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Everything posted by Luke Quenby
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Like that! Personally, I don't like barbed wire. I've worked on farms, put up many miles of it, horrible stuff to work with and a bit pointless. If cattle are that hungry, they will walk through it to get to what ever is on the other side. I have known this to happen. Barbed wire doesn't keep it's strength like other wires, all relying on the actual barbed bit. Go to countrys like New Zealand, they will use plain ht wire. The old saying that the country is built with number 8 wire is not far wrong. These guys know a thing or 2 about fencing and livestock. I think because barbed looks effective and nasty people just keep on using it. I won't use it, and if can convince anyone else not to, I will. The strength of the fence is in the posts, the spacing and how tight the wire is, not how many strands of barbed wire can be strung up and made to look effective and aggressive.
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True, they are daft with fences, and they will be hungry at this time of year, especially 25 in a 5 acre field Obvious / stupid question but is there not another paddock joining on or nearby they could be shifted into, or would that compound the whole issue the owner is having with the tenant? Electric fencing maybe your only other option then, hiding the energiser / battery unit under a nice pile of thorny brash should keep it fairly safe, especially if your there until dark at this time of year
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Temporary fence, orange barrier mesh stuff or 2 strands of plain wire, quick and fairly easy to put up, only got to be a temp job - would the landowner contribute to this if he's a decent bloke and understands the problem? Or a sectional fence - some of the stuff they put up round festival sites etc so you can work a section at a time. Could be a hassle though either way, at least the landowner sounds like a good bloke who will know where your coming from. I had a similar problem pollarding in a horse field, a nightmare to keep them out of the way, they LOVE Willow! In the end I would drag some of the brash a way off to give them something to feast on while I worked quickly. The owner was less than interested in moving them out for a couple of days while the work was done!
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Speak to this chap - Kane Saull-Hunt 07775526826. Well known axe and knife maker from east sussex, and does a lot of throwing demo's and tuition too. He imports and deals in coldsteel and tomohawk knives and axes as well, and isn't silly money for nice custom made stuff. Well worth a call if your really into it, mention you got his number off me!
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The working horse manual is a really good read. Have had it a few years now, got it from Amazon. It will certainly set you in the right direction. Do you already own horses? We got our first set of old and battered but useable driving tack given to us for our Welsh section A by a friend of a friend who drives horses. Like many things, people will always help out newcomers to their hobby / interest. The BHL web-site is a good source of info, and Natural Traction based in Kent do courses on horse logging. We picked up a 6 month old cob on Saturday who will be broken to drive / cart in time, first time handled by humans and away from mum, so far so good, definatley got a good steady temperament. Well worth getting talking to people who are already into this sort of thing, read books, go to shows, scour the internet and offer to help anyone with heavy horses in any way you can. The Heavy Horse Trust take volunteers also to learn in a hands on way.
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At the Drax power station which provides around 7% of our power / electric there were plans to use 10% biomass, co-fired with the coal, but this would require 750,000 hectares of short rotation coppice to be planted. Alongside that there is the fact of only using 10%, and still needing vast amounts of coal just to get the right temperature. This would then lead to an obvious land use issue over producing food or producing power as many are finding out in the US with Maize being produced for ethonol / fuel purposes. The cost of utilising this co-firing method is three times as expensive as using coal alone. And the fertiliser inputs to get the required yeilds are high, so it is not the 'greenest' of methods. It begs a big question over the best way to utilise the land we have to fill all of our requirements for food and power. 200 million tons of coal are burnt every year in the UK to keep the power stations going, with best estimates of 150 years of coal left, at current consumption levels. According to the NNFCC, we are some 80 million oven dried tons short in our biomass requirements for production of heat alone for the whole country. As an example in Denmark they have the ability to produce 50% of their power requirement through wind turbines, but not one single 'conventional' fossil fuel powered power station has been de-commissioned yet due to the obvious reliabilty concern of wind. I belive big steps are being made on the issues of efficiancy of these units but we are still a long way off from being anywhere close to the levels of sustainable and affordable power generation. It's a really interesting debate, and anyone who can come up with some definative answers is on to a winner! For the record, I think heavy horse power has a definate place in forestry and to a certain extent agriculture / food production. We have abundant technology for maximising efficiancy in food production in agriculture now - look at the practices of even 20 years ago compared to now. Using several different methods instead of just one is a definate plus, so for me the use of horses have a big role to play, not just on difficult / steep / sensetive sites. I have been involved in an area of small scale horse extraction, the owners of the estate were happy to pay that bit more just to see it happening and to protect the ground they were working on over conventional extraction methods.
