Farmer's - a question

bonny said:
I doubt he started farming at the age of 2 !! The quote was that he had a 58 year career in farming, not that he was that age. Hardly an insult, so calm down.
Click to expand...
NO I think YOU should calm down dear! AND read things properly I actually said "so you are under 60 these day's and on the scrap heap" Don't think I stated he was 60:confused: And I would suspect he probably has more Knowledge and life skills in his little finger than you (and I and most people) Why be so insulting? I am afraid that is not a way to get your point across.:D
 
Bertieb123 said:
NO I think YOU should calm down dear! AND read things properly I actually said "so you are under 60 these day's and on the scrap heap" Don't think I stated he was 60:confused: And I would suspect he probably has more Knowledge and life skills in his little finger than you (and I and most people) Why be so insulting? I am afraid that is not a way to get your point across.:D
Click to expand...

ok, pedantic but if you want me to read your post properly you said "so you are under 60 these day's and on the scrap heap" which makes no sense at all !
I assumed you meant I was thinking anyone over 60 was on the scrapheap hence why I replied I doubted the farmer in question started work at the age of 2 ...
oh and I'm perfectly calm and I'm not insulting anyone so please stop saying that I am.
 
Farmers (and their Fourtraks :p) tend to work until they drop here, literally.
There is genuinely no other industry here, it's mountains or the sea, you either farm, fish, or travel elsewhere to work.

Our other neighbours, from granda in his 80s to grandaughter in her teens, have barely been home since Friday, they have 1100 sheep over multiple locations.
 
bonny said:
I think 2 things are different about farming here and in NZ/Australia......one is there are no subsidies so farmers don't tend to employ extra help at busy times and everything has to be as cheaply as possible and also the size of the farms. Sheep tend to live on huge ranches where they have to be able to survive on their own, often checked once a day at lambing if they are lucky. Any that need assistance to lamb are culled.
Click to expand...

Some are culled, an awful lot will just die a long lingering death.

So you'd prefer to import from NZ?

bonny said:
Ok, I am completely clueless.....never seen an old farmer in my life !!
Click to expand...

Shan't disagree with you there!:)
 
bonny said:
ok, pedantic but if you want me to read your post properly you said "so you are under 60 these day's and on the scrap heap" which makes no sense at all !
I assumed you meant I was thinking anyone over 60 was on the scrapheap hence why I replied I doubted the farmer in question started work at the age of 2 ...
oh and I'm perfectly calm and I'm not insulting anyone so please stop saying that I am.
Click to expand...
MAKES NO SENCE AT ALL? yes you are correct I was thinking you are trying to say anyone over 60 is on the scrap heap! and I found that insulting.
 
Can't believe what I've just read on this thread :confused: :confused:
Now what I know about farming could probably be fitted onto the back of postage stamp, but to say that farmers just left their stock out to suffer. seriously :eek: I'm on the isle of man and have spent my days off work this week out searching for sheep, the farmer who's sheep we were searching for certainly did care and was in tears more than once while trying to explain where we could and couldn't safely ish search and thanking people for turning up. To say that he and alot of other farmers were neglectful and just didn't bother to try and prepare i find quite offensive to me let alone the farmers themselves

Yes the weather probably was predicted but how many times is snow predicted and how many times do we get either no snow or just a few inches which I'm fairly sure any self respecting hill sheep would cope perfectly well with, I doubt anyone was expecting it to be quite as severe as it turned out to be here. I know if i had actually seen the weather forecast and seen snow predicted I'd probably still have left my ponies out because I wouldn't have expected the huge amount of snow and drifts that arrived i'd have expected a few inches on the ground. Luckily for my ponies with me as their neglectful owner they are on a part where we didn't have so much snow, because even after realising the snow was going to be bad I left them out anyway because I worried that if I got them in then couldn't get back to them they'd be stuck in and be pretty much stuffed. They used to live on one of the farms that has been on the news showing people digging out sheep I dread to think of if I made the same choice there.

