drinksloe

Must admit i agree with a lot of wot josh arb say's. Quads are useless at dragging stuff esp up hill, have a habit of just sitting with all 4 wheels spinning even on dry ground. Same with winches most are pretty slow designed for heavy loads, whereas ur really wanting a faster winch as i doubt ur dealing with heavy loads. Ur tractor pto winches can be quick but its more/bigger plant all to hire and get access Thats where a quad would be quite handy, using it to pull ur winch rope instead of a winch, if u coupled it with an 'A' frame or better still use the top of the 1st tree to anchor ur block up high. A quad should be more than capable of pulling a decent load when its on the flat and esp if nose of the load is lifted so not digging in, even use some tarp/build a lightwieght sledge to decrease drag further. However u get the trees up u are still left with a massive probelm of putting them all throu a chipper and dealing with the chips. I'd seriously look at the fire option saves an awful lot of work, and if u get the fire really really going before u stick any branches on is less smoke and it just rises very quickly and doesnae hang around, esp if u pick a nice windy day ideally blowing aay from the neighbours houses

Ps Just to add if gates are 32" u won't fit a quad throu them without taking fences down. Almost all quads are just under the 4ft wide

Wot's at the very bottom of the garden over the hedge? Can't quite make it out but doesn't look like a garden. My 1st option would be looking at other access wether neighbours gardens or better still a farmers field, not as precious about cutting it up. it does look a better route in the last photo out past the swings and by the blue plastic railway fence depending where that goes too? Even a quad will make a mess dragging stuff up a hill like that even in dry weather. Wot u could do is set up an 'A' frame with scaffold poles or better leave the 1st tree standing but sned out like a tottem pole and use that as a high anchor point for a pulley and run a rope throu it onto the back of a quad so the quad is driving on the flat (ideally a drive) if u put big brash heaps/trees on top of a tarp or something and skided them up that way. If u could get them draged up the line of stumps it would be ideal as no mess(but obviously just to side so not hanking constantly) If u wanted to get really clever u could tie a piece of blue poly onto ur drag line so who evers down the hill can pull the rope back without ever going up the hill Winches on motors aren't really designed for doing jobs like that u'll either burn it out, flatten battery, or both. But it would take forever and a day as usually dead slow and having to stop every 10m to adjust ur rope and wind the winch cable back out. If u go down the fire route phone the polis and fire brigade first and tell them ur having a fire, Take ur time and really build up the heat with the stems before u put too much branch on, when the fire is really really going u don't get half the smoke of it (or mibee is just gone that quick). I've burnt a lot of brash doing up my house, when fire going good it will have burnt a heaped quad trailer with big greedy pins by time i've loaded the next 1. Works great u turn the last lot off ends in before u chuck extra brash on. There is an art to a good fire and quite rewarding/addictive too

U could mibee ask the contractor who he'd reccommend. Might be worth looking for jimmy glens phones number as he does run alot of straw so usually bringing straw back possibly south empty? duno if he runs south or east thou. Shaun's usually pretty good thou

Plenty of local hauliers in that area, shuan prentice, Lochmaben transport, curries, Annanadale, lohn Millers, possibly nivens (althou mainly curtainsiders and tankers) See Laings wagon plenty does a lot of forestry work along with shuan and scott young to name a few But u might find there usually hauling full loads away, u might be better with a company closer to u who's hauling loads north and looking for a back haul? Ps dunno if coming out of clarke's at parkgate but his neighbour Jimmy glen has a wagon also, or an no one at the company reccommend someone they usually use

Quite a few years ago i done a whole side of a small valley. Was cutting for a sky line and the trees were all small daimeter SS and all sitting back, felled the first couple normally but was a real pain as trees too small to get wedges/bar in and even a big bar wasnae enough to tip them over and all the branches were clinging on to neighbouring trees. Even wedging wasnae really working,(doing dogs tooth cuts didnae help either) u could wedge some of the trees over to well past 45 degrees but were not heavy enough to break free from all the neighbouring branches No idea how many trees but valley would of been 10-15 trees in each row, took me a about 4 hrs of constant cutting to prep it all. The things u do when ur young daft and indestructable, really wished it was filmed as it worked like a dream (luckily enough). Can always remember just after i had started them falling at the top of valley the foresters car drove up the road, if he looked in his rear view mirror he'd have seen the lot come down and i'd be sacked

