a good selection of DVDs and VHS (Watched Le Mans 1988 and have the 1991 Belgian GP on the go at the moment - I was there).

[tractorman]

By coincidence, the lad who farms the land around us had half a field of GRASS behind us mown for him yesterday afternoon. It would normally have been for hay, but I suspect that it will be baled and wrapped as silage (the big "square" bales, bot round ones I think). I think he had other fields cut at the same time, but the one behind us has a lot of puddles near our hedge, so the new drains he put in last year aren't working properly!

I mowed our lawn yesterday, I have a Honda push-type rotary mower (it's quite light) - there are some nice ruts in the lawn now - even the dog's feet make marks!



You can see how the grass is "lower" just behind the hedge - due to the waterlogged field!



Another neighbouring farmer once told me off for saying I was mowing hay. Apparently you mow grass, which becomes hay - his right year old niece told him that!!

BTW - I agree with young farmer's comments about milk prices (and a lot to do with modern agriculture). I don't want to get political though - it's just one of the things that was fairer (for producer AND consumer) before we joined the EU!!

[JPB]

Field drainage trouble? Give Ted a shout:

[tractorman]

Na, I've got one of these:



Mind you, I can't afford to get the welding done on the new mounting rails (on the dole since Ma died in May - using the insurance money for the old car to pay electric bills etc!).

I did put a drain in the lawn about five years ago (just before I bought that tractor). It was quite a warm summer and I was digging into clay with a spade. I could have done with the digger then (and will be doing more with it when it's mounted properly).

The "hay field" is now round bale silage, wrapped at eleven last night! It's a good thing too - as the picture suggests, it's a damp morning, so hay would have been spoiled.

A bale is born:



The job's all wrapped up: