jakescot

we have a local guy selling some Agrimac machinery and I am in the market for a new muckspreader.........don`t need a giant one and not worried which make is best but................ I`d be interest to know if anyone here has any experience of this stuff good or bad , how they like it what they`ve heard etc just to help me decide. thanks in advance and anticipation of some advice John

yes yes I`m sorry, back on topic......................daddy santa can`t give me what I`d like, so i`d settle for a UH MF 5480 in white !

get the sea sickness pills, the cold facecloth, a pillowcase to fan him ,phone the vet....er....... i mean the doctor, poor Cerin`s turning very green . Where do we send the get well cards and donations to the "help Cerin get over this nasty phase " fund......... ;D what`s that I hear you say ? oh yes I agree , I`m sure he`ll grow out of it, it`s only a teenager thing , once he discovers the green ones aren`t ready ..........I mean aren`t ripe he`ll be back on track ! ;)

the irish lads have a ban , some of them could tell you how it operates over there.................bear in mind its not a given this was just the guy`s opinion also that of one of the rivers authority folks too rather than definite policy. our vet I know , has contracts with these big dairies , I presume they negotiate prices for work done etc rather than pay a call out fee everytime as they have various health programmes such as daily, every other day, three times a week,twice a week or weekly visits as the norm. As to his workload and income, I don`t know but he used to have a partner who retired, he replaced him with two lady vets, a third joined them. she left after a spell so there are three vets instead of two in the practice.....more ponies around and a lot of small animal work. I havent asked whether he`s better or worse off .

I was in the company of a dairy farmer on friday night, he`s turning to the new zealand system , gonna try and extend the grazing season as silage is so expensive and slurry is becoming a problem,. He says a slurry ban might not be too far off for the wetter parts of the uk. I was actually speaking to a SEPA (scottish environment protection agency.... NRA equiv ) and he said all kinds of discussions are ongoing........didnt go into details but suggested there are changes to come sooner rather than later... This guy is gonna dry his cows off late autumn when the best of the grass is done, leave them outside as long as is possible ,growing kale to further extend their outside period and calve them to turn out at as close to peak lactation as possible..........his plan is also to go smaller with his cows, jersey and jersey crosses using new zealand semen .........all change??? In my very humble opinion the above mentioning that big farm wynsdyke, is an example of bigger not necessarily being better.plenty of very good dairy farmers round here gave up purely because of economics of the job , ie the sums not adding up, with current agri policies favouring the large...... economies of scale it seems win the day.Our vet not so long ago happened to say on their books they now have 3/4 less dairy farmers than 30 years ago but the remaining 1/4 all have more so the total number of dairy cows is actually higher..............this as I`ve mentioned before is a wet area even what are now hill sheep farms used to have 12 to 30 dairy cows on them with the BIG 4000 acre+ hill farm at the top of the valley having a dairy of 60 cows at the turn of the last century ( 1900) As far as I`m concerned the reforms of the CAP can`t come quick enough.........the current policies are crap for most of us ...........get rid of this red tape and leave proper farmers to farm and if that means I cant make a living and need to go do something else then so be it, I`d hope I`ll be one of the survivors. whatever happens we`ll see major changes,as radical as we`ve seen in the last generation?........time will tell PS tight and old fashioned ............good old saying , you`ll pay the rent on half a stock but not on a stock and a half , might just be as relevant today as it ever was and nothing wrong with being frugal...........old fashioned .......think about it and rather than calling it old fashioned , call it turning full circle or call it "cost control changing" due to the current financial climate .........

I think it was the A4.236 they used in the 390T wasn`t it..........we never had a 200 series ....I think they rated the 590 at 75 hp, the 290 at 77hp and the 390 at 80hp and if i am correct they were able to do this without making changes as virtually every engine during testing produced 80hp plus...........someone may know better than me and please correct me if thats not the case. I remember a 590 2wd nearby getting traded in for a late version 298T 4wd, the change lasted just over a year. when the 399 came out they took one of them and were much happier with it compared to these virtually bullet proof old girls (500 series ) the 4200 and 4300 around here at least got a very bad name being far less reliable , many were changed to other makes........fair comment all round????

