Farming Jobs!!

Nutcase

Just wondering what are your least favourable jobs on the farm, eg. whats the most boring, monotonous or the most hateful job on you have to do.
And on a brighter note what are the jobs you like doin the most?

Personally rolling fields is the most boring job that I can think of its so slow and same thing over and over again. Cutting weeds under the electric fence is the most hateful one, it takes forever!

The jobs I like doin most are letting cattle out to grass in the spring for the first time and moving the cows and calves from each paddock onto fresh grass I like to see them all happy out grazing away!

johngalway

Shearing & prolapse! Other than that, I can live with most jobs, just do a bit every day.

I like lambing, especially when the ewes have milk and they start licking right away, when that happens it's usually happy sailing.

Juniorhurler

Covering silage pits with tyres:(

Turnout to grass.:D

yessam

having to bring in a good calf from the field with pneumonia has me really peeeed off today. antway when he gets better, everything will be alright for a while again, i hope

Bodacious

Calving or letting them into fresh piece of grass on Summers evening after work

:mad: Patching up neighbours fence that they should be F**king doing - i like to strip it all and do it right that temporary stake here and there and half-arsing drives me nuts!

bogman_bass

There is something very satisfying about topping a field and mowing through a big bunch of nettle. Dont ask me why

scudster

Hate: agitating a slatted shed when the agitator blocks up from all the twine/net/plastic/ car bonnets (yes, I did find one stuck to the bottom of the impellor in a guys shed)/dead calf.
Like: Doin a bit of fencing right and havin the wire as tight as a guitar string.

shrubs

Hate: shaking fertiliser with the tractor

Like: drainage work and fencing

Dupont

this is not really a farming job but was on a farm

using an air compressor kango solid for two days to take out the concrete base of cubicles in old cubicle house

whelan1

hate :finding a cow down in the shed and also ****ing hate snow and ice
love friday evenings when i have saturday morning off

stanflt

hate when your trying to save the plastic on the pit and you arrive down in the morning-its p***ing rain or frosty or snowy and the plastic is hanging down covering the face of the pit and it weights a tonne

johngalway

whelan1 wrote: »

also ****ing hate snow and ice

Don't visit the weather forum so, every second post is a hope for a return to the blizzard :pac:

whelan1

johngalway wrote: »

Don't visit the weather forum so, every second post is a hope for a return to the blizzard :pac:

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

jeff greene

stanflt wrote: »

hate when your trying to save the plastic on the pit and you arrive down in the morning-its p***ing rain or frosty or snowy and the plastic is hanging down covering the face of the pit and it weights a tonne

Hate that as well, usually cut it with frustration then. Had a big plump rat run out of the crimp this morning, first one I saw in ages, God I hate them

Clare Bear

bogman_bass wrote: »

There is something very satisfying about topping a field and mowing through a big bunch of nettle. Dont ask me why

And thistles, love getting those feckers! I help around on the farm at home when I can, I love it. Favourite part is calving. Worst part is being around for dehorning, I hate it Fencing can be really boring too if you're at it for a long time. Helps if it's a nice summers day though.

sh1tstirrer

shrubs wrote: »

Hate: shaking fertiliser with the tractor

I don't know why you hate that job unless you are still using an old vicon driving 4 yards from the last track.

bogman_bass

spent an hour and a half pulling twine and wrap off a chain harrow this morning.

Tora Bora

Stuck on the old Howard rotovator today, an rotavated the haggard, for the spuds and veg for the house. Great satisfaction out of that. Early spuds going in on Monday. SPRING is here.

Kilmac1

Fencing or dosing young bulls or mad heifers had one jump a 5ft wall

pakalasa

:mad: - Dipping sheep, dehorning yearlings (in the old days), disbudding young calves, having to weld upside down, herding cattle in July after 3 weeks of constant rain (2009)

- calving cows, moving cattle to new field of fresh grass, herding in the cool of the summer evenings after a scorcher of a day

funny man

:mad: Powerwashing!
Milking!

Birdnuts

Releasing sheep stuck in wire fencing and nearly losing a finger doing it a number of times:( - they're certainly not the brightest of our domestic beasts:rolleyes:

PS: I love laying, planting and maintaining stock proof hedges:)

ryanp3

drawing in the silage bales has to be the most sicken job ever,:( plus shearing years ago when we had sheep. Best has to be letting out cattle in spring and cows calving unaided.:)

keep going

this year we had to go back to dosing cows as opposed to inject them for fluke and worms. well i hope the fella who brought in that reg is in neg.equity,his wife leaves him,crashes his car into a gards car and gets a nasty desease that makes him scratch and fart all the time. and the fella who invented zanil isnt much better. no dosing gun can suck the stuff. dosing should be outlawed on a cruelty to farmers basis

