Will Ayers

Bought an FSI turntable grinder. Thanks all for your help. Its on its way arriving at the end of the month... time will tell which move was the best! I find investing money back in to the business quite stressful at times. I thought it would be the fun side of business but actually I feel a weight of responsibility that often outweighs the money that I'm playing with! It seems you have to jump in with both feet and make the options you have taken work for you no matter what! Thank you for all of your input!

Thanks for all of your input. Having used a skidster a lot I'm well impressed with its lifting capabilities. Lifting well over a four man carry putting my truck overweight with four lumps. Their abilities aren't my concern at all it is warranting the expense vs a grinder etc. The transport issue does concern me with either machine. New trailer, new ramps and eventually a new vehicle with a second driver!! But the business is doing well and needs to expand so I either go for it or let the moment pass!! The loader fits my work smart, work harder motto although I can see that the time saved during the day is wasted in getting the machine home etc. Decisions decisions.

Cheers for the advice Blake. I do like the look of the 360. Having used mini loaders on site before I know it would be useful in every takedown that had an access wider than 800mm so at least once a fortnight. There have been jobs where a loader would have saved half a days labour. You can pick them up for similar money to the cost of the predator 360!!

I'm after a bit of advice about where to put my money:001_smile:... Do I buy a mini loader to do most of my heavy lifting etc or do I spend my money on a little stump grinder to expand the services my business offers? Or do I put the money in my personal account and spend it on beer and takeaways? I currently sub out my grinding to another local firm but would kind of like to be able to provide the whole package myself. so ive been looking at the predator 360 turntable jobby. but I also would LOVE to own a Sherpa 100 miniloader, skidster, Kanga or similar, as it would make moving logs and brash a thing of ease. it would do the work of ten men! In the long run I will be looking to buy both as the business grows but Im just not certain which way to put my cash! any experience or advice would be greatly appreciated!

i cant even get the thing burried!

so I think we need Drew B to enlighten us to his tricks.... as far as i can see there is no way of getting the core burried past the crossover with the other leg of the core by simply following standard db splice guides. ~

I've seen the other threads stubby. I wanted to compile a risk management worksheet and just wanted to know any gems of info regarding specific times of year and additional risk factors involved. Vets still aren't sure of what volumes need to be consumed to cause damage. Some are saying that is is potentially only a handful to do the damage. Others are saying loads. It's widely accepted that it's fine to graze horses under these trees in the early summer. Here's a lot of acreage that will be made redundant if no horses are allowed to graze under the trees for the whole year. As much as I like money I'm aiming this work to negate the need to fell the trees. It turns out. For example there is good scope for grazing this land with sheep prior to turning horses out in the spring. The sheep can clean the ground.

So this year it became widely known that Sycamores are poisonous to horses. They kill them in a slow and painful way. Horses, be they pets that people trot about on or thorough bred beauties that we like to have flutter with, are expensive business. I'm currently working with a major horse vets in Newmarket to outline the best course of action in the prevention of this fatal condition. Current literature online state the obvious... Fell the tree or move the horse, make sure the horse has something other than Sycamore Keys to eat etc. not much about what time of year to do what though. But in an ideal world Horses shouldn't be the reason to fell trees, besides anything else the shade that these trees cast can be massively beneficial to a horse in the hotter months. Other than physically checking the ground, is there a time of year we can guarantee that the number of fallen keys will be negligable? can we simply crown raise tree to beyond horsey height and then quarantine the fields when the keys are falling? I'm looking for advice that the vets can use to give to owners and for use in their own grounds as well. Have any of you lovely people had to help write an arboreal risk assessment for this or a similar situation... I think I have most of it written but I was wondering if you lot might have any gems of info!

I use my quad, a Yamaha Kodiak 400, with an stein arbor trolley behind it. We adapted the draw bar to fit the tow hitch. In one day we extracted well over ten ton through a boggy site. Kept the trolley the same as new other than the draw bar. But.... The maximum you can load on the arb trolley is 500kg. And it struggles sometimes. I have towed my chipper in to some pretty boggy sites, mud up to the axles of both machines. But I got out using my winch on the quad. Not a speedy process at all. I think you'd want a bigger machine to tow that trailer with anything decent in it. I often find their isn't enough weight to the machine to put the power in to the ground and I just spin the wheels. I get another bloke on the bike and it might shift. If you are set on a quad get an awesome winch. Mine is okay for what I do but it's not that powerful and it's incredibly slow.