No wot i am saying is under certain conditions of the GL it is perfectly legal to shoot the nest out all year round, wether birds nesting or sitting on eggs or not. When it would not be illegal to destroy those same nests by dismantling/felling the tree. But if u previously shot all the nests out i dare say u could fell the tree legally, as long as u meet the terms of the GL when u shot the nests. It would be illegal to shoot the nests solely so u could fell the tree. The GL has already been posted up here and will be on English natures/SNH's websittes as different in each country and can change every year, so wot was legal 1 year may not be next year or more likely just slight differences in wording

It's actually quite normal practice in many areas to go round shooting active nests with the rooks sitting on them, same with hoodies if u can get them. Can be quite a serious agri pest in some areas As long as ur within the terms of the GL its all ok. But it would be an offence to fell the tree and destroy the nests, as that would be outwith the GL. Doesn't make a lot of sense at times Know of 1 ecologist who has been know to shoot out problem corvid nests so trees can be felled

We used to cut/deveg around them all the time on railways. Usually they would tell u were setts were and u were not allowed ur chipper within 20m? or something so u had to drag all the brash all the way over. Was a real pita, esp on nightshifts and u had big tackle on the line and u still had to drag everything even thou u could fell the trees into the chipper, bloody hated them. Any unregistered holes/setts u were meant to do the same but quite often they would accidentally covered in chip. Whoops

The quarantine laws can/were quite strict so boots will have to be 100% spotless, be same with saws trousers ropes etc no sign of any resin or sap or any dirt/soil. Aye NZ is shockingly dear for outdoor gear as well surprising for such an outdoor country

Thats just the prices up here, they are on cheap side but not massively so. I've been trying to buy a 3tonner for a while now and thought about hiring it out but really not worth it for the potential damges/breakdowns for the odd 50 quid now and again

Mibee rates are higher where u are but those rates seem pretty steep, i was getting a tidy new 8T machine for 80 a day his 3T machine is 65 and 1.5-2T machine about 45. Lot to go wrong esp hiring it out to random numpties. Must admit never driven a machine as small as a .8T but usually the smaller the more unsteady, jumpy and easily rolled. My mate used to hate those tiny machines and call them the nodding dog, as ur heads just constantly nodding

Wot ever type of 'ologist' it's all the same to me. But old experienced folk that have been working with the local land, esp if involved with agri and draining will have came across this before if its common in that area and be able to give u a good indication from there experience if its easy fixable or not. I'd imagine farmers would not want them in the middle of there best silage/arabe fields if they can help it I'd i'd bet it would not involve many scientific words either I'd imagine most would come out to look at the job and give u a free quote anyway where u can pick there brains. If still not happy get an 'ologist' involved but i bet u will be 500 quid lighter before they have said an awful lot

Is there no proper old school agricultural drainers near u? Most old drainer folk esp from that area would probably have a good idea wot it is and best way to fix it without any need for fancy hydrologists etc. Got a couple of old guys in my area that seem to have xray vison there that good at spotting/guessing where the draind run before they dig down to them.

If it is a natural spring u will have trouble. Are all the wet spots in the same area, roughly. I'd stick some garden canes in all the places he can remember them see if there is any pattern, then have a walk about with some bent fencing wire see if they pick up anything uphill from them. If u found where the spring was u could mibee pipe/drain it directly from there into an existing field drain or something. Or the other option lay a boundry drain right round outside or where u expect water coming from, but that won't work if water coming up from the ground

Have the wet holes always been there? How long has he had it? I'd say the above is probably right some sort of burst pipe, water/mud is a very strange colour. Try having a go at divineing urself, works real easy with a couple of bent bits of fencing wire. Try having a walk about uphill and see if u get the wires crossing n a few points in a row. Ideally u want to find out where/why water is seeping up there first and try to stop it. If it is a drain digging down to expose it and rodding or jetting it to clear it If u can't ur best bet will be to dig a drain, run the pipe throu the 3 wet spots and ideally tie into an existing land drain, ditch or possibly a great big soakaway, but thats doubtful depending on soil type/conditions

