timberbear

Well it's a nightmare! Some foods have vat and some don't. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Why not offer salaries to farmers to take non profitable farms out of circulation and manage their farms for it's landscape and wildlife value. That way we could have large swathes of the countryside managed by people who know the land and will still have an income. This could be paid for by removing the subsidies from the larger profitable farms. If food prices creep up then perhaps VAT could be lowered as a compensatory measure. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Supervise the start of rendering down some 400t of oversize timber! Certainly pays to have a big machine on site. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

I'm fortunate to own a 70ac farm in the Galloway hills. It has been taken out of it's previous intensive agricultural use. We now graze it with only 30 ewes and two cattle. It will never make a sustainable income as half the land is bog and rush. We currently receive £3600 in basic farm payments just for having the land. We allow the land to be grazed by a local lad on a prescriptive plan. The land is managed for wildlife, mainly wild flower and wading birds, it's frequented by shank, snip and curlew and is used by hen harrier and barn owl and the common red kit. We have otter using our burn and a 12ac meadow which is a carpet if wild flower. This year alone we have blocked ditches, flooded fields, planted 600 trees, fenced off the burns and dug 6 wader scrapes. We applied for a number of grants in total 26k over 4 years for the remaining grant period. I was amazed to have received a letter recently telling us we would not be receiving and funding. It made my blood boil when I know the land owner up the road has leased all his land out for a wind farm but still receives his payments, the very land where Hen Harrier were nesting. I read about grouse moors receiving state subsidies whilst making large profits but still getting away with the mass murder if birds of prey. I think it's important that wildlife is helped and that perhaps the only way is to fund certain farms in targeted areas to turn away from agriculture and instead manage the land for wildlife perhaps even giving farmers a small salary after all if they didn't farm then the tax payer still picks up the bill once their on benefits. Wildlife holds no boundaries and we need to what ever we can to preserve it. I know of folk who live in the country side and have never seen a linnet or yellowhammer, agriculture needs to make amends and we all need to play our part. My view anyway. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

It'll be compost by the time I shift it! Got loads of oversize in Cardiff! Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Chris. I've got 40t eastern side of Newport if you fancy shifting it ten miles towards Chepstow for me. I've been let down by all the locals. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

I've just planted some 600 trees on a very wet site. I've opted for a lot of alder and downy birch with a mix of rowan and alder buckthorn. The idea is to coppice them in about 15yrs so they never reach a height when they will be prone to toppling on a steep wet slope. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Handy little trailer. Well built and solid. Good size tyres too. They are very small and I would have preferred the 2t but the grounds so wet I'd end up overfilling it and sinking! Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

A spot of bridge building using mine to carry my prefabricated bearers. The large flotation tyres are a must on wet ground. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Taken last week. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

Earning it's keep with a spot of fencing. Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

How near Cardiff are you looking? Sent from my SM-G935F using Arbtalk mobile app

I'm up the road from chepstow and use a local fencer, had him in to do my sisters alpaca paddock on a very steep slope. If it's post and rylock (stock fencing) with two barbed on top expect about £6 per metre. Id put any rabbit netting behind the rylock to stop them pushing their way through it.

Lovely place to live and work I imagine. I've been there several times even had my honeymoon there. Lots to do for such a small place, climate is warm but being an island does take a battering in the winter and can be very wet. Easy to drive around but the roads can be very narrow and steep in places. Not cheap to rent and it's expensive for some goods as everything gets shipped in from the mainland. I've got a cuz who runs a H&S training company on the island. He arrived there twenty years ago and married a local! There are lots of rules of who can cant buy a house or land there. Oh and there's red squirrels everywhere!

I replaced my cabstar with a MWB Toyota Dyna, very basic inside but drives like a nippy little car, great turning circle and loads of grunt. 1.2t payload and will pull 2t with ease.