Men or machines.

[skyhuck]

Whilst sat having dinner on Friday, a tractor and trailer passed shortly followed by another tractor with front. They were clearly off to collect big bales.

 

I commented too my groundie, that when I was a lad it was all done by hand and that bale leading was a very labour intensive job, requiring teams of lads to handball all the small bales onto the trailer and then stack them in the barn.

 

And even silaging required lots of us to "tyre up" the clamp.

 

Now two guys or even one can easily go collect and stack from the comfort of a tractor cab.

 

Has our industry followed a similar path??

 

I have a timber/chip trailer with palfinger crane, which means minimal cutting and humping (where access allows), meaning we very rarely need more than two of us on any job.

 

I wonder if this sort of mechanisation has lead to the need for fewer staff generally and may be one of the reasons why there are more people looking for work??

[Stephen Blair]

The guys that can't adapt will suffer, those that can will be sitting in the tractor, or servicing them, selling them, delivering them, making parts for them etc etc. Things move on and if you don't move with them then you will be left behind.

[skyhuck]

True Stevie, but there has to be an overall reduction in people working, if machines are doing more of the work.

 

Around me there used to be 5 farms, which would have had 2 or 3 workers each (including the farmer).

 

There is now only one farm, farming all the land, with just the farmer, one labourer and contractors form time too time.

Edited July 31, 2010 by skyhuck

[testcricket01]

exactly how i see it, technology is good but its gone to far, most rely on technology now, herd a story from my americian relatives local to them 2 girls got lost in a cave they had there mobiles whats the first thing they do post on facebook they need help. lucky one of there friends read it on facebook and called the cops.

[Mick Stockbridge]

Throw away your chainsaws and cut by hand, that way everyone will have a job and no one will be fat.

 

 

Truth is we are over populated and over mechanised.

[Stephen Blair]

There will be less guys on the tools or labouring but think how much work will be created by the machinery. From the mechanic, to the people in the Customs Offices sorting out the import paperwork. The oil industry alone just to make fuel for all these machines in the world. The guys that used to work the land have either got a diferent job or have sat in the pub for the last 30 years moaning about it lol.

[skyhuck]

I guess forestry has been more affected by mechanisation.

 

With arb, access is always going to be an issue.

 

I don't know how many firms use, tractors with front loaders or hiabs.

 

Or do most find it more cost effective to just cut up and move by hand??

[geoff]

It is true that many of the traditional and rural jobs have gone to the machine,but there are a lot of jobs that have been created by this massive (in comparison to old times) infrastructure so many live in,modern society/towns.

Example,in victorian times they threw their houshold litter & 'night soil' into holes dug for the purpose,or scattered it on the fields.We produce far greater amounts of rubbish,and there is a massive industry in it's disposal & procesing.

[Stephen Blair]

it would be so nostalgic to go back to throwing our sewage in the front street, sending our kids up the chimneys while we head down the mines for an 18 hour shift just to make sure our rickitts doesn't get any better.

 

I love modern technology, the sooner they invent a robot that will drag brash and carry logs the better:thumbup:

[skyhuck]

I wonder if now we are in more uncertain economic times, firms can get cheap labour as and when required and so are less likely to make the investment require to buy big kit??