I'm slightly confused, the way i'm picturing it if the fence is the boundry the wall would be on ur side so u should be paying for it all? But i must be picturing it wrong Either way u really want to be setting in ur posts for the fence at same time as building the wall, well laying the founds, unless u cut away a section of founds for the posts later. A 3" square post hardly supports a 6ft fence so u will be looking at a 4" or even 5" post probably 11 to 12ft long, they will not be cheap. for a normal 6ft fence i usually use 9'6" or 10ft posts. That extra 2ft in hieght will fairly catch the wind and has a lot more leverage on the posts Posibly u could clad the wall? Screw some 2x1 or something to the wall and rail/clad with feather edge and then just have a 5ft fence on top, from a distance u'd never notice. If ur lucky with 9" hollows u can usually slide a 3" post down the hollow if well built, but i'd say a 5ft fence is pushing it for a 3" stab, but would depend on the fence type (if solid or lets air throu) and how much wind it catches. I build a 3ft feather edge fence like that years ago for myself and just slide the posts into some wet slurry concrete and cut rails to suit where the posts went, just got to mind not to fill all the blocks and leave space for the posts It does sound dear, but there mibee is a reason for it, i take it the builder is doing the wall and the fence?? I'd say it wouldn't hurt to get some more quotes

I'd go with the above most vege should be dying down now anyway, 30 yrs ago boys would have done that by hand with a hewke and not batted an eye. I have read some good answers but i can't remember anyway highlighting the fact that glyco will probably kill the tree to if u get any on it, if we were spraying we used to put a cone over the tree, but if still in tubes won't be the same problem. U could spray or u could strim but if u strim i'd buy a decent machine with plenty of guts about it will make ur life a lot easier and the job a lot quickier

Typical farmer fencing. Could be a possibility of all sorts of nails and steeples in those trees even pplain wire thats been fully overgrown and swallowed by the tree. So if u ever fell and log those trees be careful in bottom few feet

Is that not sort of the same as taking the grease bolt out and sticking something into the gear box while the head/gearbox is still attached to the shaft? When gear box still on shaft its anchored so just have to try and get the srewdriver to 'bite' without causing any damage But even doing it the way u describe Garden kit won't be ideal for shaft or gearbox for damaging them or are they pretty sturdy really? Mibee getting my terminiolgoy muddled up to sort of calling the 'head' and gear box the same thing as got a blade on at moment. With the blade its not so bad when just the final tighten but is worse when blade is slack but the locking nut is still on the nylon so needing a bit of pressure. So outside the box thinking If i replaced the locking nut with a non locking would the blade stay on or would it just go slack immediately. Got feeling it would be a disaster waiting to happen but would the direction of spin keep it tight? I'm the same as u stephen doesn't do thst much work to justify better 1, a couple of 20min bursts and a few half day efforts althou cutting some pretty thick stuff scrubby type stuff at times. Most powerful strimmer i've had and been impressed with it so far

There is a lot of skewed or conflicting info out there. It suits the papers agenda's, i'd actually argue protection should be lifted off badgers full stop country wide, there is no scientifc or ecological reason now why they need protecting. There is also plenty of studies that have linked bTB to badgers So a dairy cow which never goes into a field, how is that coming into contact with field based bTB, or by same token how is it spreading bTB spores in the field anyway to reinfect the herd. If u read the statement he said nose to nose transfer from badger to cow, i doubt think many people ever even thought it was transfered that way How would u feel, doing a job u love that ur family has done for generations, but u cannot imprve ur herd or move forward as u know at any time ur herd could be culled throu bTB and there is absolutely nothing to stop it happening again and again. That expensive bull/tup (ram) will no doubt be 1 that is infected so ur wasting ur money even investing in decent stock for the farm If u honestly think farmers are pumping anti boitics into animals needlessly u know a completely different set of farmers to me. For a start anti boitics are not cheap so no farmer is going to spend money he doesn't have to. Also any animal treated has a withdrawl period so u can't put meat or milk into the food chain for a certain period of time. esp with milk, samples are taken from every tanker and can be big fines if any anti boitics found in the milk (means it can't be used for cheese productiion) 1 single cow's milk can contanimnate a whole tanker load. So why would a dairy farmer, really struggling to make a profit at minute spend money putting needless chemicals into a cow and then be forced to pour the milk away?? It just doesn't happen As for mastitis yes it can be a problem but throu good husbandry/practices it can be minimised also it only costs the farmer if he is losing cows not the tax payer which is the case with bTB or reactors The food chain has never been as healthy, well atleast from UK slaughtered stock. Do u really think the boatloads of frozen beef imported from africa and S america every week are all up to the same stanard? It wasn't that many years ago u only had to cross the irish sea to get beef grown with 'angel dust'

