Crazy contractor in neighbors field

bbam

It's been hammering down with rain here for hours and the ground is well sodden now..
Being drumlin country I can see a silage contractor in our neighbors field, it was knocked on Saturday and they were there when I came back from work.. apart from baling/wrapping through a horrendous thunder storm they are tearing up the field :eek:.. the field has about 20 acres, the guy drawing in the bales is driving muck across the swarths still to be baled rather than going round them, not just in one place but in four different places. the weather may be bad for silage season but a bad contractor can add so much more to the mix..

Ours is still standing and will remain so until the contractor deems the ground fit, he appologised last year for leaving one set of tracks 12 feet long in a soft spot...great to have a guy you can trust.. only €9 a bale too

Tora Bora

bbam wrote: »

It's been hammering down with rain here for hours and the ground is well sodden now..
Being drumlin country I can see a silage contractor in our neighbors field, it was knocked on Saturday and they were there when I came back from work.. apart from baling/wrapping through a horrendous thunder storm they are tearing up the field :eek:.. the field has about 20 acres, the guy drawing in the bales is driving muck across the swarths still to be baled rather than going round them, not just in one place but in four different places. the weather may be bad for silage season but a bad contractor can add so much more to the mix..

Ours is still standing and will remain so until the contractor deems the ground fit, he appologised last year for leaving one set of tracks 12 feet long in a soft spot...great to have a guy you can trust.. only €9 a bale too

It's the clown farmer who let them in that's crazy. He who pays the piper should be calling the tune.

20silkcut

Have a fella renting 13 acres of silage off me. He cut it on Sunday and has left a nice pattern of tyre marks all over it. One corner of a head land is completely devoid of grass now. Those self propelled machines and 18 ft trailers are too bloody big anyway and leave woeful ruts and tracks all over the place.
I have another field of ten acres beside it rented to another lad and there is no sign of the cute hoor cutting it yet . No doubt he will give it another week or two to get
maximum bulk and to hell with the consequences.
It really does gall me to have to rent out land and I will chersish the day when I can use it all myself . But at the moment money is money.

Tipp Man

20silkcut wrote: »

Have a fella renting 13 acres of silage off me. He cut it on Sunday and has left a nice pattern of tyre marks all over it. One corner of a head land is completely devoid of grass now. Those self propelled machines and 18 ft trailers are too bloody big anyway and leave woeful ruts and tracks all over the place.
I have another field of ten acres beside it rented to another lad and there is no sign of the cute hoor cutting it yet . No doubt he will give it another week or two to get
maximum bulk and to hell with the consequences.
It really does gall me to have to rent out land and I will chersish the day when I can use it all myself . But at the moment money is money.

I'm confused and i know that's easily done but still please explain

You are complaining because 1 guy cut the silage in relatively poor conditions and has left tyre marks

You are also complaining because the other guy hasn't cut yet so hasn't yet left tyre marks?

I don't get it

20silkcut

Apologies Tipp man, I am actually a Tipp man myself. Yes the guy who cut on Sunday left a hell of a lot of traffic marks in the field.

The other guy will in fact be baling the silage so should not be as bad. The issue with him is leaving it so late . The next week is looking bad. The field has been closed off and fertilised since early April and it's now looking like early July before the crop will be taken
off it, too long IMO takes a hell of a lot out if the land. He has all his own ground cut and
baled since early June .

Tora Bora

20silkcut wrote: »

Apologies Tipp man, I am actually a Tipp man myself. Yes the guy who cut on Sunday left a hell of a lot of traffic marks in the field.

The other guy will in fact be baling the silage so should not be as bad. The issue with him is leaving it so late . The next week is looking bad. The field has been closed off and fertilised since early April and it's now looking like early July before the crop will be taken
off it, too long IMO takes a hell of a lot out if the land. He has all his own ground cut and
baled since early June .

I don't get it. You rent out meadows and think the guy taking it should cut the crop to suit your thinking.
Why don't you make it a contractual thing, and then see how many takers you will have and at what price.
If you want to control exactly how the land is farmed, you have to farm it yourself. Simple.

bbam

Tora Bora wrote: »

It's the clown farmer who let them in that's crazy. He who pays the piper should be calling the tune.

