britainswomble

I don't know if we need another topic in this vein, but here goes. What made me sad today was seeing something in the middle of a narrow main road on top of the white line. It was peeing down with rain and there was a lot of spray from the vehicles. As I approached it I realized it was a rabbit with myxamatosis. The poor little sod was sitting on the white line and was absolutely soaked. It must have been frozen with fear and the cold. I thought to myself, what an absolutely miserable way to end a life especially for such a beautiful animal. Yes I realize in the eyes of farmers they are a pest and should all be exterminated; but there's no denying that they are amusing, fascinating and beautiful animals, and absolutely nothing deserves to die in such misery. :(

One because you are in love. I expect you go around singing to yourself, skipping along like a spring lamb and sprinkling flower petals all over the place and carving A.W. L S.M. on the trees. It may also be that you are self employed and in total control of your life; unlike those of us employed by Muppets and surrounded by booby heads. (I censored that myself. Bet that peed off the auto censor ) Roll on summer, long days and sunshine make life seem better.

That's a bit like the "Thing" a few years ago; where people said "Yeah" after every sentence, as if they were explaining something to a completed idiot, ...yeah...... and having to break it down into understandable short sentences......Yeah. Oh Bu**er........now I'm doin' it. It drove me chuffin' mad. ........................Know what I mean........Arry. (Who was the boxer that started that one when talking to TV commentator Harry Carpenter....................no.................Lenny Henry was a comedian...............you know..............that other big black bloke, ) P.S. Bad news ol' kiddy.............you ARE turning into your dad; we all do. Now would you like me to send you an application form to join the Victor Meldrew Club. Go on..........say it..........."I don't believe it"...... Har Har Har..............Snort. (Sme posh laugh)

Sorry to hear that. Not sure whether burial is any better than cremation. When my dad died, he was cremated which I wasn't too happy about. I wanted him buried so we could visit his grave and know that the body of the man we remember was close to us, and his soul may be looking down upon us. (No I'm not a religious crank. I'm C of E) I felt a lot better at his cremation service when the Vicar explained that when a person dies and we cremate their bodies; all we are doing is disposing of a body which is no longer required by the soul it belonged to. A really nice way of explaining it. I realize that for many religions that cremation is unacceptable, but it is nice to have the choice. (Being flippant, I suppose burial is more environmentally acceptable these days...........recycling an' all that ) Once again, I'm sorry for your loss, and hope you aren't offended by my comments.

RIGHT.......THAT'S IT.....................NOW I'M REALLY JEALOUS. I WANNA TRACTOR TOO I'm not a great fan of Massey tractors, but that looks like a goodun to me. Well looked after, all there and very straight for its age. (Got a real soft spot for 165's) Looks like it wont take a lot of money to get it looking smart. Have you got the Diana's for it. (Doors ) What's the difference between a 165 and a 168 if you'll pardon my ignorance. Nice looking tractor,and they always look better on the bigger rear tyres. I wont ask you how much you paid for it because I expect you got it sickeningly cheap. . Perhaps you could tell us more about its history and the hours etc. Cheers ol' kiddy.

Driving half way to Essex this morning at three o'clock, and suddenly realizing that my diesel tank was nearly empty. I filled it up on Friday and the bl**dy diesel thieves have been busy in our yard over the weekend. They helped themselves to another 600 litres of diesel out of our trucks. The second time in a few weeks. We are working our ar**s off to make the best of the most profitable time of the year and being kicked in the nuts by turds like them. > Diesel theft is a real problem around here. I did a trip to Lewes late on Saturday night and called in the yard twice in the hope of catching them. I hope they do get caught as the amount of money involved makes this a more serious crime than it used to be. I phoned one of our other tanker drivers, who managed to get some money to me to buy more diesel. Luckily he had the keys to the car wash machines on him and got some money from them, otherwise I would have had to wait until about eight o'clock before I could be rescued. > >

Sorry to hear about your loss. The bad part of having pets. Some people don't realize just how hard coping with the loss of a beloved pet can be. Animals give so much pleasure in their short lives. We lost several of our cats and kittens last year. One cat in particular always used to come and meet us on our way home after hearing my wifes footsteps or my car coming up the road. Coming home and not being greeted by her was the hardest part to get used to, and we still miss her even now. She was only three years old and died horribly after being run over. At least she was with people she knew when she died, and didn't die slowly or alone under a hedge somewhere unknown to us. Once again I'm sorry for your loss and share your grief.

Er.............don't remember seeing a heater listed in the accessories. Not much fun having the luxury of a cab without one, especially in the States.

The Herefords are some nice looking girlies. Tell me.........do they all go to the same hairdresser. Nice little "Topknots" :D

I wouldn't imagine them to be the easiest of tractors to restore as what I've read about them,the tinwork was of poor quality, and parts would most likely have to be sourced outside the UK, assuming they are still available. As with most tractors; the mechanical parts aren't normally a problem. They changed the design of the bonnets several times, and didn't have a common style throughout the range, making things even more difficult.

Don't see that many Same's in the Uk. Sussex Tractors had the dealership for them in the mid seventies; as a cheaper option to Roadless and County tractors. I can't remember why we stopped selling them, but I expect either Ford's got the hump about it or Bamlett's were looking for more committed dealers. The models we sold were Saturno's and Drago's if I remember correctly. This would have been around 76-77. We acquired them through A.C. Bamlett who were from Thirsk in Yorkshire. They were importers of Vaderstadt, Grimme and Reco, amongst others. The name Tive rings a bell too. Can anyone remember any of the other machines they used to import

If the pictures of the maize seeder were taken here; you would probably see 80 to 100 horsepower on the front of it. I've never seen the point of using a tractor bigger than is actually needed for the job. Common sense farming.