But there is only so much boi security u can put in place on a farm. A fairly modern dairy farm it may not be uncommon for the cows never to be outside grazing in some systems, yet they still can contract bTB time and time again? How can u improve boi security any more? I really don't think there is an awful lot of doubt that bTB is carried by badgers and that is wot is constantly re infecting herds. If it was due to animal movement or other husbandry factors why can u get a positive or reactor test, u follow the protocol (culling and movement restrictions and testing) and it never reapears when outside these tb hotspot areas Even ignoring the whole bTB thing. The ammount of crop damage they cause buy diigging up fields or lost ground due to setts and esp so with damage to maize crops which they seem to thrive on. Wot about the mounting scietific research about badgers and hedge hogs? Its becoming more and more obvious that badgers are having a serious affect on hedge hog numbers, and science is now confirming this. Badgers can also decimate any ground nesting birds or bumble bees etc In many areas now badger numbers will be far higher than fox numbers, yet no one seems to care that folk shoot foxes. In most of europe they still hunt/shoot badgers and numbers/densities are no where near wot we have in this country. Very hard to see any reason for there current level of protection. I too think it is a massive waste of money, but think it should be opened up country wide to reduce numbers, some folk will some won't so u will never wipe them out anyway but even bagers would benefit froma smaller healthier population

There definately is no hole to stick anything, the few strimmers i've owned/worked all have had a hole where u described. I actually picked up a couple of saws this avo and a strimmer head for this machine from a local garden shop, he had a look a while back when i ordered the strimmer head, but i lifted when he wasnae in. And i had a good look before i took it in as didnae want to look an idiot. Anyway spoke to him this avo and he reckons he has put on similar heads/gearbox's onto stihls before with no pin hole, 1 time ordered 2 at same time all in stihl packaging 1 had a hole 1 didn't. I'm guessing being an ex council strimmer it may have had another head/gearbox put on it at some point. The only thing he suggested was sometimes u can get a screwdriver in next to the blade but thought the same as me that how well worn the grease bolt head is they have been taking it of with combi spanner and sticking something into shaft to secure it He reckoned it would be a new gearbox it needed but looking around the 100ish quid mark, which is wot i paid for the strimmer anyway. So a cheap enough strimmer i can afford to spend a bit on it if i have too If it keeps on running fine might be worth putitng it on, but like i said it won't get a lot of use really Just wondered if any other folk had came across similar problems?

Alright. Just wondering if anyone has any tips on chaging blades etc on a strimmer head with no locking pin hole? (And it definately doesn't have any hole at all, on a stihl fs450 if that makes a difference) Must admit not done a lot with strimmers but it's the 1st time i've seen one with no hole for a screwdriver/4" nail to lock the shaft to change cutting blades. Is there any tips for doing it? I bought it at a plant auction, by engraving would say ex council dept, runs ok aprt from this. To me it looks like the bolt for greasing the head looks pretty well worn as if they have been taking it off and sticking something into the gearbox/shaft itself. Doesn't seem a very good idea but can't see any other way of doing it It won't get an awful lot of work now, and not that many balde changes but still nice to be able to do it with out damaging the machine Cheers

A possible bodged alternative if a skyline is hard/expensive to find. If u went with a atleast a double drum tractor winch, if u had some big trees somewhere around where ur winching ur trees too/stacking area, u could put a block up the tree if strong enough etc would give u the extra hieght/lift for the long up hill drag. Otherwise point the stump base so no flat edges to catch. So similar benefit as wot the skyline would give u, althou would still lack in power and winch speed over the sky line but save u in low loader costs . With a 2nd block at bottom to pull cable back might not be a bad set up if u have tree/anchors in places u can work around.