farmer rod

condenser, its an idea, maybe not the right one!

Sue, Thanks for alerting me, I can take the flack for using the word incorrectly and would ask any naturalist what word I should be using to describe a plant which spreads out of control to areas where it is not wanted:biggrin: Steve, to the best of my knowledge Its about 40 acres, I ran 76 ewes at the end of 2013 for three months, and 18 calves stayed there for a month at the end of 2014, other than that it was not used or topped.

Steve, I rented a field up till two years ago, and although you dont know much about me you could take a fair shot at where I stand on grazing and ragwort. Yesterday I took a picture of that field, I had seen a few stems by the gate, but I was horrified when I got out of my truck to take this picture. How can anyone allege that ragwort is not invasive.

Steve, I am with you as a total cynic, if I am told that something is poisoning us my immediate response is "are we dying like flies? Someone is trying to sell me something I do not need" However I have seen what I have seen and I believe in my own eyes. Many of our fields are in Higher Level Stewardship, we have made a great effort to encourage Hay Rattle, Tormentil, Meadow Vetchling, Adders Tongue Fern among others, I am glad to say with some succcess and if you heard HRH Prince Charles on the radio this morning we are just in the kindergarten of meadow restoration, but the yellow peril still has no place for me. It is a weed and I have been endowed with the certainty that is does not belong in my pastures or meadows, when I see fields infested with it, my thoughts are that someone has let things slip, it is a plant of derelict areas, and as long as the derelict areas more than 500 metres from and ground that that I have to look after then I can get some sleep. Im not some table thumping evangelist, just an everyday Joe, doing what seems to be right and I cant see much middle ground between us, Im all for butterflies and bees, but if we can agree that letting either thistledown or Ragwort seed float on the wind to your neighbor who doesn't want them is generally to be avoided then Im happy.

As per my post earlier, one clump of ragwort nearly caused me the loss of one bullock, £400 plus carcass disposal is too much to bear, as it was it cost a vet callout plus many hours of tlc to get it back eating.

One of the problems with having ragwort in grazing land, is that it can thrive and spread, and if it spreads to hay meadows then drastic action, such as spraying might be undertaken to get rid of it, but the herbicides which effectively deal with ragwort will also do away with many species of more useful flora

Mine/ours is running, but I think with a slight fuelling issue which I wanted to investigate, I would like the exhaust though as mine got modded for gassing moles. Great fun to generate a bit for a good cause, and one in the eye for our throwaway society. MSF are quite keen with their calls, you could understand how these grannies are being bamboozled, personally I feel happy that they are doing wonderful work keeping Ebola under control.

I caught one in the hedgecutter and had a great deal of difficulty unwinding about 30 metres of it from the flail head as the whole tractor was + 60 volts. The track I was on lead up to a large house, so I thought I had better let them know, the old dear who answered the door provided me with the perfect comedy moment, she thanked me and said she would call British Telecom straight away

Thanks for your analysis Sue, I read some of it and concluded that is was written in the style of evangelical claptrap, and I couldnt see any authors name.

Steve, I used to be pretty sceptical about its deadly powers, but I have always pulled out any Ive seen, either on our farm or anywhere Ive been making hay. Two years ago I found a young bullock flopping around at the back of the shed trying to die, he was the youngest of the bunch but not generally weak. There was a handful of ragwort stems left in the bottom of the ring feeder, all the other animals had presumably known they were bad news. The vet agreed it seemed like ragwort poisoning, there is no real treatment but we kept his guts running and he got better. So now I~m a believer and keep pulling it out, Rod

one of these?

Im not sure of my ground here, perhaps someone can confirm/not that arb arisings are not waste they are virgin timber, but they are considered sustainable

thanks, very familiar with Fat Hen !! google didnt help much with it, although having been to the very far end of Scotland, I should have known we were looking at something large/tall

Not familiar with muckleweed, could you enlighten us, thanks Rod

that looks really effective, what is the MCPA doing in this case?

Is the energiser indoors or out?

We normally do around buildings and any rough areas that cant be topped, round newly planted trees and hedges, patches of brambles, spot treating docks in fields, etc I am in two minds whether to get tested or just get someone in for the odd day, especially as the sprayer will need a test as well as the operator by 2016

post up your day rate and see if Arbtalk brings the usual magic

As they are cancelling grandfather rights on spraying in November, there ought to be loads of work on farms, but the spraying season will be over by then, so no good for this year

I am happy to be corrected but I was led to believe that cherries should be pruned after flowering, something to do with canker

I dont know if they do small quantities, but as an example I had a 1.5m high by 6 m long panel at under £250 This was 100 mill thick but they make them thicker for thrust, mine only have chip or cattle

ah ha, so 9ft high then, by 4ft wide, I think we were all thinking the other way round

Concrete Panels are the easiest way to make a wall, just put two vertical steels in the ground and slap the panel up against them.

is it a Scheduled Ancient Monument, if so I think you need permission from someone but I cant remember who, possibly Natural England

not sure, unless the heads are included, no eye deer