nick channer

ha.. no.. i come from long line of farmers.. my grandad and his dad before him started it off.. my uncles and cousins all farm.. i left school and worked on the farm.. soon realised that £2.75 an hour wasnt for me.. went to work as a welder at boughtons who make the winches, hook loader's etc [they used to have there main site few miles down road].. only lasted a month there.. couldnt stand being inside after spendin all my spare time outside.. worked 80-100 hrs a week for local agri-contractor for few harvests.. good experience at 17 yrs old.. saved enough to buy my first tractor at 20.. started agri--contractin doing grass and maize silage work, bought a self propelled forager and all other toys that go with it.. couldnt earn enough money in our area doing that so swapped machines for big square baler and combine.. worked alot with my dad cuttin his crops and balein silage hay and straw through summer months.. always did firewood in winter and thats how i got into tree work.. odd job for log customer etc.. decided more money in tree work than agri-contractin so sold all my machines put money in bank and started full time arb work in 1999.. always helpin my dad out drivin baler/combine through harvest..business really took off from 2002 onwards after pickin up some really good commercial contacts.. started helpin out on farm more and more in last 5 yrs so now the farm and tree work business all run together in partnership and i manage both... works really well.. all tree work guys can drive tractors etc and farm workers can help tree work out.. we still do trees through harvest but if customers can wait till october time we book them in for then.. that way we got all hands on deck for farm work from end may till end sept and normaly got nice couple months tree work to take us to xmas.. along with the 400 odd ton of firewood we sell through the year i rarely get a day off.. but thats what i've done since i was 12 or 13 yrs old so dont no any difference..

it amazes me how round here you can get £25 hour for a tractor and driver or tractor driver and say a 14 ton trailer.. soon as you put 25 grands worth of hedge cutter on back still only £25 or 30 an hour.... strange! we also got a small grass cuttin ompany that one of farm workers runs in morning's through summer.. starts at 7 back in yard at 12 to help on farm.. a honda mower bought brand new2 yrs ago for £1000 and an old strimmer and we put him out at £30 hour.. doesnt make sense to me..

wasnt in farming when i started in tree work.. started with a transit.. then a 6inch entec.. got fed up with chipper so bought a 7.5 ton grab lorry.. had trouble with council for burning brush so decided only way forward was a mog.. bought mine with a 10 inch greenmech on back, used that for 2 yrs then see masons had a 2nd hand 550u for sale.. £4750 he wanted.. i gave him £2200 and my worn out greenmech... used the 550 6 days a week for 4 yrs till it decided to blow itself to bits.. good old NFU paid out 5 grand on insurance so i put that down as deposit on a brand new 550 which i've still got.. took me till 3 yrs ago to buy my 1st stump grinder [only because nice old boy who used to do my stumps passed away] which was a £1500 dosco.. sold that bought a predator on tracks and now also have a vermeer sc50 again on tracks.. its taken over 10 yrs to build my tree work machinery up and it does help that now i'm back in farming i can use tele handler and hook loader/grain trailers too..

yes mate.. we farm around 1000 acres.. used to do lot of agricultural contractin... not anymore... thats a mugs game.. tree work is the main work load to be honest.. farmin only takes few months of year up and rest of year it gets fitted in around tree work.. also have skip hire company..

yeah.. there hopin someones stupid enough to buy it without lookin at it and get it delivered by courier... you pay money and it never turns up.. do what i did and ask em there post code so you can come to view or to see how far it is for u to collect.. funny enough never heard from em.. [obviously i knew it was a scam and was windin em up]

sorry for confusion.. by rear axel i mean the cab is suspended..giving the same ride as a fastrac or a mog.. or better on bigger tractors.. obviously the rear axel is attatched to back end, gearbox etc then to engine so couldnt be suspended..

i was talking about cab and front suspention on tractor thats not fastrac or unimog.. i cant think of a tractor in our area that doesnt have both.. majority of tractors in mid 2000 all came standard with both...

my mechanic had never worked on a mog till he saw mine.. so far in 7 yrs theres been nothing he cant do.. he finds it very easy to work on compared with hgv's.. body and cab tips very easily to give good access..

exdplain why you say that?

99% of tractors that are newer than 05 will have suspended and sprung rear and front axles.. and half will do 50kph

not sayin its not profitable... the profits in farming.. we're farmers not contractors.. but a contractor is only relyin on those figures.. we bale lot of straw to use and sell so we're savin £3.50 bale cos we do it ourselves.. we then make good profit on the actual sale of the delivered bale straw.. theres still money to make if your a contractor just not the sorta money you can earn in tree work...

in an ideal harvest they would.. last couple yrs they been out lot longer in rain going rusty mostly.. hope this yr is gonna be different..

its def a new holland.. we've gone back to buying tractors that are 10 yrs old or older... these new ones go wrong to often.. tractors for 15 grand [10yrs old] will still make 10 grand in 5 yrs time.. and cost fraction to run..

4 wheel steer would be great advantage... and more hp!!

i take mine all over the south of england on motorways... prob not legal but few times i've been stopped traffic havent said a thing... stopped me for light out once on trailer and a strap loose another time...

in farming the biggest earner for one machine would be a combine harvester... even that is gonna cost over £250.000, it will cut 150 acres a day but you will only average 120 at most through a season.. £30 acre is the rate round here.. £3600 a day.. 800 litres diesel at 70pL.. plus drivers wage so your lot less than £3000 a day.. and you get no change from couple grand when it breaks down.. and after 5 yrs it has to be replaced cos its becomin unreliable... the most a combine of that price and size will cut is 2500 acres in a season.. thats £75.000 gross, for machine of that cost and the return on the money tree work returns a better profit margin for amount of outlay.. its same with skip lorry's.. 8 wheel tippers.. running artics on low loader work and grain haulage.. 360 excavators.. i've tried em all and nothing beats tree work for earning money...

yeah.. u1000 is 100hp u1600 is 160..

try going out with 60 grands worth of tractor and hedge cutter on back worth 20 to 30k and gettin £30-35 an hour if your lucky.. or same tractor with 70 grands worth of big baler on back to earn£2500 in 18 hrs if your lucky..and thats not profit.. i did job today to remove 60metres of 8ft high and 6ft wide privet hedge and grind all roots out.. didnt get there till 10.. back in yard by 4.. used 2 litres petrol prob 30 litres diesel in mog and grinder and job was £1100 and we did one 1st thing for £150.. trust me theres nothing else that earns money like tree work for the machinery thats used..

mine is a u1600 with 550u on front.. i tow a 14 ton grain trailer and sometimes a hook lift trailer with a 40yd bin on back... bit under powered at times but it gets job done.. [i'll put some pics up when i get time]

i sell all my oak good and bad, short and long for £5 cube

if you can give them away then less work for you clearin them obviously.. i've paid someone to take wood away before just to speed job up..

i burn tons of the stuff every week on fire in yard.. if you ask me there worthless..

to be honest i dont no if they do a petrol engine in a landrover now.. i cant say i've seen one...

My Landy

this train line is going right through my neighbourhood in amersham.. from our farm the view of rolling countryside is gonna be ruined by it.. my uncle has had his house for sale for 18 months and cant get a single offer as its few hundred yards from the line... on other hand we're tryin to buy a small farm near the pruposed route thats 800.000 less because of the line..