Four wheelers with a dolly...............me neither. Two wheelers no problem. I find short trailers are the hardest to reverse, like car luggage trailers. 45' artic trailers..........no problem.

On the real Vicon spreader; all you had to do was remove the sideplates on the drawbar where it had height adjustment, and fit the drawbar under the PTO. I would like to see an actual model of the spreader to see how feasible modification is............... Hmmm

Breaking anything I own is almost impossible for me to do. It's a bit like killing your favourite old cow and then eating it. I'd rather someone else killed theirs instead so I could eat that. Well if you don't understand what I mean. I will put it in simple terms................restore yours using second hand parts from someone else's tractor................are you with me now. Oh an' don't forget to take some photies. Cheers!

Has anyone on here successfully modified the drawbar of one of these little gems yet, and have Universal Hobbies cottoned on to the reason why they probably haven't sold too many of them. Sadly, their stupid mistake with the drawbar and PTO, has not only meant that probably, very few of them have been sold, but the lack of response may have prevented them from introducing further 1/16th implements, thinking that there may not be a market for them. ..............Doooh.

The pictures shown here are surprisingly old as demonstrated by the Sierra police car. I didn't realize they made the Daf 95 as long ago as that, and I was even more surprised to see the engine size of the Daf in the first picture was a 360 or 380. How things have changed. In those days that was a pretty powerful truck. Today it would probably be at least 600 HP. Unthinkable in the late eighties. The power was obviously adequate because of the way the front wheels are lifting off. I bet if porcus trafficus saw that he wouldn't be following so close. Great pictures, and something I've always wanted to do. I've done many abnormal loads, but would love to get into the really heavy end of the job. I like the idea of dealing with the problems associated with top weights and the trucks associated with it. Driving really large heavy cranes has always appealed to me. I also used to do a lot of specialist lifting with a Hiab, which was really interesting. Again nothing really heavy, moore intricate and mentally challenging. Some of it was installation the rest was recovery.

Ford 10 series Super 'Q' especially the 6810, 7610 and 8210. Also the 86, 87 and 8830 Powershift This would be my choice for a modern tractor. For the Classics, two tractors streets ahead of anything else at the time...............The John Deere 4020 and 5020. They still don't look that dated even now. Look at the opposition in the sixties.......no contest,

Many thanks Nigel; I'll look forward to that.

My father used to have a lot of old farming magazines tucked away in his loft. Sadly, after he died; mum either threw them away or gave them to someone. I was hoping to take over ownership of them as there were a lot of interesting articles in them about old machinery. Two of the titles I remember from the fifties were; Dairy Farmer and Farmer and Stockbreeder. Iused to have Power Farming when I was younger. Sadly I don't have them any more as like all old mags, they quickly become rubbish and it's not until many years later you realize they are of historic interest and potentially valuable and irreplaceable. If only we knew then; what we know now. \

I saw a four furrow one on a farm about a week ago, and that one didn't have a depth wheel on it.

I'll second that. You and I would have plenty to talk about if ever we met. I was always a New Holland baler fanatic, apart from what I think was the 268 with the triangular cover over the pickup and the horrendously noisy packer arms. Piece o' junk.

Does it have pictures of the seventies Jaguar 80 SF forager, as literature on their first self propelled forager is like rocking horse poo. Many thanks.

Sounds like some of our members are "Maturing" (Getting old). I made similar comments about modern trucks as the ones I'm reading here. If you grab hold of a gearstick that goes straight into a gearbox; you know that when you move it something will definitely happen. You are never quite sure with electrics; whether it will always work as well as it does when it's new, or when it will fail. You usually get a warning that all is not well with a mechanical gearbox, which allows you to get something done about it before it lets you down completely. The same goes for E.C.U. controlled engines. If an old one stops; the first thing you do is check for fuel delivery, clean or change the filters, bleed it out and away it goes again. New ones stop and there is absolutely nothing the average driver can do to get it going again. Main dealer only repair. The mechanic can't do much without a laptop with a diagnostic program, and even then the information can be misleading. I also read of a farmer who nearly gave up trying to harvest his cereals, having got stuck with his new combine. He dragged out a twenty five year old combine to finish the job. He said it was a lot lighter on the ground than the new one. New and old have their place. New has operator comfort, output in terms of speed, power and lift capacity, necessary to make modern farming efficient and profitable. Old is a good reliable standby, still capable of a good days work, has character in terms of looks and quirky foibles. Happy memories of when you were a child, wanting to grow up and be able to drive one. The big advantage of old is the ready supply of spare parts, minimal downtime in the event of a breakdown and above all, a tractor that's fun to drive and isn't depreciating in value at all. My idea of heaven; driving a cabless Super Major in the summer, mowing, tedding and baling with a conventional square baler. Ploughing in the late summer, feeling the heat from the gearbox, listening to the sound of a hard working engine with a light haze of exhaust smoke so everyone can see it's earning its keep. I'm not sure we have moved forwards that much. Around here we used to rip up and down the fields pulling 3 14" furrows on the back of a Ford 3000. On the same farm we now see a NH TS 125 pulling a four furrow 14" reversible, A Ford 4000 will pull a three furrow 14" reversible at a good speed. I sometimes wonder if the new ones are really value for money. What do you think?

Don't worry you'll soon get the hang of your new telehandler. They can be a bit tricky at first. ;D