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Just reading back through the posts - don't mow it or strim it or cut it when still alive, there's a chance you will spread it to another site through any bit's of stem material on your equipment if not very careful.
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In my experience, Glyphosate / roundup is not that effective being sprayed. It may check the growth for a couple of weeks, thats about it, even with repeated applications at a high dosage. In the past, I've used Broadsword, made by United Phospherous to really good effect. Not to pricey (about £75 for 5 litres from memory) and really effective on all the tough woody weeds also like Gorse and Bramble as well as jkw. Any product with 2,4-D, Dicamba and triclopyr in will do the trick at the right volume.
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It normally relates to the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme (UKWAS) and is all to do with sustainability and management. Often runs allied to ISO 14001 EMS, or certainly picks up on parts of it. But it may have more to do with having a management plan in place for the woodland and environmental management systems accounted for. A whole raft of info can be found here http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=woodland%20certification&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forestry.gov.uk%2Fpdf%2Fukwasguide.pdf%2F%24FILE%2Fukwasguide.pdf&ei=puXUTti8FtHY8QO08tGCAg&usg=AFQjCNE2TOLR5p5BaqCwUnToTbpeaIVW9A sections 3, 5 and 6 are probably the most relevant if at the planning stage. Even though, as you mentioned, it is not a prerequisite to gaining funding, it is probably well worth a look and maybe a chat with your local FC officer, just to make sure you are going about it the right way. That is what they are there for and they should point you in the right direction. Certification is a good thing to have, if it is relevant and nessacerry. It will certainly demonstrate you are in for the long haul and are looking at the bigger picture with things like management and sustainability (2 BIG key words in the FC funding world). Like many things it's a case of forms, patience and a bit more patience! Hope this helps a bit, Luke
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Have also been in touch with Farmers Weekly Interactive and am trying to persuade them to put the survey on their site for a week or 2. So far have had some good results, a real mix with no glaringly obvious trends, but if I can get a few farmers to fill it in, I reckon a few trends will start showing, particularly on size and management level.
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The survey will be going out on the RFS web site to, hopefull that I will pick up a few people from there. I think trying to get into the farmer world could be a good one too, that seems to be an area where there is lots of smaller pockets of under managed woodland. Still working on that one!
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Hama, Appreciate the feedback. It could be a woodland that you have worked within in the past and have a good knowledge of. I understand it is aimed more at those who own / directly manage woodland, but the more data I can get to work with, the more chance of a good study being produced. So it could be filled in from the point of view of a woodland you have managed / worked in some time ago, as long as the info for the questions is there, it will count. Cheers, Luke
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Hello everyone, Some of you may have read my post from a few days ago asking for your opinions on a survey I am putting together. The survey is part of my wildlife and countryside management degree I'm studying for at Moulton at the moment. What I am trying to do is gauge woodland type, usage, grant uptake and management style and see if there are any national or regional trends. I am going to be carrying out an in depth study on a woodland near me, and writing a full report suggesting how the woodland could actually be an important source of revenue, as well as habitat. Using the data and the survey info the study will hopefully be able to be applied to other generic neglected woodlands to try and make landowners / contractors / woodlanders realise the value of there resource a bit more, as well as conserving habitat and restoring flora and flora. I'm also trying to get Woodfuel east onside, to share data and info and give them another case study to work with. In short, to try and provide a manual / toolkit for succesfull management of neglected woodlands, targeting maybe the less well informed and showing it can be relitavley straightforward to make woods work for you, whilst keeping a grip on long term aims. This is a pretty brief overview, if anyone wants any more info pleases pm me. I would ask as many people as possible who are conected to woods in any way to fill in the survey, you don't have to be an owner or contractor, it's 10 questions and will take about 5 minutes to fill in. Once all the work is done, if anyone wants a copy of the report, or to see the statistal data they will be more than welcome. Thanks, Luke Survey here - Woodland Management Survey
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Need advice and experience - will work for free!
