Stereo

Poor guy and you have to feel for his family but why do amateurs attempt to fell big trees? I was chopping up a big fallen ash today and was looking at it's friends who were still standing and it occured to me that I would'nt even know where to start if I wanted one of them down. The one I was ringing up had taken severl limbs off an oak as it fell and there was some junk hung up in the oak (from the ash). One branch (about 2" thick) fell while I was working and caught the brim of my helmet. Scared the carp out of me and it occured to me that I hadn't given a thought to what was still hung up in the tree. Methinks it's time I got some training in as it could have been bigger. I'm not a pro but I do try to take care and not do anything I am uncomfortable with. A mate who is a surgeon always says to me 'just take it slow, just look, think about what you have changed and take it slow' and always try to abide by this. But I would never try to fell such a tree. No idea where to start.

Must be going for parts I spose. My old series 3 had no locks and you could start it with a screwdriver (or your tongue if you were really desperate). Never gave it a second thought back then.

No, I never went to university. My History master wanted to get me into Oxford but he was a drunk and so was I. I'm not really a farmer either. I grew up on a farm, can drive a tractor, shoot a clay, fetch in bales, tip a trailer of corn or whatever. I was driving tractors when I was little enough to have to jump up and down on the brake to get it stopped. I know all about cattle (not sheep), I've milked cows at 5am on a winter morning with the worst hangover in history and puked up in the shipping and still had to go on milking. Not much I saw as a boy rang true with me to be honest. I love my Dad and he's a great Dad and a great man but we seem opposed on just about every single subject on this planet. Fortunately we have found a way around that small matter! If I was to go back to farming it would be very much on my terms.

They are worth a mint but cash poor. Like many farmers I suppose. Millionaire on paper but can't afford the electric bill. There is a similar lady in the Newton Abbot area. She's one of the richest people in Devon but you'd think she was skint to see the clothes and the car. As long as she's happy, none of our business I spose.

I'm going to try the pallet and stock netting idea this weekend. I've got a couple ash trees down and the plan is to put the empty pallet in the back of the Hilux, log up the tree where it fell and chuck it in, then bobcat it straight off when I'm back to the farm.

I don't think labs mind the cold too much. The sort of icy rivers they happily plunge into at unbelievable. I guess it's just what your dog is used to.

My oldest lab is a stone cold killer.

A rocket surgeon is very much like a brain scientist only out standing in a different field. Hopefully with no barbed wire.

Or cheap 6 x 9 tarps. Get them on ebay for a couple quid. I think we even sell the Clarke Cammo ones.

How about asking builders if they ever get any DPM offcuts. Pain for them to dispose of I would imagine and perfect for the job.

Oh blimey, I hope this thread doesn't fall foul of the forum rules. My comment re Sassenachs was only meant as a light hearted jest (as an Englishman married to a Scot). Let's keep this all pleasant eh chaps? Live and let live and all that.

Sweet. I need to find a way to deal with big oaks. I might just sell on the next one that falls for timber to be honest. Our usual policy is to ring it thin and then chop into blocks but it takes sooooo long to season. I believe it would be better to ring it in 12" lengths and then split it into long thin logs but I don't have anything that can do that apart from elbow grease.

It's a good point about gun dogs. I used to beat and pick up on the Waddeton estate for the Goodsons and the amount of injuries to spaniels in particular was distressing. Especially injuries where you really, really don't want them. If you know what I mean.

If I want to burn the wood at home, what steps should I take? Or is this a no go? Log it on site and straight into builders bags or straight into a closed shed? Seems a shame to chuck away a winters worth of premium hardwood fuel.

What's the current foreign policy on the treatment of Sassenachs?

This was a fine wind if you ask me. One was a good tree but just pulled out of the ground. The other was pretty rotten at the root by the look of it. You could hardly see where it had been. I love a 100mph gale. Mother Nature then decides what we burn next year. She's probably far more qulified than me.

I was veggie for about 15 years and it didn't go down well in a beef farming community but there you go. We must give thanks that we can do exactly what we feel is right in this world, hopefully without too much sarcastic comdemnation. I'm not a veggie now. I thought about it. A lot. That makes me feel comfortable with my choice. Some people don't ever make that choice. They don't push themselves that far. Thumbs up to all those helping the OP with a solution to their problem.

Oh and Skyhuck, I have released many sheep from netting over the years. We have never kept them but our neighbours do. I'm not sure they count because as a species, they seem intent on dying as soon as they are born. Sheep make a bench vice look smart. That said, if you put up a 3 strand barb wire fence, the lambs will get under it anyway and destroy your hazel coppice in it's first year of growth. Sheep are like deer, they need brash fencing, or should just be eaten straight away.

Go hack them then. I think the long hook is your best bet. I feel your pain, I honestly do as we are blighted by it. Everything I read from experienced woodsmen tells me it's part of the process but I know what you mean. Eventually the trees will shade out the brambles but who knows when that is. Probably the best you can do is cut rides every year to walk through. Kepp you fit I guess.

I've lived on a working farm for most of my years and I have seen plenty of nasty injuries from barbed wire. Torn udders and bellies etc. I don't buy this cow leaning over a fence business. Why is the cow in a field with no grass so she has to lean over the fence to get a meal? I already know the answer and see it around here all the time. How about a fence high enough so a cow can't lean over it at such a height that her neck makes contact with spikes? How about netting high enough so that you put it up in one hit without the need to go back through with 2 strands of barbed wire? These cows are not rocket surgeons. They can be lovely animals but are pretty dim all considered. Why not put up a cow sized fence and not punish them for seeing an opportunity for some tasty grub outside of the fully grazed field we have kept them in for too long? Nah, screw that. Spike them in the neck. That will teach them to question our farming methods.

I've grown up on a dairy farm and we also did a lot of beef cattle / sucklers/ arable etc. So, I'm a farmer's lad. I know about blood, brains, death, balls, salt licks (yum) and Denkovit. I went to buy some pig netting today and the guy was confused as to why I didn't want any barbed wire to go on top. Why do farmers use barbed wire? If it's a deterant, it's not a good one. The animals first experience of trying to jump it will usually end in a costly injury. I've never yet seen a bovine look at barbed wire with a look of comprehension of potential injuriy in his / her eyes. If it's punishment, it is a good one. But I doubt bovines are clever enough to appreciate the subtelty of a human punishing them for busting through the fence. It's just retribution on a dumb animal. So, what's it all about? What good does it do except harden up farmer's sons and daughters as they try to climb through hedges erected by their idiot, ignorant parents? Convince me.

I think you should just let it go. Nature will sort it for you.

So if I understand the burn argument. It's to leave the rootstock in place and remove everything on top totally so that the roots may regenerate? What's the science behind that? Is it that the suckers will at least be around for 20 more years before they also fall victim? Is it the theory that if we can keep the species alive they will eventually develop resistance to this disease? Not being a $%^6, just want to know what's best to do.

Al, my missus is from up your way and has ideas that one day we will head up there. I've been up a bit to see the Ben and we did a route around the coast one year (tenting in Ullapool was memorable, especially the couple from the Wirral who thought the weather was 'disgusting seeing as how they paid so much'.) I'm kind of against the idea for one reason only. Down here in Devon we have a proliferation of broadleaf trees and stuff like ash and hazel grows like weeds. I'm always saying there are no trees up there as all my visits to lowlands, borders and highlands seem to be dominated by forestry commision crapwoods. So, is it possible to grow broadleaf trees of whatever species in the highlands?

I am the lord of the manor. Just not a very big manor. With no manor house....