Everyones Opinions on Farmers

onrail

Folks,

Born and reared a farmer, working in the city a few years but will return to farm the land soon enough. I'm a culchie with notions I suppose.

Anyway, I've been debating with herself, a townie, for a bit about how people 'see' farmers. Looking for honest (i.e. slightly-anonymous) opinion of the general public on farmers in this country. Are we seen as:

1. Grass chewin', turf cuttin', GAA lovin' gob****es who couldn't function outside the bog;
2. Overly pampered, EU subsidised wealthy cute-whoors from the country;
3. Poor enslaved bastards working mental hours for f**k all
4. Normal people. Stop making an issue where there is no issue, you culchie gob****e.
   

Answers on a postcard. Or here I suppose.

we'llallhavetea

none of those, i think, poor enslaved bastards. ev-er-y-day with the sh1te and the mental hours, fcuuuuuuuuuk that.

RayM

You feed beef burgers to swans. And if you see a lovely field with a family having a picnic, and there's a nice pond in it, you fill in the pond with concrete, you plough the family into the field, you blow up the tree, and use the leaves to make a dress for your wife who's also your brother.

we'llallhavetea

RayM wrote: »

You feed beef burgers to swans. And if you see a lovely field with a family having a picnic, and there's a nice pond in it, you fill in the pond with concrete, you plough the family into the field, you blow up the tree, and use the leaves to make a dress for your wife who's also your brother.

what farmer rode your burd!

onrail

we'llallhavetea wrote: »

none of those, i think, poor enslaved bastards. ev-er-y-day with the sh1te and the mental hours, fcuuuuuuuuuk that.

That's a far better option

Why didn't I think of that

we'llallhavetea

onrail wrote: »

That's a far better option

Why didn't I think of that

how do you do it man

PARlance

1, 2 & the last three words of 3.

Two Tone

I come from farming stock (thank fook it ended with the generation before me :pac:) - extremely tough job with very few breaks and almost constant anxiety.

Farmers are very hard-working folks - in all hours and all weathers, with extremely sparse downtime, providing essential produce (i.e. food) and exports... and also grass chewin', turf cuttin', GAA lovin' gob****es who couldn't function outside the bog (joking... ish).

The Backwards Man

Farmers are moaning bastards in general, but they're not as hard to listen to as the bastards that moan about them.

tupenny

Number 3. God help ya

A lucrative and financially important fishing industry was butchered by Fianna Fail. It was basically handed over on a silver plate to the EEC/EU in return for subsidies to farmers because numerically they just made up a bigger lobby group. What farmers gained from Europe was dwarfed by what was sacrificed by others.

Not the farmers fault of course, everyone looks after their own doorstep and all that, but by fukc out of all the shameful scandals I'd like to see those criminals dragged away in handcuffs for it's surprising how this one is ignored/forgotten. The fisheries contributed a lot to the country, they just didn't employ enough people who knew where to send the brown envelopes to make enough noise about it.

The last two.

I don't know any farmers personally, city born city dweller here. Unless the rumors about inbreeding are true, I'd guess they're the same as everyone else, with added silage*




*I don't know what silage is.

castletownman

Agriculture is the life-blood of this country. I would wager that the majority of the population would have some ancestral links to the farm. And it frankly pisses me off the negative attitude people generally have of farmers.

The hours of back-breaking work in rain or shine that they put in for relative pittance compared to those brash, new age big-wigs in the financial sector, is admirable. But sad too given how the industry is in decline.

Put it this way. There would have been no Celtic Tiger and subsequent tech bubble in this country, if we didn't make a name for ourselves across the world for our quality meat etc. in the early days of the state.

PARlance

castletownman wrote: »

Put it this way. There would have been no Celtic Tiger and subsequent tech bubble in this country, if we didn't make a name for ourselves across the world for our quality meat etc. in the early days of the state.

BSEconomics

Two Tone

Candie wrote: »

*I don't know what silage is.

Look at you ya big city slicker with notions. :rolleyes:

Permabear

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tomwaterford

I see both sides as I've a farm and I work off farm


A lot of farmers are top people sound AF....but there is a significant minority who are just bitter fcukers who'd screw over their friends and family for more land/Money
And treat non farming community with contempt giving the rest a bad name


There's not a person in any farming community who deosnt know of someone who the bull McCabe couldn't be loosely based on

onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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1. And I'd wager you're well rewarded for it
2. How many farms ave you been on to witness a full days work

Give me money to feed my hungry cattle or GTFO.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Permabear wrote: »

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Really.

Do you have to do your work in ****e weather outdoors.

Do you have to do any physical labour as part of your job.

You probably earn a hell of a lot more money than most farmers and therefore don't have the extreme pressure of keeping your head above water that most farmers have.

Being a farmer is a way of life not a job.

Two Tone

Permabear wrote: »

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Up at 5am in all weathers every day, working until 7/8pm and sporadically after that?

I've no doubt you work very hard but do you really think you have grounds to feel you work far harder than most farmers?

Permabear

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Nekarsulm

No2, I wish to fukh the EC subsidies were abolished. Then you could tell the army of Dept. Ag. civil servants/ inspectors/ jobsworths/ Council busybodies to take a running jump .
As it is , every single letter contains the threat " failure to comply may adversly effect your SP" (SP stands for Single Payment)
Dept. Ag. is a self perpetuating quango, with little real connection with farming, nor intrest in advancing techniques or profitability.
Then food could return to its real price of approx 30% higher than its currently at, and we could make a profjt again, and consumers could appreciate that quality does not come cheap.
Your four frozen burgers for a Euro are only shyte. Filler pushed on poorer consumers by multi national conglomerates .

boobar

RayM wrote: »

You feed beef burgers to swans. And if you see a lovely field with a family having a picnic, and there's a nice pond in it, you fill in the pond with concrete, you plough the family into the field, you blow up the tree, and use the leaves to make a dress for your wife who's also your brother.

