RichardT

I had no idea everyone here used exclusively British kit. Well done all of you.

"It's only getting popular because people buy it." Er, yes. If you want a discussion on the decline of British manufacturing I'll happily chip in as an economist by training, we'll need to go a bit further back than 20 years though. And a bit deeper than blaming punters for buying 'foreign rubbish' while letting the commercially suicidal UK manufacturers off scot free. I asked a specific question about a specific bit of kit. The only remotely relevant UK supplier I know of is Logic, I'd have to fabricate a winch boom and in any case they're overpriced, even against the Swedish and Canadian 'foreign rubbish' currently imported. "total waste of money..........." Is this anything foreign, just Asian stuff like Korean tractors, or only Chinese?

I know exactly what you mean, but a) I've not seen a single used Rexon or similar in a couple of months of looking (possibly in the wrong places), and b) there's a lot less to cock up when building a dumb trailer than a tractor or, god forbid, chipper, unless their welding is even worse than mine. And anyway the Chinese component content on mainstream agri kit is rising constantly so we'd probably better get used to it.

Anyone know if there's a UK importer? I'm after a simple & cheap trailer/wire crane setup for getting firewood & thinnings out of my wood behind the quad or compact, a Kranman 1.5t one from Caledonian is getting on for £3k while the Chinese knockoff from an Ebay Germany trader is E1300 odd, but like other Germans before him he stops at the Channel. They'll not be as well built, but at half price or less I could live with that. I've found similar/identical machines available in various Euro/Scand countries and plenty of offers of containerloads from the PRC, but nothing in the UK. Any ideas?

The 700 series look a lot like CSF machines. Built for them or licensed? Great machine either way. Only real operating downside I've found is the need to practically dismantle them to replace a hyd.hose, the packaging is so tight. Don't suppose they make a single claw log grapple to fit onto standard forks? Sort of like this but cheaper....? http://www.avanttecno.com/www/index.php?PAGE=58&LANG=2&pid=62

Tom, You've a full in-tray.

The FC grant for plan preparation (in England) is £20/Ha up to 100 Ha, £10/Ha thereafter.

The std. 900 front linkage was fixed width, so you'd probably need to do some chopping of that or the splitter. Not too complicated to make up though, half of mine was home made:

What if you had a tractor & forwarding trailer nearby? If a JCB can get in over the fields that certainly could....

Buying standing timber for firewood isn't that outlandish, I'd have thought the question is whether this pays or not.

Not come across this sort of thing before, you wonder how they'd vet bidders, personally I'd be a bit worried if the winner showed up with a Fiesta and a B&Q saw.... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Oak-Trees-to-be-felled-for-timber-c-50_W0QQitemZ300297888213QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_BOI_Building_Materials_Supplies_Carpentry_Woodwork_ET?hash=item300297888213&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A10%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318 or http://tinyurl.com/bdb9pt

Tom, make sure you pick a really wet w/e then direct everyone via the ford. And if Willie has no saw work for you then I've plenty 15min away......

I'd second the Clearview recommendation, we put a Pioneer oven in the last house we built. Now an Esse ironheart does everything - cooking, space heating & DHW.

I've run a fair few stoves, some imported but mostly British, including recently Clearview, Coalbrookdale and Esse. Can't say I've noticed the local products suffering any great quality gap in either design or construction.

Recent UPM-Tilhill market report here: http://www.upm-tilhill.com/Downloads Average prices based on few sales are a bit suspect, but trend is up.

If anyone's actively looking for an alpine tractor I just came across a practically new AGT50 with 2.3m flail and a keen seller. Full cab, reversible steering, etc, 90hrs, 20k-odd new in Nov. 07, wants £12k.

Still going strong Ed, recently it's done everything from snowplowing to clearing encroaching gorse with the flail, moving stockfeed potatoes to suspending roe deer for gralloching. And shifting & splitting timber of course. The one thing it won't do is cross ditches of any depth at all given the lack of oscillation combined with rear overhang. Our wood was thoroughly ploughed when last planted so this limits access, but with an oscillating GT on lug tyres I'd go most places an alpine could. If I was getting one that size I'd think about making up a 3pl frame to hang on the front quick hitch, as a cheap alternative or better an addition to rear 3pl. Hard to fault them as an all-purpose loader/tool carrier.

Here's my little S20 with linkage. The same but bigger, I imagine. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8640&d=1227777644

Well if this is a beauty contest the chopped machine with winch & 3pl(?) in #16 gets my vote. It isn't an ag-rover, and it doesn't look like one of the Roadless forestry conversions, but whatever it is I'd like one.

Idly browsing for Holder skidders I come across this machine on a German arb site: http://www.landtreff.de/viewtopic.php?t=9805&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=870 Compact forestry tractor the Warsaw Pact way, it seems. A couple of truck axles off a Robur, 40hp truck diesel, artic and oscillating, winch & blade, not much bigger than a top-end Carraro, good for 40deg. side slopes. DFU by name, 80s built. A bit more Googling and there's one on Ebay Germany, heavily modded with a Unimog front loader, blade moved aft, Rotzler winch and beefed-up hydraulics. http://tinyurl.com/8ot595 At a glance, and leaving aside the likely spares nightmare, I'm thinking I want one just like that, with a 3pl (easily adapted from the blade hyds) and a PTO (less straightforward I guess). And maybe 50-60hp. Is anything like this still being built?

We've been fostering for a few years, so far two long term placements and a couple of shorter 'respite' ones to give other fosterers a break. First was a nightmare, a very damaged 15yo girl with a mission to find every rule, weakness or boundary and drive a dozer through each one. Second has been a (comparative) breeze. Next is anyone's guess. A couple of observations: The selection/training process is seemingly endless and grinding, but not as personally intrusive as I'd expected. Form filling, reviews, etc. etc. are a permanent feature - you're a Local Authority employee and it can feel like it. If you change employers - even to a neighbouring LA or an agency operating locally - the whole thing starts again. Perhaps most importantly, where your views and the statutory authority's differ, the casting vote is theirs every time. Your home ceases to be your personal refuge, it's now also a workspace. How well this balances out depends on lots of things, principally the child ('young person' / 'Looked After Child' - LAC) in question. In some cases - eg abused children - really elaborate routines have to be put in place to keep everyone safe, yourself included (especially). Every abnormal behaviour from precocious sexuality to violence to Bobby Sands style dirty protest is a possibility, and you can't assume that you'll know what you're getting - incomplete case records, or an emergency care order with no known background, etc. There are lots of different ways of doing fostering - Long/short term, specific age groups, special programmes of various kinds - and lots of employers, agencies and LAs . Terms vary a lot, from expenses and a small fee to the equivalent of a mid-range nurse's salary. Potentially steady income, and sadly not the kind of work that's going to go away anytime soon. Really enjoyable at times, hellish at others in short. There'll certainly be introductory sessions being held by your LA and possibly agencies operating locally. I'd go to a couple and see what you think.

We're just off Coldingham Moor towards Reston