5live

keep going wrote: »

this year we had to go back to dosing cows as opposed to inject them for fluke and worms. well i hope the fella who brought in that reg is in neg.equity,his wife leaves him,crashes his car into a gards car and gets a nasty desease that makes him scratch and fart all the time. and the fella who invented zanil isnt much better. no dosing gun can suck the stuff. dosing should be outlawed on a cruelty to farmers basis

Dont hold it in. Tell us what you really think:D. +1 by the way:pac:

PMU

keep going wrote: »

this year we had to go back to dosing cows as opposed to inject them for fluke and worms. well i hope the fella who brought in that reg is in neg.equity,his wife leaves him,crashes his car into a gards car and gets a nasty desease that makes him scratch and fart all the time. and the fella who invented zanil isnt much better. no dosing gun can suck the stuff. dosing should be outlawed on a cruelty to farmers basis

here here!( I thought my zanil was damaged by the frost).pat

johnpawl

It was a once off, but spreading dung a good few years back with a side spreader, working for a contractor, and a couple of dead calves that the farmer'd thrown into the slurry pit got wrapped around the chains, getting them out was one sick job.... They were wrapped around so badly I'd to saw em off in places, never forget that one..:mad:

aidanki

amazing no one mentioned picking stones yet, espically when they are scattered as thickly as turf

whelan1

keep going wrote: »

this year we had to go back to dosing cows as opposed to inject them for fluke and worms. well i hope the fella who brought in that reg is in neg.equity,his wife leaves him,crashes his car into a gards car and gets a nasty desease that makes him scratch and fart all the time. and the fella who invented zanil isnt much better. no dosing gun can suck the stuff. dosing should be outlawed on a cruelty to farmers basis

i have lost count the amount of times i have deknuckled myself dosing the cows thwy are all cute feckers when it comes to catching them, another job i hate is cleaning a septic tank , makes me vomit , some smart arse decided to put the blue paper towel from the milking parlour down the outside toilet last year ..... they will never do that again after the bollocking i gave them after i cleaned out the tank- our septic tan k is very old and the blue towel blocks it up. Nothing worse that other peoples crap

pakalasa

johnpawl wrote: »

It was a once off, but spreading dung a good few years back with a side spreader, working for a contractor, and a couple of dead calves that the farmer'd thrown into the slurry pit got wrapped around the chains, getting them out was one sick job.... They were wrapped around so badly I'd to saw em off in places, never forget that one..:mad:

....and the Oscar goes to.....johnpawl.
That's a bad one alright.

Dupont

keep going wrote: »

this year we had to go back to dosing cows as opposed to inject them for fluke and worms. well i hope the fella who brought in that reg is in neg.equity,his wife leaves him,crashes his car into a gards car and gets a nasty desease that makes him scratch and fart all the time. and the fella who invented zanil isnt much better. no dosing gun can suck the stuff. dosing should be outlawed on a cruelty to farmers basis

man i work for dosed all his with the syringe down the mouth.and he has mostly bulls:eek:got the stuff to inject them and what a relief would happily help him now

keep going

johnpawl wrote: »

It was a once off, but spreading dung a good few years back with a side spreader, working for a contractor, and a couple of dead calves that the farmer'd thrown into the slurry pit got wrapped around the chains, getting them out was one sick job.... They were wrapped around so badly I'd to saw em off in places, never forget that one..:mad:

yeah one time i spreading slurry for local pig farmer and next thing the chute blocks solid. goes back and theres a dead dog stuck in it ,head out. couldnt push him back or foward so had to cut its head off with a pz blade took ages. :

Storminateacup

Likes:
When the little calves get out on grass for the first time - and they spend like an hour running and racing and just being happy.
When calves are born.
Going to get the cows in the evenings. One always stops to look into my hands to see what she can eat on the way up.
Dosing - That was my job to help with. I'm really good at it! Better than the brothers even!

Dislikes
De-horning -- I can't be anywhere near the place when its being done. I hate it and it should be outlawed for cruelty.
Selling animals -- especially ones that I adored and fed with a bottle and looked after like children for two years. The last pet bullock we sold was my little soldier. He was an orphan calf that my dads friend had given to me because he didnt have time to look after it and it would have died. Fed him on a bottle, dressed him up, fed him sandwiches and crisps and sweets and biscuits. And my dad made me sell him. In the cattle mart we went down to say goodbye to him, and when me and my dad were walking away he started to moo after us and i swear to god i have never ever ever felt as horrible as i did right then. Tears streaming down my face as he was walking around the ring.
Ever just feel like youre a horrible person - they trust you since they were babies, and you just send them to be murdered for the sake of stupid money.

But even selling non-pets isnt nice. The look of fear in their eyes when theyre being loaded.

