drinksloe

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.

Mus admit only had the 1 experience with it next to amates neighbour, Some quite big patches, i cut most of the big stuff (actually found my pen knife was the easiest to keep stems intact) pierced the stem with some fencing wire (seemingly a membrane about groundlevel u have to burst) and just filled the stem up with a strong mix of glyco with a normal sprayer set on a single jet spray. But some of the other areas esp smaller stems i just sprayed with strong glyco bout this time of year. To be honest hardly any difference both have worked far better than i expected, if anything more regen in the patch i injected but that was also the patch with the biggest stems/plants so i imagine stronger. By all accounts the trick is not to redisturb the soil as can ly dormont for up to 20 odd years. So i'd just treat the surface but don't dig up the rubble will only makeit worse

Sorry not been back on. But i'm sure u've found picutres of skylines by now, basically a few great big winches mounted on a 360 with an extended boom which helps to stop the stems digging in as someone said earlier, the extra elevation may be quite handy on a long uphill drag. Tend to be fair common on ur axe men programmes but u can use them similar to a big winch without the line suspended and use the smaller drums to pull ur cable down the slope after each turn. Will save a lot of walking for ur men. But a tractor and double/triple drum winch could do the same albeit with a lower pulling point. Some of the big winchs i've seen are mounted on dozers but often are only single drum so be a pain for multiple long drags as u'll have to drag the heavy cable downhill after each turn, could be worse thou u could be dragging the cable uphill. Not sure how common they are in eng but know of a few folk in s scotland have 1 sitting in their yards, think a few scattered about wales as well Heli's tend to be used quite often for raised bog or some types of heathland regen/re-instatement (usually felling birchy, scrubby type growth) as quite a vurnerable ecosytem esp ur raised bogs the surface vegetation is all mosses and stuff so very easily damaged, sometimes they're not even keen on u walking on them. We went on a field trip to 1 and just had to look at it from over the fence

If u find the heli route too expensive and the tractor job is not feasable might be easier with a skyline setup even if just used in a high lead type system. T he extra hieght and power of a skyline might make the difference and if set up as a high lead system saves u walking up and down the slope with the winch cable after each turn

I had just a cheapish fibre glass splitting mual, and to be fair it was ok done the job really well. after reading a similar thread on here i treated myself to a Fiskars X27, to be honest i didn't really believe it would be much better. I was wrong it, its miles better, just unbelievable how good it is. But to be fair i'm sure some of the other top end axes are equally as good, but for 40 odd quid its a bargin. Some of the big rings i've been splitting u can hardly lift as so big and about 18" thick, if u pick round the edge its amazing how well the fiskars handles them. Also it hardly makes u sweat just seems so easy, usually with my old maul after 30mins hard splitting got a sweat on, not now can split for hours effortlessly, i almost miss the workout with the old axe now The other 2 tips i have done to make my life easier is cut/dump my logs on top of a banking so hey roll down a 'race' type thing so i'm splitting at height to save u bending down. (i've got it just below waist height) And putting an old tyre round ur logs so they don't split and fly every where. Works really well and i now rarely have to bend down to pick up logs or split stuff

I've used them over in OZ and were pretty good, but that was on metal fence posts. May work well on clipex stye posts. Used to be a boy up north selling them at shows Think the problem u have with timber is it tends to absorb some of the shock so does not drive just as quick. My old boss looked at them as he's not got a tractor but thought were a waste of time as strainers are the thing that takes the time when hand balling so u still have to dig them in anyway and ur posts are never that bad to knock in by hand anyway. Plus dragging an air pipe over rough terrian may not be that easy either

Just because it is deer fenced does not automatically mean there will be no deer in it. Will vary from site to site Seen some big deer crawl throu tiny spaces that u would not think was possible. Once watched a moster sika stag with a craking set of antlers get under a deer fence throu a tiny hole and it was a big deer. The lower ones could be deer or even sheep/hares/rabbits but if it looks the same as the higher stuff chances are it will be squirrels or it could even be 2 different animals Deer tend to rip as only 1 set of teeth, whereas most other animals that strip bark will ahve clean cuts,

Tirfor's were/posibly still are the best, but they no longer have the exclusive copyright so a lot of the copies are almot as good and use the same system. For occasional use a copy will do the job probably not a lot dearer to buy than hire,always a handy thing I bought a 1.6T copy its pulled over some decent big an dodgy stuff. Esp if u have a snatch block in the system. The 1.6T is a better size for carying by hand It once pulled 2 landy's out at same time, the cherry picker 1 was well bogged and attached the 2nd one as rope to short but it could not pull the landy out, so it was just in nuetral and that was with the 1.6T version The trick with trees is getting ur anchor point as high up tree as possible. The only problem with hand winches compared to tractor powered, is if ur felling alongside a hazard and which is line with felling direction once the tree starts to fall u can't keep up with the tension so just have to be careful if tree can break of hinge and turn/roll. I usually put a 2nd winch at 90 that can take pressure/wieght as tree falls