Whoever it was that said the sheep should have been brought lower down here..... have you ever been to the isalnd?
 
Last edited:
DizzyDoughnut said:
Can't believe what I've just read on this thread :confused: :confused:
Now what I know about farming could probably be fitted onto the back of postage stamp, but to say that farmers just left their stock out to suffer. seriously :eek: I'm on the isle of man and have spent my days off work this week out searching for sheep, the farmer who's sheep we were searching for certainly did care and was in tears more than once while trying to explain where we could and couldn't safely ish search and thanking people for turning up. To say that he and alot of other farmers were neglectful and just didn't bother to try and prepare i find quite offensive to me let alone the farmers themselves

Yes the weather probably was predicted but how many times is snow predicted and how many times do we get either no snow or just a few inches which I'm fairly sure any self respecting hill sheep would cope perfectly well with, I doubt anyone was expecting it to be quite as severe as it turned out to be here. I know if i had actually seen the weather forecast and seen snow predicted I'd probably still have left my ponies out because I wouldn't have expected the huge amount of snow and drifts that arrived i'd have expected a few inches on the ground.

Whoever it was that said the sheep should have been brought lower down here..... have you ever been to the isalnd?
Click to expand...

Despite the length of this thread and it's various tangents I think the OP was simply wondering why farmers didn't bring their stock in and lots of people have answered that.
 
Well hello there fellow Manxie :D

Hope you seen my one woman battle against one particular know it all on here. :mad:

Glad there are now reinforcements to the cause:)
 
bonny said:
Despite the length of this thread and it's various tangents I think the OP was simply wondering why farmers didn't bring their stock in and lots of people have answered that.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, one particular poster specifically stated that the farmers on the Isle of Man were negligent in the care of their livestock and then had others jump on the band wagon agreeing with them.

I think those of us that live here are more than justified in setting the record straight
 
cronkmooar said:
With all due respect, one particular poster specifically stated that the farmers on the Isle of Man were negligent in the care of their livestock and then had others jump on the band wagon agreeing with them.

I think those of us that live here are more than justified in setting the record straight
Click to expand...

I imagine the farmers on the Isle of Man were more caught out than most by the snow and how long it's lasted.....how are things there now ?
 
bonny said:
Despite the length of this thread and it's various tangents I think the OP was simply wondering why farmers didn't bring their stock in and lots of people have answered that.
Click to expand...

Fair enough the OP was just asking a question... but the responses that followed are just beyond belief

*waves to cronkmooar*
 
cronkmooar said:
With all due respect, one particular poster specifically stated that the farmers on the Isle of Man were negligent in the care of their livestock and then had others jump on the band wagon agreeing with them.

I think those of us that live here are more than justified in setting the record straight
Click to expand...
TOO TRUE with you all the way on this, so easy for people to post their thoughts and not know the true facts.
 
Farming as a job is a choice. if you don't like it, get another one.
Even my local farm vets think it is disgraceful-they knew there were red snow warnings. Moaning that it will cost too much money to look after your animals properly or that it's too much like hard work isn't really acceptable(bearing in mind plenty of benefits of farming lifestyle hence why people stick to it). Instead of lording farmers as a special 'breed' of people accept there are bad eggs in all jobs and the ones we constantly see paraded across tv are the ones who aren't good at their job.
I have yet to know a farmer who cares enough about his stock to not squeeze as many into the slatted pen as possible, feed them only as much silage as they need over winter if they are useful (e.g in beef leaving the heifers/youngstock to half starve as an 'economy/practicality').
Many sheep farmers wouldn't call a vet because the cost is not worth it - some without a gun will just leave stock to die. The reason the farmers are upset about losing sheep is the value of the sheep, not normally because they feel attached to the animals. the reason you are all up checking your sheep is because otherwise yourisk losing a lamb which is to risk losing money.
And that's the bitter 'practicality' of it and if animals rights (to shelter, food, water, approriate care) are written off as being over ridden when 'practicalities' are necessary or it is too much hard work or money is involved then we can stop considering ourselves a developed nation.
Offended? Feel I don't know the true facts? Tough. It's easy to get defensive when you know it's true.
 