if i remember rightly mark it wasnt that much extra hp was it? 67 instead of was it 62? i`ve just forgotten now but thats how i felt about it.oh and our 575 had the different configuration gearbox 2nd and 3rd were the opposite way round with the 3rd over to the right hand side in line with 4th. can i just say also , we had the 590 by the time the 575 came , ( the mf 80 loader went off the 565 onto the 575 too) we were doing the heavier work with the 590 so the 575 wasnt getting all the abuse the 565 was. I`m no expert but is it possible with these two particular machines rather than a comparison in general, was due to the way the 565 was run in, it did all the main work when it came new( except the loader work) this was a lot less back in 1978 as we weren`t round baling . I know where the 575 came from, it was a stockman`s tractor and spent its days just pottering around except when needed for silage in summer .......

i loved our old 565,it was a single door, silver topped cab version.........as you say , turn on a sixpence. the A4.236 engine I`m told had superb oil flow through the engine which made it extremely suitable for adding the turbo to it.......we took the wee fat dumpy 12 x 28 wheels off it and bought an old set of 12 x 36 for it, they helped it a lot.the front grill too eh..........dad baled one once so it had a nice curve longways.lost another one on the way to bale for a fella a few miles away........just so happened mum was coming back from shopping, met dad almost ready to turn into the farm,only when she got nearer home,saw something lying on the road........she passed by and thought , hang on thats the front off the tractor , so turned round and picked it up we changed the 565 to a 575 and it was not half the tractor ........590 backend 565 engine with the tweaked pump..........to me it didnt make a lot of difference other than to suck up more fuel.......perhaps i`m wrong on that but it`s how it seemed to me. I wish i had the old girl now osm 646 s was the reg number and it headed over to ireland oh back in 90 or 91. I love the 590 we have but yes agree the 390 did seem more stable and a 2wd one i borrowed did too.....it`s useless in the wet however, you could stick it on a big cowpat.one day perhaps i`ll get it done up . typical isnt it , both brother and i had proper britains 590`s and both no longer exisit due to play wear GGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR > . I hope that UH make a 2wd version eh lads?

some hellish big dairies round here, one guy has 2 robotic milkers, he likes them but can I just add, he told me no way does it save him or rather his dairyman from being there.....some cows with him have so far refused to use it.Any sick cow ie mastitis or lame or whatever needs attention......i am not certain but have a feeling the robot can flag up any with mastitis someone else might know.................Most are on TMR feeding through feeder/mixer wagons. Mainly cubicle housing with our wet westerly location, the haulage on straw adds considerably to that cost.The highest milkers are often on straw though.the cubicles are getting bigger,longer with the ever increasing cow size.All kinds of bedding on cubicles from lime on sand or the concrete to help reduce the mastitis and general bugs to mats and even double matting at one farm nearby.One guy has the broken rubber underlay. it`s a very different job from when dad had dairy cows here.........pedigree ayrshires yielding over 6000kgs back til june 1980.One big difference seems to be the short life the cows now have compared to what you would remember, dad`s used to average around 8 or 9 lactations............what is it today? an average of 2 or 3? The herds are getting bigger too, plenty getting over 500 and to my knowledge, 6 i think now,fairly locally, over 1000.Slurry is a problem with most locals now using the reel to get it done quickly in even wettish conditions.The grazing ground might be done already this winter, probably get done again...the silage ground is probably done too and set to get two more as well........no winter slurry ban for us yet but it could come. Holsteins predominate, still a few ayrshire this way, only know of one mainly friesian herd..............a fe going to jerseys , with one guy at Dumfries mainly outwintering them on kale and an odd other guy turning to extended grazing on a new zealand type system,mostly over in wigtownshire to our west.

only hope i reckon is ebay or if some of the dealers have a few tucked away somewhere.They had a cracking tipping trailer too.

wow guys yet more fantastic pics........sure are some very clever builders out there........love the double muscled cows in one of your last 3 pics.......they are real beauties i see something however and hope it`s not just me , a recurring theme..........some expertly built self propelled tankers, beet harvesters and such all with those dodgy looking siku type flotation tyres.........ok i know they look like north american cross plys but most of the european kit will be on radials is it not? to me its like falling at the last hurdle.There are good looking flotation tyres out there in convo land so there shouldn`t be any excuses unless of course these were built years ago before the newer types were available. so is it just me ? am I being hyper critical?

it`s a real shame I got bogged down with work and was unable to get there. I had a friend went down , not sure if anyone saw him or not , tall dark headed youngish fella, ( could describe anyone really) ...........some really fantastic displays........ one day I`ll get to a show somewhere!!

beginning to look like we might not get there now....... :'(

think they have been pretty badly hit aye, weve been lucky here only had another inch yesterday and until this morning.thats still over 4 inches for the week.I say lucky because at Eskdalemuir they recored I believe 103mm in the last 24hours which is the largest total on record for them. I am not sure how bad it gets at Penrith but Id guess by now we would have heard if it wasnt taking place. As long as the caravans on high ground I`m sure they`ll be fine, else John will think he`s back at sea !!!!!