Aye an informed land/forestry agent may be the way to go. And it will depends wether he is going to produce chip or the extra work to produce pellets, must admit i though thte pellets were produced from more sawdust waste type products. Most of the land owners in my local area have ripped out all the willow they had planted, don't think returns where anything near wot they were originally promised. Plus land is pretty tied up. A lot of soft wood is harvested prematurely for boimass so wether that is more productive than willow althou a longer rotation. A lot may depend on soil type climate etc

Was clipex and the like not developed in/for OZ? They very rarely use timber posts over there as they just split, and even when u use timber strainers u tie off rather than steeple off as steeples just pop out. can see the point in it over there. Be a lot better than the warratah fencing that they usually use over there. Mibee i'm lucky in my area as timber posts are really decent quailty and from a smallr sawmil not often machine rounded. Must admit i'm not convinced it is the timber at all but just poor sawmills putting posts trhou far too quickly when still green. That way there not lying out money for a big stockpile of drying timber.

Does ur ground definately go over the river? Mibee not the case with houses but quite often a burn/river will be a natural boundry to the property. I'd have a good look on the map of the property to make sure of the boundry

Bob if wot ur saying is true that would mean posts in hard ground would rot quickier than posts in soft ground, and strainers should rot very quick (esp 8" gate posts as they get the most and largest chaps). And u could probably argue in an awful lot of cases on decent ground a stab should not have any cell damage as in some cases with likes of a suma will just push the stab in with its mass alone almost with out being hit. Must admit i almost never use machine rounds, i'd argue that will have a far bigger impact on post structure than anything, ur taking away the outside layer of timber which offeers some degree of natural protection. I don't think i've ever had a post rot in 5 years and could go to plenty of 20+ yr old fences still standing fine. I'd say it will be more a problem with ur big sawmills caring more about cost cutting than product. Find urself a local smaller family/old fashioned sawmill (1 that cut then lets post dry befre treating) u will probably end up with a far better treated post from them Some times therer not as dear as u think, and some would argue worth paying slightly extra to keeplocal business's going and if ur ever short of a few things can just pick them up.

Have u any evidence of this? Real scientific evidence looking throu a microscope at cell structures etc? U also state ground level is the area of most resistance but surely ground level is only ground level for the last knock few knocks? And is it just a modern problem with the larger knockers? I can remember using a kinghitter 20-25 years ago and there are far older versions than that albeit a lot lighter wieghts. I'd say far more likely to be the type of treatment used now will have all the decent stuff taken out of it and the fact timber will generally be green/wet when it goes into the pressure tanks For the OP personally i'm not a fan of sq posts and would use 31/2" rounds, saves u bothering with a turning bar getting all the posts square to net esp if stony ground. With the PR disease u may struggle to find larch posts, i'd just go with spruce but from a decent old fashioned sawmill that dries the cut posts first. The few times i've seen posts snap/rot prematurely tend to be small 3" and machine rounded, probably churned out of a big sawmill day after the logs came in

To be fair moore that was the only time i've ever really moaned about it. And it was crazy as it was just a patch job anyway. Ur probbly slightly quickir of a tracked machine anyway for stabs as not climbing in out al the time, but then u will struggle with strainers a bit more. No idea why he prefers the mel over the chappers and he runs 2 decent suma's (and had knighiters before that so none of ur parmitter rubbish) with back shift etc so not like h's working with crappy knockers. I think he thinks u get a better job with a mel, he is quite a perfectionist and things must be done his way. But i would honestly say in most ground conditions/experience in my area, u will not be far away time wise with a mel, the only way u'd save time is if u don't bother to pinch the holes first for the chapper. But i'd say i'm alone in that. GN do u not sweep/sweeten a fence after it is all steepled up as a finishing touch, someone eyeing the line and other just knocking any high posts down the baw hair so it flows nice?

I'd agree with Moore above. Althou be intrested to hear wot others think/have heard Not sure if same thing u heard but the wire rep was trying to tell the sawmill owner that these big post knockers are breakin the cell structure of timber and thats why rot quicker. The biggest problem is timber could be harvested, forwarded, hauled to mill and milled (peeled, pointed) in a very short space of time so going into pressure treater still green/soaking wet. There is still 1 old fashioned sawmill near me where he has a big drying area, has stacks and stacks of cut posts all under tarps drying out before being treated so when going into get treated are fairly dry will absorb it right in His posts/rails are a pleasure to work with and last fine

Mibee just the way u learnt, i wonder how anyone could prefer a dolly The big advantage with mel is u can have ur top line on so ur putting post's in smack on, saves u a lot of time sweetening off later. But i'm sure u have other ways and u will still need to carry a mel anyway for sweetening the line once ur all steepled up anyway That last boss is 64 and will out mel me, he has the tractor/chapper sitting in same field doing nothing and still insists on hand meling. But he is a stickler for details etc, will not let u join barb or top/bottom line of net by folding back on itself as weakens it. Which i dare say is right but not many fences fial because of that Can always remember 1 friday afternoon he almost got told where to stick his mel, finished a job early (i ws itching for pub) took us to a new patching job, heavy clay but bone dry, 1 lad was pinching 2nd lad on a bigger 3" sq pointed pinch and i was following on mel, very numb going and tractor was bloody sitting there. Was nit a happy bunny that day Thats about the only time i've minded mel ing