.When we got our three sheep they were part of a group of 12 'pet' lambs (there had been problems with the lambing) the milk powder used to get them to the stage where they could be expected to cope was 60 pounds. The chap we bought them from declined to let us have the three smallest, as he felt that they may not be healthy as they grew, but he said "you have to give them a chance".He sold the three we got for the price of the milk powder and delivered them. Please do not think that you know the mindset of all livestock farmers SuzieT as you obviously do not.
 
YorksG said:
.When we got our three sheep they were part of a group of 12 'pet' lambs (there had been problems with the lambing) the milk powder used to get them to the stage where they could be expected to cope was 60 pounds. The chap we bought them from declined to let us have the three smallest, as he felt that they may not be healthy as they grew, but he said "you have to give them a chance".He sold the three we got for the price of the milk powder and delivered them. Please do not think that you know the mindset of all livestock farmers SuzieT as you obviously do not.
Click to expand...

A lot of farmers will give orphaned lambs away as they are not considered worth the hassle of raising.....
 
I'm just looking at pics of my neighbours taking bales of haylege up the mountain on a specially-hired snowmobile. And imagining barely-literate pensioners with no qualifications who've never known anything but farming, queuing up at the job centre to 'get another job'....cause they are already so plentiful on the ground.
 
SusieT, if you think farmers dont care, maybe you should actually talk to some, the dairy farmer in tears who had to sell the herd his father started , because the eu/government, says he has to change his slurry pit to their directive, cant remember what, but it would cost him thousands , money he couldnt afford to spend as he is a tenant farmer, the farm doesnt belong to him, and his sons were off doing other things and not interested in taking over from him. Can you imagine, developing a herd over sixty years, breeding for quality, Knowing every cow by name as well as number, over all that time and in the end seeing them sold at market, the herd split and then going home at the end of the day to an empty farm!!! :(
 
SuzieT... What exactly should they have done then? you'd bring thousands of sheep off the hills and put them where exactly? and then what if you had your many sheep in a shed and the as has happened the roof collapses? you're doomed whatever you do as far as i can see

And I'm not suggesting there aren't bad farmers around I'm sure there are just as there are in every other profession. But this was very extreme weather that happens once in a lifetime. And of course they will also not be happy about the loss of money, farming is a business after all, i'm assuming they need the money to keep on farming, you can't feed whatever animals you have left and pay your bills off fresh air can you. That doesn't make them all bad people or neglectful.

As I have said I know very little about farming and really would like to know exactly what you would have done if you were in their position that would have prevented this?
 
I feel incredibly sorry for all the farmers out there who are doing there utmost to get by in horrific conditions. Farmers really are unsung heros, you deserve far more respect than you have been shown by some on here.

There was a video posted on twitter earlier that nearly had me in tears at work today of a welsh farmer desperately digging out his ewes, some alive some dead :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXauxePfgk&feature=youtu.be
 
Last edited:
Bonny & SusieT I shall quote part of my earlier post and ask. What would you have done differently to make the animals safer? To prove that myself, or my farmer neighbours, actually 'care' for the animals we own. Over to you!!

TJP said:
I brought all the horses in as they would be 'safer'........... the weight of the snow would bring part of the upper yards roof down. Fortunately the tractor was parked up there and the roof landed on the tractor, saved part of the roof, and let the 2 horses up there escape from their stables into the sandschool.

A friend has lost 2 sheds, 1 machinery and the other on top of 60 cattle, saved by the fact the metal feeder running down the middle of the shed helped prop the roof off the cattle. Others were literally standing and keeping sections up on their backs.

