powerrabbit

It's a 3 cylinder 780 or an 885 'Highway' version, front hydraulic braking and only has a single brake pedal. If you look on the top face of the front casting just in front to where it bolts to the engine chassis, to the rear of the radiator mounting on the right hand side of the tractor you will find the model type followed by the tractor serial number, you may have to scrape off the dirt and paint to find it, it's stamped in. If a 780 these numbers will start with 780/1 or, if it has a 12 speed gearbox will read 780/S/ and then the serial number. If an 885 it will start with 885/. You'll know which model it is then.

I think it was actually spelt with a z, Buzby. Buzby was an animated yellow 'canary' used in the old BT (British Telecom) tv ads voiced by Bernard Cribbins back in the 1980's and the 'catch phrase' was 'make someone happy, use the 'phone'. When they changed the name to just Telecom the adverts were with Maureen Lipman talking to her grandson on the phone about 'failing' his shool exams but bassing biology so the catchphrase was 'Anthony, you have an ology'. Funny how things stick in your mind! I'm sure that these old tv ads are on Youtube.

Agree with you there Simon, these Continentals are 'soft' and take more looking after. We used to put some of our cows to a Limmo and they were indeed fighters, a bit too much really, tended to be a bit on the wild side. First time calving of hiefers we used a Friesian or Herriford as they tended to be smaller calves when born and would be easier to calve and present few problems in being born whereas the Limmo was a longer but thinner calf at birth so you needed a fairly deep bodied cow to carry and let them develop properly during the gestation. The Simmental and Blonde De'aquatain types seemed to need a longer gestation period, up to 3 weeks longer in a lot of cases and of course, being in the cow longer would end up with them being much larger and potentially more difficult at calving, you need a pretty big cow to pass these without assistance! We found that with the Holstein Fresians, these at birth seemed to lack the brains, you had to tend to them soon after birth to get them to suck the cow as they seemed to lack the ability to find the teats but once you started them off they usually got the general idea. It's all swings and roundabouts!

Winter housed cattle can be just as vulnerable as out-wintered. You mus have good ventilation in the house otherwise the cattle can suffer respiratory problems such as pneumonia and of course you must keep them clean underfoot. Out-wintered cattle need a certain amount of shelter from cold winds but its not what falls on their backs you need to worry too much about, it's the underfoot conditions you need to keep an eye on and not to let them poach the ground or keep feeding them in the same place or they could end up with conditions such as 'blackleg' or 'mud fever', keep shifting their feeders and troughs and if they do start to poach, shift them to cleaner ground. Feeding through the winter is most important, feed to appetite and don't think that just because it's cold that they won't drink as much, in fact they will drink more. Cattleare at their most susceptible to health problems at around the time of 'turnout' and this is when they tend to loose body weight as their diet changes from mostly dry feed to grass and it takes a while for them to adapt to their new diet, you should introduce them to grass after the winter gradually by only letting them out for an hour or so to restrict their intake and gradually increase this time over about two weeks, cattle gorging themselves on grass straight away runs the risk of them having grass staggers, especially if they are milking or suckling, a condition that is caused by low calcium in the system which causes lethargy and loss of self control which eventually leads to coma and death very quickly if the symptoms are not treated, 1/2 litre of Calcium Boroglucamate under the skin or intravenously straight into the jugular, in the latter, it is very important that no air should enter otherwise you'll kill it. Am I rambling on too much?

Well Mandy, after finding the Britains type it was instantly recognisable for what it is. Same scale/size as the Dinky lawnmower so quite big. I have never seen one of these barrows from Dinky either so thought it was worth a punt. Be interesting to know more about it and how rare it actually is.

A nice fully working early 1970's 'trimphone' to add to the collection. Anyone remember Busby?

Never quote anything I see published, most of what you read is crap anyway. It's just that when getting into a subject that fires me up I just cant help it!, got to state my feelings, trouble is, none of those that are higher up in the chain that could actually do something never take any notice of those of us that actually have the experience and know as we're dealing with the consequences of their mis-infomed brains and twist things to favour their position, it keeps them in a job that we are paying through the nose for in both financial and asset loss. Anyway, better get back to the topic me thinks.