Well said Alan

onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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1. Then your 'hard work' isn't comparable
2. Possibly. But I'd imagine you do an awful lot of standing around and/or drinking tea on your:

25 days annual leave,
8 stats,
104 weekend days

Or far better stuff than standing around and/or drinking tea

Permabear

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Two Tone

Permabear wrote: »

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Ouch. Fair enough.

(I'd rather be a farmer - and I really wouldn't like to be a farmer!)

onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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You probably don't get 25 days annual leave then. Almost feel sorry for you. As you lie sobbing on your bed of money with your beautiful girlfriend...

Permabear

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onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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I'd still enjoy the money. Possibly buy a farm with it

Two Tone

onrail wrote: »

You probably don't get 25 days annual leave then. Almost feel sorry for you. As you lie sobbing on your bed of money with your beautiful girlfriend...

Ah jeez in fairness - there is a lot more stress to the job than just having less than 25 days' holidays. And there are pretty good reasons for him to make a lot of money!

This is just me but I would not do a high-stress job that requires being up at 4am and working until 10pm no matter how much it pays. (I don't doubt farming can be extremely tough too though).

FortySeven

Sick to death of the ignorant feckers who bring their 50 year old tractors out to nip down the shop 5 miles away to buy a paper. Usually during rush hour.

Also sick of that one cow being dragged around Ireland constantly in a beat up horse box with no lights, the wrong reg being pulled by a black santa fe that is barely able to manage 60. That old fella driving sure gets around, I get stuck behind him every day, wherever I am.

I think a well run, decent sized farm is a great thing and the owners should be recognised with the work they do. Those two bit family run affairs with the detritus everywhere and the ad hoc buildings and ancient machinery should be consolidated.

I detest the CAP. I also hate protectionism. I also hate French farmers striking and claiming huge subsidies because they own two pigs and an apple tree. I also hate seeing farmers using their tractors to subcontract on construction sites, using green diesel and tax breaks to undercut haulage firms moving heavy equipment.

I generally like farming though, just not the ones who failed to modernise.

onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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One final question (because you're destroying all of my efforts to discredit you )

Would you trade in the pressure and money to be a relatively lucrative farmer, making say €50-70k a year?

OldRio

The bollox spends most of his time posting on here. Hard work? Haha

CaptainInsano

12 year olds bombing around the place in tractors running people off the roads , bringing in the washing stinking of slurry, muck and sh1te spattered all over the roads,.shooting dogs once they can't round up their sheep any more. But sure they grow our vegetables.

Permabear

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Two Tone

CaptainInsano wrote: »

12 year olds bombing around the place in tractors running people off the roads , bringing in the washing stinking of slurry, muck and sh1te spattered all over the roads,.shooting dogs once they can't round up their sheep any more. But sure they grow our vegetables.

Well I suppose the first part does not apply to all farmers.

Permabear

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onrail

Permabear wrote: »

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Great answer - best of luck with it

RobertKK

I retired from farming this year, apart from a small bit but nothing major. I had too much work and not enough help and it wouldn't have paid me to get help in, especially with the price of milk.
Now I can take a holiday and it is 15 years since I had a holiday and that was 15 years of working everyday of the year. I had less than two weeks off in 21 years and I was feeling like a slave to the job.
Farmers are ripped off by supermarkets, the factories and milk processors. They take more and the farmer gets less and less and the consumer pays the same if now more.
Farmers are not appreciated enough in my opinion knowing that there is a lot of work involved especially in something like dairy farming.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Permabear wrote: »

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Yeah I'm aware of the pressure in that area but you get paid much more money though to deal with the pressure and you could always have the option to walk away and take another job in finance.

Farmers don't have that sort of luxury.

You could decide to jack it all in in the morning and take another lucrative job in the financial sector if it all being a hedge fund manager too much pressure for you, which in a way means the pressure isn't all that great in real life terms.

Galwayguy35

Permabear wrote: »

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You're way off the mark on this one, a lot of farm work is still very physical and live stock can be very dangerous to handle so I doubt your work is harder Mr hedge fund manager.

Permabear

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Dirty Dingus McGee

Permabear wrote: »

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The vast majority of farmers don't have those sort of options.I doubt very many would stick at it if they could sell up in the morning for hundreds of thousand or even millions.

But you could quit which is exactly the point I'm making.

The greatest pressure of all in life is having no real options.

Permabear

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OldRio

Amazing how this thread is not about farmers but about one poster who is seeking validation from strangers on his occupation.

Kovu

Permabear wrote: »

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Fixed that bit for everyone.

Permabear

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Galwayguy35

Permabear wrote: »

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I do appreciate that there is a lot of pressure in the work you do and also long hours.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Permabear wrote: »

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That's true but a lot don't and a lot need it to provide a decent standard of living from their family.

qm1bv4p8i92aoj

I think they are a sound bunch.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Permabear wrote: »

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However jobs with physical labour are generally not as desireable and not as well paid and also may be more difficult to do over a long period of time.Also I think most people would take tiredness after a days concentrating at the office over physical tiredness from physical labour.

My father lost about 2-3 stone in the space of a couple of months a few years ago because of the physical toll his new farm labourer job was having on him, I doubt that happens to most people working in offices .