Another neighbour has his whole machinery shed down, another has his cattle shed down, a friend spent 7 hours with a digger getting a mare home from the field.

Another is currently buying silage at £30 a bale as the cattle should be out on the fields by now and he has ran out of fodder.

A friend is planning a 120 mile round trip to collect hay (see above for reason).....
QUOTE]
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I think Susie T's point was that it is all about money not care....which I think is fair enough actually, farming is a business not a hobby to most.
 
bonny said:
I think Susie T's point was that it is all about money not care....which I think is fair enough actually, farming is a business not a hobby to most.
Click to expand...

Well obviously money comes into it no-one is disputing that, but just because it is a business doesn't mean they don't care because i'm sure the vast majority of them do. Someone I work with had a dairy farm, now being run by her sons and with sheep but she can still years later name all the cows they had and still crys when she tells you about her favourite cow dying, obviously they sold the milk for money rather than giving it away for free but it doesn't mean they care any less.
And do you think any sane person would willingly go, mehhh it looks a bit chilly out there think I'll just sit here in front of the fire and let my business disappear under feet of snow while i have a coffee and watch TV
 
Last edited:
bonny said:
I think Susie T's point was that it is all about money not care....which I think is fair enough actually, farming is a business not a hobby to most.
Click to expand...

It's certainly not a hobby to my neighbours or friends. It does not stop them caring, being up at all hours of the night, working hard or caring for the animals they own. I have met grown men, some of which certain posters think should be retired by now, devastated about what is happening to their livestock. My husband has a business, it does not stop him 'caring'. I will sell some horses & I will intend to make a profit, does not stop me caring! I am also a regular visitor to the IOM. I can sit in glorious sunshine in Glen Helen when it is snowing in Ramsey. I think people who sit in judgement of others should make sure of their facts first.
 
I said it was Susie T's point not mine ! Think I said 100's of posts ago that everybodies opinions are coloured by their own experiences, location etc. Good and bad in every walk of life.
 
Just a few points on this thread that I would like to pick up on.... (but can trawl back through all the pages to quote them all!)

Cronkmooar - through my work, I am in constant contact with all the sheep farmers on IOM and I know who suffered those losses of the sheds collapsing and my heart bleeds for them - its absolutely horrific :(

Someone said that farmers would get a "hardship grant or fund" - really? I read in Farmers Weekly today that SFP is being reduced by 5% - another knock in the teeth.

Bonny said that farmers who don't even have snow are complaining - we have 700 ewes and a small herd of beef suckler cows of about 50 so 100 with followers on a hill farm on Exmoor. We have a small scattering of a few inches of snow and we can't imagine what farmers in the hard hit areas are suffering, but its been a terrible time for lambing - we can't turn anything out, we have no grass, we make ample hay and silage but have to buy straw in as this is not an arable area. Straw prices are astronomical due to transport costs (Exmoor followed by Dartmoor have the highest straw prices in the country). My OH has just got back in now, all the lambs he topped up with bottled milk last night have died this morning - he is soul destroyed and wonders if it is worth carrying on. Because there is nowhere for the ewes that have lambed to go (every conceivable inch of all shed space is filled up) he took a trailer load to market to sell as couples and got £40 a life :( Some farmers were bringing their stock back home from the market as the prices were so low.

Some said that sheep farming is a choice but not for everyone, some people are born into it. My OH can't sell this farm as its wrapped up in a trust, he can't go out to work because he has to farm it, I go out to work full time to bring in some money to live on - we can't think of an alternative, but if you can, we are all ears :)

We get all the subsidies going - SFP, HLS, Organic but still it doesn't make a profit, not a pound! I want to diversify into holiday cottages, riding holidays etc but that needs capital and planning permission to convert buildings (funnily enough though every single building is currently crammed with ewes and lambs!)

But it can only get better - thats what I keep telling OH :) and you know what - neither he nor I would swap this life unless forced but if the bloody bank manager doesn't keep chasing then we may have to!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top