On most of ground i've fenced u are almost as quick once u get mel swinging. Never been a fan of thumpers/dollies apart from for 8-9ft deer posts, always seems a waste of momentum to me, where if u can swing ur mel with a baseball grip u hardly notice it once u get used to it Esp if ur were on ur own and out in tractor all day every 2m to work chapper. Seen me (occasionally the boss too, 3 man squad but i was the mel boy) posting 300m a day with mel and that was just the norm really. In fact i found that easy as the previous boss u had to hand dig and pack the strainers too. As long as u have a good hole pinched But i can understand on very stony/granite ground is a different story or clay in dry weather (not really problem in scotland)

The other option is plan ur fences and hire the tractor/chapper in and put all ur strainers in and put all ur stabs in by hand. Last 2 contractors i fenced for still mel all stabs by hand, 1 doesnae have a tractor so hand dig strainers too, but the other wil have u meling stabs when chapper is sitting right beside u. Can be annoying when ground gets harder thou and he still wants them mel'd in To be honest its surprising how quick u can put them in by hand once u get ur swing going. If i was working single handed u'd be quickier in most ground melling by the time u climb in out tractor and reverse it back and forward to put ur pointers in Or if too hard if all ur strainers are driven in 1 day u could pull ur line wires etc and have all stabs pinched and set up in place for the chapper again so no wasted time Wot type of chapper is it? Looks as thou ground could be a wee bit soft in places, if a heavier make u might need the twins on or atleast on the knocker side

Brilliant wot ur trying to do for nature. Hat off too u. I would not be bothered about fencing stock off at nesting time with so little stock pressure they'll probably do more good than harm. Generally snipe and waders like rashes as champed/poached as possible as creates more of the habitat they really like and plenty of sh*te so plenty of grubs/insects. In the old days they would spread blood on ground like that to attract waders, or spread areas of muck/middens I shoot over 2 big areas similar to ur's 1 area since the cows were taken off hardly has any snipe/waders now. The other area is a pig to walk throu as so heavily poached all year round but is full of snipe If u really want to manage it for waders u could possibly put in a few wader scrapes dotted about, just a very shollow digger scoop ideally that will hold a wee touch of water most of year but always nice shallow sides (well atleast on 3 sides) Probably ur biggest problem will be predation, targeted traping of corvids in spring and foxes throu out year and if u have time stoats too. Have a look at the research off GWCT esp Otterburn study which was on similar ground to urs and focused on waders breeding succes and predators. Think they increased breeding succes by something like 300% once they started trapping They also do other work on waders too

Looking at the ground and ur stocking rates d u really need to fence it all? Can u crop any fields for hay/silage? How stock proof do u need it to be sheep or just cattle? If just cattle u could switch to single strand elec, save u a lot of timber costs and handy for temp fencing if needed If not fully sheep proof u could just use some short 5 line net and leave it high of ground so hares can get easy access along whole fence. Prob won't need barb to keep galloways in usually quite settled beasts. If u do need it stock proof, i'd ignore ur 50m and just put turners where needed (will prob be between 30-80m on that sort of ground) drive a longer 31/2" or 4" post in ur 1m away from ur strainer and tie/rail/anchor it back to strainer. As long as u don't cut bottom or top wires on net u won't really need a stay as more a turner than a strainer. Keeps a lot of pressure of post if u dont stop and start net To be honest the best thing for birds is putting cattle in to rashy patches like that, they open them up and create micro habitats and most birds love the extra insects there for there sh*ite. Sort of place snipe and woodcock would love. With u being in wales u could have large numbers of snipe and woodcock after the november moon. Topping small areas or random rides also helps big blocks

Wot sort of ground is it? And wot type of fence? (i'm assuming sock net) Generally there is no need to put a strainer in every 50m and u only really put 1 in with a change of direction or a dip or a rise. I've seen u going 150m+ without strainers on rare occasions u have flat straight ground, but i've also seen a few a lot closer to gether for dips/rises. Also not entirely sure why ur having the double strainer every 50m? Going to put costs up with the extra straner and stay but more so with time it takes to fit a stay properely and tie the wire off. Fot hare access u could quite easily cut a square out the net at the bottom and rail round it to make it obvious theres a hole, as long as u leave the very bottom line wire intact and steeple the intermediates home will look ok Wot type of deer are they? Roe will generally manage to jump a normal stock fence without too much problem, u could possiblly lower the barb for that section and take a post or 2 to get up to normal hieght (would look hellish thou) or various other ways u could bodge it without putting a strainer All depends wot sort of stock u have in the fields too