............................depends how modern you want to be, the very modern trend seems to be for beef cattle to be outside for the winter largely now..all aimed at reducing costs............but ;D as has been said, round our way too its a case of anything goes........empty shed , fill it with cattle. we had a small one with feed barrier up one side another small one has a under cover feed passage and a calf creep running up either side in this one the cows run out to a rough field rather than lie in. boys up the road have a cubicle set up and another loose houses them with starw bedding whilst a friend of mine keeps his on sloping beds ( orkney floors) with very minimal bedding. I was also in a shed with 500 dry cows standing on slats ..that was only up one side of it too, that wouldn`t be my idea of fun , in pens of 25 or so. My landlord even still has cow kennels from the 60`s . as I say, take your pick whatever you choose will be fine

as of today at least count me and mrs v in so thats 2........still very much dependant on work etc on sunday if theres any complications or whatever dont reckon we can be there much before 12 or 1 pm however..........will at least get to see the displays

liking the small krone baler in yr pic !!!! this is something different eh? adds to the variety and yes I`m curious as to the base model too

you could post something there and divert the interest perhaps Mandy.......

cheers both, yep pretty much where I was thinkin.knew i`d had to turn off into the lakes at the penrith junction.......will do my best .

well I`m still hopeful my good lady and myself will get to pop down , it`ll be a good 2 hour drive for me and with work to do first It could well be 1pm or so before we get there........not exactly sure where the rheged centre is but have a rough idea. I think we passed it once before when we had a run round the lakes .

just back home from chicken catching, one more night and that`s this stint over with.....next go ...............21 22 23 dec, then 27 28 29 30 th ! could be interesting its been a tough go this time no starting til 11 or 11.30 pm then do a day`s work?.........would have time for a snooze after tea time if it wasnt for sorting stuff out in the house. hey ho it`ll be handy money for xmas ! maybe just have it before lakeland model show

to do with the light I think and perhaps a bit of fade.........

I`ll put out 2000 bales of silage (haylage really most of it) each and every winter and anything to speed the job up etc would be great . I like the fact the bale is broken up a bit before it goes into the feeder wagon making it`s job a lot easier. I see a few problems with this however so in my VERY humble opinion..... 1 for the now necessary plastic recycling ( for us at least in scotland),the net and plastic wraps have to be separated....gonna take you time to split that up.....albeit easier with no silage around. 2 not certain every bit of netwrap would be caught as to get the net to start reeling onto the bale you need the very last mouthful of silage (on most balers at least ) to help it get into the chamber. 3 I doubt that grab couldn`t cut through my bales with the longer stemmy grass and higher dry matter therefore I reckon it would only be suitable for proper short grown silage or bales made by a chopper baler . 4 doubt my loader and pipework would stand up to cutting at least 2000 bales a year so repair bills may well outweigh any other benefits. sorry to be so negative,just saying it as I see it. It wouldn`t be for me unless anyone cares to bring it to me, let me try it for a winter and if I`m proved wrong then I`ll gladly buy it! I can see it suiting some situations tho and may well be a decent seller due to the fact lots of the guys feeding cattle now need their backside glued to a telehandler or the tractor/loader seat ! seems none of us have time to do anything else so this not getting out to remove the wraps and net wrap is likely to be VERY appealing

oh and a plastic copy of the siku side tip trailer, forestry trailer, siku cambridge rollers, siku forage wagon.......all similar but half plastic or all plastic unbranded and in different colours

yes I think I have a couple of those cheap sets.........some of them had a britains style cultivator in which was half plastic and looked like it was an MF ..........Hongwell or Cararama or something I think they are.............yes the old style siku deutz in a dull army green with a light bar on the cab or orangey yellow, think there was a bluey one too,prob loads others I don`t know about as well