Rename it the thief cheater. It doesn't need FAC as the projectile doesn't travel down a barrel and while the thing could hurt someone, plenty of tools use blank rounds to power them. These tools do not need licensing as their devoid of a barrel and their intended use is for industrial purposes. Not for slaying a running saw thief..... Not to say I wouldn't.

I left college with the promise of a good job on the power lines with SSE. it came down to a week before I was due to sign a contract with them, I bailed out and started looking for subby work. Starting at £60 a day (I'd worked up from £40 a day while at college) I'm now running my own business and loving it. No time is the right time. If you wait for the right time then you will die before you get it done. Worst case scenario, you quit your job, hate being self employed, and end up back working at the old place or somewhere new. Personally I normally work a 4 day week, at least two of those days are normally quite chilled out. I don't make a killing but my rates are in line with my competition. Stop worrying about your pay and start paying yourself!

The wood pigeon is still firmly classed as a huge pest both by the authorities and the farmers of the uk. Because they breed all year and because different crops are vulnerable throughout the year it is important that farmers are within their rights to control them. People miss understand what general license means. Yes pigeons can be shot throughout the year and frankly sportsmanship should not come in to the debate. If the pests are doing damage then controlling them is imperative. You are simply not allowed to shoot pigeon for sport (that's not to say it can't be enjoyable) but killing these birds must be for pest control. However, removing a nesting pigeon directly for the purposes of taking down a tree is not pest control. By nesting in the tree they do no damage, these are very adaptable birds which can survive on seemingly almost anything. You have to be able to prove that the bird is actively being a pest before it can be killed. Shooting out the nests of pigeon nesting in a country hedge is okay for pest control but removing one from a tree in order to remove the tree is simply not. It's a twisty turney set of laws that governs our ability to kill other animals. Pigeons are under general license but that doesn't mean a lot when it comes to them in their nests away from an agricultural environment. As for the weird way of thinking that pigeons should have seasons where they should not be shot, that in itself acts to go against the general license. They are pests. We are trying to reduce their numbers. If we let them live longer they will breed more and there will be more pigeons. I believe our job as pigeon shooters is to remove as many as we possibly can all year round.

Yes. The tree will definitely react in a bad way to such root pruning. I'd avoid cutting the roots as much as possible and try to eliminate any processes that alter the soil condition within 4 metres ish of the stem. If your customer is adamant that these works go ahead, recommend them a good tree surgeon to remove the tree either before or after the works as it will surely need removing soon if these works go ahead!

Thank you all for your help. I now have a copy on PDF.

A few spots of grippy stuff to stop the thing from sliding is probably what you'd be after. If you try and permanently fix it I think you'd need to build some sort of framework or is it possible to drill holes through the glass?

Cheers guys. I only need it for reference at the moment but can see the benefits of having a whole copy. Thanks for your help.

cheers Sloth hadnt thought of that!

Short of killing rabbits there's not a lot you can do. Trapping and releasing vermin is illegal so live trapping them is a no no. They are hardy little things so if you try and make life miserable for them by spraying their warrens with cat pee or whatever other rubbish, then they will find a way to get food anyway. They are like the Silver birch of the animal world. True pioneers, survive anywhere. So kill them or suffer the consequences. I'd opt for a 22 air rifle or get in touch with a ferret owner. If the mrs likes them in the garden then reduce the numbers but leave the young ones and control them. That way they will still be there but without doing the damage that large numbers do. That said its rare, without gassing, to rid a whole warren of bunnies. So shoot them as much as you can. Do cook them or give them to a game dealer though. Want not waste not!

Does any one have a copy of the BS 5837:2012 on pdf I can have? I would be eternally grateful!

Not sure yet. We will do our best to get there.

In east anglia near Newmarket. It's not that cold but were a household of southerners. So were soft.

still burning most nights. The evenings have been blooming cold, especially after going out roost shooting until dark!

You're on. Clay day is imminent.

Sorry about this bud. I dread the day that this happens to me. Will keep my eyes peeled buddy.

Were yet to discuss my final bill. I'm not going to kick the backside out of it but it will certainly make the blow a bit softer. lesson learnt here for sure, I did the right thing in getting my quote accepted in writing in the email, without that I would certainly not have got the compensation for lost works. Also any conversations with people from these bigger firms I will get documented in emails, its been a worrying time for me but the end result is more than satisfactory! Learn from other peoples hardships gents, its the cheapest and easiest lesson to learn. When dealing with the big boys, get it all written down and be prepared to stand your ground. luckily I dealt with a conscientious manager who made things easy for me but it could so easily have been the other way round, a little guy like me against a big organisation like this would be hard pressed to win a fight, no matter what the law states, so always back yourself up. And if in doubt, seek some arbtalkers out!