Balsa can be very messy as it soaks up a lot of paint.

Just bought this off fleabay. Mandy will probably know, is this Dinky Toys 'barrow' on the rare side?

Forgot to add that with the high yeilding Holsteins, they are absolute sods to get back in-calf whilst they are milking heavily and if they did come bulling they would 'return' several times until their yeild started to drop off, too much of their energy going into milk and they were always hungry. Another thing that I observed with them was that their dung was always very loose all times of the year no matter how much 'dry' food they consumed, even through the winter, they never produced a hard turd in their life.

I used to run a herd of 44 milkers on 86 acres, 33 of which was reserved for grazing and the rest for hay and silage for winter feed and being right on the edge of Dartmoor at 1000ft the winters were long in cow terms and feeding conserved feed started at the beginning of September and went through usually to the second week in may before we could 'turnout' again so we had to put away a fair bit of grub to last through. We also tilled a field of kale every year which would be fed in strip grazing from the end of October until the end of April, it had to be finished before it came to flower as brassica flowers are high in oestrogen which causes abortion. When I was milking the price of milk payed per litre was based on the butterfat content and with a small herd we maintained this by having 4 Guernseys in the herd that contributed to this and our butterfat content, which was tested at least twice a week at the dairy, always came out at 34.75% which was very good for this area. It all came down to management, knowing the limitations of what you could produce from a number of animals that could be kept and maintained on a limited acreage, knowing your soil and its shortcomings in trace elements, supplementing any lacking by adding to the dry food such as nuts fed in the parlour which would keep the cows in good health and vigour and the same applies to all livestock. My Father always used to say, 'you only get something out if you put something in'!

If you want a hardier type of bovine you have to go for the traditional native breed to the area of where they are indiginous. Unfortunately, over the last 3 decades or so, the need for increased production of larger beef animals and volumes of milk production to satisfy the demand of the markets have led to these traditional breeds being neglected in favour of the crossbred animals to fulfill these needs and has led to the 'modern' breeds being less hardy, more susceptable to disease and health problem issues. The issues that surrounds BSE in in dairy cattle derrives in my observation, not on what they are fed, but in their breeding. These animals are so inter-bred and too closeley related which affects their nervous system, there were never any cases of this in the old British Friesian, it has only manifested itself in the Holstein breeds and therein lies other problems in that their frame is so light that they cannot sustain the constant weight and strain of carrying so much udder tissue and volume of milk production for any more than 4 to 5 years which also causes foot health problems with lameness and this is why they can't walk very far or sustain the journey to the grazing field day in day out. Another thing that might interest the cattle stockman is the subject of Bovine TB. This was discovered in cattle in 1919 and has been going on ever since, why has the Government never done anything about it instead of just talking about it? I'll leave you to your own thoughts and conclusions on that one!

Never been to a Mac's, I always eat proper food! so wouldn't know what their coffee stirrers are like. You could also use strips of thick card.

Ice lolly sticks for the boarding with the rounded ends cut off perhaps? Concrete spray, grey primer spray paint?, that has a matt finish.

The breeds with the most hair on them! You would really be hard pressed to find a dual-breed that would fit the bill as the true definition of 'dual-breed' is an animal that is suitable for the production of both meat and milk and tend to be cross-breds between beef and dairy types whereas the 'hardy' type are typically pedigree such as the Highland, Galloway, (black and belted) and Welsh Black. Next hardy are the Aberdeen Angus and the North Devon.

It will cost in the region of £120 + vat to have the radiator re-cored but you will, at the end of the day have a new rad anyway to all intense and purposes and it should be guaranteed. A new one would be more money and in finding a new one from a supplier or the likes of eBay and those 'supposed' tractor parts suppliers/sellers might be difficult because a lot of 'new' D.B. parts available from these suppliers are nowhere near correct and won't fit, this is just a word of warning. As for the fan blade and the manifold, get these from a breacker, the likes of Stephen Marsden or better still, Barcley Williams, they advertise in the magazines, CT and T&M. Make sure you get the same type of fan, with the same number of blades as the old one. The manifold from a 770, 780, 880, 885 and 1190 will fit as all the 3 cylinder manifolds are the same. Bit of a bummer that little 'incedent', something you could have done without!