Reckon he was away as I saw the jeep out round the field a while ago.. I would have rang him only he's a funny sort (probably says the same about us:rolleyes:).. We had a careless guy in years ago to spread slurry and he made muck of a few fields... we had warned him off one damp corner which hadn't been cut but he went in anyway and ended dumping 1800galons of slurry to get back out, he was never back round the place..

20silkcut

Just saying he would not leave his own crop as late. I never once dictated to any one who rented land off me. It's just an observation and it goes without saying that farmers who take land on con acre are not near as careful with such ground as they are with their own and yes letting out those fields is totally undesirable, but my hands are tied. I am 25 years old I have 20 sucklers to my name.
I am taking over a farm that has been derelict and rented out for the last 25 years and
am currently doing up the yard and sheds and it is ridiculously expensive and I have to let those fields.

bob charles

20silkcut wrote: »

Just saying he would not leave his own crop as late. I never once dictated to any one who rented land off me. It's just an observation and it goes without saying that farmers who take land on con acre are not near as careful with such ground as they are with their own and yes letting out those fields is totally undesirable, but my hands are tied. I am 25 years old I have 20 sucklers to my name.
I am taking over a farm that has been derelict and rented out for the last 25 years and
am currently doing up the yard and sheds and it is ridiculously expensive and I have to let those fields.

please dont tar all with the same brush regarding renting land. I rent about 70% of our land and it looked after just as well as my owned land. Whats the point not looking after land, as if you dont, it wont look after you

20silkcut

I suppose I am playing devils advocate here. I have no doubt the vast majority of farmers look after the land like their own especially those on long term leases. However I am not going to sweep under the carpet my experiences with short term letting. That is the reality. In the last 25 years since my father ceased farming we have had a guy leave cattle out grazing till Christmas. The effects of which are still in the fields today. Another guy lost seven cattle in a cubicle house on our farm where round bales of hay were being
stored and they fell down and trapped the cattle. The alarm only being raised when the smell wafted in around our house. We had a fella trying to sow beet in the same fields 6 years in a row and he sent us solicitors letters when we tried to stop him. Another guy left a trench nearly 5 foot deep along the head lands of a barley field ploughing the same direction every year. 2 years ago a fella left a trench nearly 2 foot deep and 40 foot long after getting stuck with a baler and made no effort to fill it back in or even tell me it happened. That has been our experience. My father got into trouble with high interest rates back in the 80's. Was milking 50 cows at the time. Had to get out of it completly every animal and machine sold. Trees 30 foot tall grew out of the dung in the dungstead. The roof fell in on the milking parlour the farm yard went completly derelict.

20silkcut

And as I mentioned in the thread last week there was a fairy fort bull dozed on our land in the 70's. Maybe it is that negative karma. I can tell you if I was around at the time and knew what was in store for the farm I would have laid down in front of the bulldozers .

5live

20silkcut wrote: »

I suppose I am playing devils advocate here. I have no doubt the vast majority of farmers look after the land like their own especially those on long term leases. However I am not going to sweep under the carpet my experiences with short term letting. That is the reality. In the last 25 years since my father ceased farming we have had a guy leave cattle out grazing till Christmas. The effects of which are still in the fields today. Another guy lost seven cattle in a cubicle house on our farm where round bales of hay were being
stored and they fell down and trapped the cattle. The alarm only being raised when the smell wafted in around our house. We had a fella trying to sow beet in the same fields 6 years in a row and he sent us solicitors letters when we tried to stop him. Another guy left a trench nearly 5 foot deep along the head lands of a barley field ploughing the same direction every year. 2 years ago a fella left a trench nearly 2 foot deep and 40 foot long after getting stuck with a baler and made no effort to fill it back in or even tell me it happened. That has been our experience. My father got into trouble with high interest rates back in the 80's. Was milking 50 cows at the time. Had to get out of it completly every animal and machine sold. Trees 30 foot tall grew out of the dung in the dungstead. The roof fell in on the milking parlour the farm yard went completly derelict.

Well said. Good luck with your new venture.

I was in a similar situation when i took over 20 years ago. Lands let for spuds and silage and tillage was soaked up for nutrients and only now am i getting it back to somewhere like it should be. Some renters were brilliant but some were pure hell to get rid of with spuds being dug in december and bales of straw left till january to be taken out.