Luke Quenby replied to robbutler's topic in General chat
Top man! Good to see a genuine offer, without which it can sometimes be tough to break into the work - what goes around comes around - make the most of it mate and good luck -
Cheers for the feedback John K, will let you know how it goes, did you check the survey out - any thoughts? Luke
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I've just read through the survey again and noticed a good amount of typo's and grammatical errors - these will be rectified before I publish - and before anyone tells me to learn to spell on here!
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Evening all, I am in the second year of a Wildlife & Countryside management degree at Moulton College in Northamptonshire. As part of the course, we have to do an extended study within a relevant sector to the course. The area that I have chosen to investigate is neglected woodlands, and the potential they hold for provision of wood fuel and income, as well as habitat and conservation realisation. The title of the study is 'Realising the potential of undermanaged woodlands' and I hope to be able to provide a comprehensive study into the often overlooked and undeveloped income source that they could provide. The study will focus on one particular area of woodland local to me, but will also look at the broader picture of the many small and fragmented woodlands we have in the country. I plan to do a case study for the area of woodland I am looking at, including a comprehensive management plan, habitat surveying, grant funding, financial models and timetables, leisure and access possibilities and looking at how the model I provide could be applied to other generic woodlands in the UK. I am planning on putting together a survey (Steve has given the thumbs up!) and using this site, as well as the RFS site and a few woodland owners / workers I know to complete it. I am limited to 10 questions, and am finding this pretty tough to get all the info I need to see if there are any trends and statistical similarities that can be applied to this study. The questions can be found here Woodland Management Survey But PLEASE don't fill them in, just maybe take a few minutes to read through and give me any feedback before I 'go live' with it in a few days time. I'll be pestering you all to fill it in later in the week! Any thoughts / suggestions / criticisms will be taken on board, please don't shoot me down in flames but I would be really grateful of any insights and opinions anyone has. Thanks for taking the time to read this / check out the survey, look forward to hearing all of your thoughts! Cheers, Luke
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Second that! Always makes my nose run and gives me a sore throat after sanding. Normally passes after a few hours but even with a dust mask makes little difference....................worth it though!
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Ridiculous question time?
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Dax, some time ago I ordered a copy of this book, and for some reason ended up with 2! If I can find the spare one your more than welcome to it, you may have to bear with me a day or two as some of our stuff is boxed up / in storage, but I think I know where it is. Will get back to you soon if I find it
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Will be ok as long as the horses can be kept out of the fields for a couple of weeks, if there is loads, spraying probably the best option, Headland Polo is a good one for paddock management Headland Agrochemicals You should charge per acre, this is the normal way to go unless it is less than about 5 - 10 acres. Agricultural contractor rates vary between £5 and £7 per acre, obviously just for application, hence why you may need to go hourly / or a higher rate, as these rates are generally based on upwards of 50 acres or regular sprays. Hope this helps
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This may help Biddenden Vineyards | Biddenden Ciders Good cider, used to live not far from there.....13.5% !! Like drinking pints of wine!
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Looks to me like part of an ancient woodland / woodbank that has been cut many times over but missed out on the regular coppicing cycles as it forms part of the old boundary...........I am making a lot of assumptions from one picture but based on that and what I know I would go ancient. Feel free to shoot me down now!