Yes, look after yourself Mandy. Well, I am today a happier bunny after receiving an electricity bill from my supplier for the last month totaling £7,243.63p which was on their part a total c--ck-up. They changed me over to a 'smart meter' in January and the company that fitted it made a mistake in the 'final read' on the old one and gave the supplier the wrong serial number which showed on their records to have 'gone round the clock'. I protested this most vigorously considering that my normal monthly consumption is very consistant, giving them the CORRECT meter serial number and the reading it was showing so I told them in no uncertain terms what actions I was prepared to take if they did not sort it out as to me it was obvious that the fault lay with them, the supplier, and the company who fitted the meter, they even got the date wrong as to when it was fitted! After several phone calls and conversations between myself and my supplier, today they rang me to apollogise and found that I was actually in credit by £13.46p. Warning!!! all these utility companies are out to rip you off so keep an accurate and up to date written record of all your use and consumption of services, I always do and it pays hands down if there happens to be a dispute between you and them.

Is your table an old one Mandy? I'm not in the market for a table as I already have a dining table, it's in my living room and being used as my computer and associated equipment 'desk'. Very old solid oak oval table, 'wind' out and 'extends' to insert 2 more leaves in order to seat 14 people and will seat up to 16, takes 4 strong people to lift it although it's on the old brass and china castor 'feet', promised my late parents I'd never sell it. I like the old antique furniture, lasts several lifetimes, cheaper to buy than this modern mass produced chipboard stuff, especially from auction houses. My kitchen table is an extendable one, lift the top and pull out the leaves at each end, seats 6 normally and 8 extended.

Picked up avery interesting item, or items (plural) I should say. Went into a junk/secondhand/brickabrack shop today that I frequently visit when 'in town' and the propriator, who knows I'm into models and farming, handed me a large folder and said 'look at this'. On opening it up and spilling the contents, it contained the full set of build plans for a Ransomes threshing machine. I haven't had a comprehensive look at them yet but the interesting thing about them is that each 'section' sheet is around 6 feet long and the 'model' is scaled to HALF SIZE. Interesting me thinks, so I grabbed them.

The starting issue could be a few things. Start simple, have you got the stop rod in the right position, I think on that one it has to be rearward. If there is no smoke coming from the exhaust when you're cranking the engine it coild be that the fuel filters are blocked and need changing. Unscrew the bleed screws on the injector pump, top one first and then the bottom and see if there's fuel spurting out, if not, at the rear of the pump on the top, undo the fuel pipe and then the large nut union that it screws into on the body of the pump, in the hole there is a gauze nylon filter, this one blocks up and a lot of people don't realize there's a filter in there and miss it. Try these things first.

I wonder wheather it ever went into production? Someone will know something about it I reckon.

Have any of you seen this little gem. I have not seen anything like this in any of the magazines covered at all, have they missed this one?

The 950 is a pre-Implematic model, produced in late 1958 to replace the 900, had an extra head stud to eliminate the problem the 900 had blowing the head gasket and discontinued the decompression handle, quite a rare model to find now. Later Implematic 950 was introduced in late 1961. If you're doing it up Vapormatic do new mudguards and the battery cross-box (with lids) as I guess these could be rusted rather?

Nice to see an 880 still on it's original 32 rear wheels, as they were supplied from the factory. 28 rears were offered as an option as being smaller would put more power to the ground but were faster on the road with the 32's. The D.B. 3 cylinder engine was the best engine they ever made. I myself have 17 D.B. tractors dating from 1946 up to 1985, various models, not all restored. If anyone wants any information for the best places to get spares for them let me know as I have a list of good contacts that I use.

That's what it's all about, market research and what's lacking in that market, demand for the service or services you intend to offer, competitive pricing, building good customer relations. Only downside to agricultural contracting is that the majority of contracting jobs are seasonal and all your customers want your services all at the same time. Freind of mine has just started a bit of contracting and the 'niche' that he has found is in direct drilling of which is less seasonal and he's doing quite nicely thank you, mostly direct drilling grass seed as not many around here are ploughing and re-seeding in the traditional way now as field size tends to be on average under 12 acres and it 'freshens up' the pastures.