Fair play to you for taking over as a lot would just take the easy option and let the lot and just draw down the money.

Would you be better off letting the land for 5 years (the ammount you wont need till then) and doing short term letting on the rest until you build up numbers enough to need it again? On long leases, farmers will tend to look after it better as any damage done will impact on them next year and the cowboys generally wont want to take land long term

ihatetractors

20silkcut wrote: »

I suppose I am playing devils advocate here. I have no doubt the vast majority of farmers look after the land like their own especially those on long term leases. However I am not going to sweep under the carpet my experiences with short term letting. That is the reality. In the last 25 years since my father ceased farming we have had a guy leave cattle out grazing till Christmas. The effects of which are still in the fields today. Another guy lost seven cattle in a cubicle house on our farm where round bales of hay were being
stored and they fell down and trapped the cattle. The alarm only being raised when the smell wafted in around our house. We had a fella trying to sow beet in the same fields 6 years in a row and he sent us solicitors letters when we tried to stop him. Another guy left a trench nearly 5 foot deep along the head lands of a barley field ploughing the same direction every year. 2 years ago a fella left a trench nearly 2 foot deep and 40 foot long after getting stuck with a baler and made no effort to fill it back in or even tell me it happened. That has been our experience. My father got into trouble with high interest rates back in the 80's. Was milking 50 cows at the time. Had to get out of it completly every animal and machine sold. Trees 30 foot tall grew out of the dung in the dungstead. The roof fell in on the milking parlour the farm yard went completly derelict.

Jesus that's horrific!! are the lads ye rented to cowboys or just the way it worked out?!. We rent slightly over 1,000 acres for tillage... all on 5-10 year leases. Ditches cut every second year, lime spread, don't be on land when you wouldn't go near your own.. doesn't take much to keep land in good nick and if the owner knows you look after their land more likely to renew contracts etc.. Choping straw on half the land this year/straw for dung on alot more of it as it's not worth while baling it when you add up costs of loss in nutrients/ machinery costs and in a dry year like this you see advantages of higher Om in soils

20silkcut

5live wrote: »

Well said. Good luck with your new venture.

I was in a similar situation when i took over 20 years ago. Lands let for spuds and silage and tillage was soaked up for nutrients and only now am i getting it back to somewhere like it should be. Some renters were brilliant but some were pure hell to get rid of with spuds being dug in december and bales of straw left till january to be taken out.

Fair play to you for taking over as a lot would just take the easy option and let the lot and just draw down the money.

Would you be better off letting the land for 5 years (the ammount you wont need till then) and doing short term letting on the rest until you build up numbers enough to need it again? On long leases, farmers will tend to look after it better as any damage done will impact on them next year and the cowboys generally wont want to take land long term

I have about 30 acres of it taken myself. Not getting it for nothing have to give the father close enough to the going rate so absolutely no prospect of taking the remaining 75 acres at the moment. It's all very much piece meal and baby steps at the moment sometimes inching forward sometimes going backwards. No prospect of getting any loans. Don't have an off farm job at the moment either so as you can understand this is really just an exercise in getting my foot on the ladder , showing cause, and hanging in for the long
haul.
Want to try the aeos scheme this year so don't want to sign any land away in long term contracts at the moment.

20silkcut

ihatetractors wrote: »

Jesus that's horrific!! are the lads ye rented to cowboys or just the way it worked out?!. We rent slightly over 1,000 acres for tillage... all on 5-10 year leases. Ditches cut every second year, lime spread, don't be on land when you wouldn't go near your own.. doesn't take much to keep land in good nick and if the owner knows you look after their land more likely to renew contracts etc.. Choping straw on half the land this year/straw for dung on alot more of it as it's not worth while baling it when you add up costs of loss in nutrients/ machinery costs and in a dry year like this you see advantages of higher Om in soils

Yes cowboys indeed, the fella who lost the cattle is banned by law from ever owning animals again.
The tillage farmer though would be considered a super duper farmer, farming a vast acreage and a shed load of fancy machines. Not a cowboy as such but I reckon he has so much land taken on con acre that he can't keep it all under control.