Sick animals - and that feeling of being pure useless as they try get better. That bug that calves get which means they cant drink milk - up every 4 hrs to feed them complan.
Although - on the plus - its always fantastic to see a calf that was so sick, get better and be back to itself.

lefthooker

What i really hate, & gets on my nerves more than anything else is trying to lift a cow thats gone down on her side. Firstly trying to get straps under her to lift her to get some use back in her legs, let her back down after a while, put her sitting upright only for her to thrash her head back & flop over on her side again before you've closed the gate on the house. 9 times out of 10 Larry Earle gets her.
Closely followed by TB testing.
& for those who don't like de-horning & think its cruel, wait till you experience skulling:rolleyes:

On the other hand, can't beat turning sods & raising dust. But best by far is, warm Sunday afternoon looking out the front window of the combine as you sail up & down the field, aircon on & Michael O' commentating on a hurling match. Doesn't get much better than that;)

Tora Bora

lefthooker wrote: »

What i really hate, & gets on my nerves more than anything else is trying to lift a cow thats gone down on her side. Firstly trying to get straps under her to lift her to get some use back in her legs, let her back down after a while, put her sitting upright only for her to thrash her head back & flop over on her side again before you've closed the gate on the house. 9 times out of 10 Larry Earle gets her.
Closely followed by TB testing.
& for those who don't like de-horning & think its cruel, wait till you experience skulling:rolleyes:

On the other hand, can't beat turning sods & raising dust. But best by far is, warm Sunday afternoon looking out the front window of the combine as you sail up & down the field, aircon on & Michael O' commentating on a hurling match. Doesn't get much better than that;)

bad news is you have the last heard of Micheal O :mad: now its my own county man Marty M :rolleyes:

funny man

Washing out a cow that has held the cleanings for several days.:mad:

Tora Bora

keep going wrote: »

yeah one time i spreading slurry for local pig farmer and next thing the chute blocks solid. goes back and theres a dead dog stuck in it ,head out. couldnt push him back or foward so had to cut its head off with a pz blade took ages. :

I'd say you are barking mad :cool:

Storminateacup

lefthooker wrote: »

for those who don't like de-horning & think its cruel, wait till you experience skulling:rolleyes:

thats what im on about - when they get their horns taken off. as bad as it is when theyre babies, its 100% worse nasty and cruel done at a year old.

Storminateacup

funny man wrote: »

Washing out a cow that has held the cleanings for several days.:mad:

how do you do that.. at the risk of TMI?


i remember years ago that happening at home (the cow didnt expel the cleanings) and the vet saying that if you gave her guinness it would expel it? I'm not sure how they got it out and that statement made me curious!

funny man

Storminateacup wrote: »

how do you do that.. at the risk of TMI?


i remember years ago that happening at home (the cow didnt expel the cleanings) and the vet saying that if you gave her guinness it would expel it? I'm not sure how they got it out and that statement made me curious!

It's done by inserting a pipette into the cows womb and then dispensing an antibiotic through the pipette, it gets straight to the infection but a coarse of antibiotics is also recommended. The guinness would be good too, give her an appetite.

dar31

funny man wrote: »

Washing out a cow that has held the cleanings for several days.:mad:

washing out cows before dinner, you'd think id learn by now, forgetting to put on a second glove, its amazing how the smell travels.
hate downer cows, love going out to a downer to give water in morning and not being able to find here, seeing her wandering around the paddock.

lettin calves out in spring, would have to have a heart of stone not to enjoy that.

heading off on the quad on a summers morning to get the cows for milking.

sitting on a tractor for more than an hour or two, got me jollies up till then, waste of time after that.

putting the work in and nailing the grazing on the head for the year, happy out
love the technical end of farming

whelan1

hate when an extra cow squashes into a row when milking and also getting a ****ty tail in the face , both of which happened me this morning
love mowing a big field of silage

shrubs

sh1tstirrer wrote: »

I don't know why you hate that job unless you are still using an old vicon driving 4 yards from the last track.

Indeed I am!

lefthooker

lefthooker wrote: »

What i really hate, & gets on my nerves more than anything else is trying to lift a cow thats gone down on her side. Firstly trying to get straps under her to lift her to get some use back in her legs, let her back down after a while, put her sitting upright only for her to thrash her head back & flop over on her side again before you've closed the gate on the house. 9 times out of 10 Larry Earle gets her.

& Larry Earle DID get her today. Cos i got fed up lookin at her on her side.

jeff greene

lefthooker wrote: »

& Larry Earle DID get her today. Cos i got fed up lookin at her on her side.

Lifting them up with straps invariable does more harm I think, one of these looks to spread the weight better, anyone have one or know the price?

howitworks1.jpg

http://www.cowcradle.com/cowcradle/default.aspx

whelan1

i find the sooner you lift them the better , also do not let their knees get cut .... had a neighbour ring me last week looking for our thing that we use to lift the cows , he had a cow that was down for 10 days ffs she would never get up after not being moved for that long

lefthooker

jeff greene wrote: »

Lifting them up with straps invariable does more harm I think, one of these looks to spread the weight better, anyone have one or know the price?

howitworks1.jpg

http://www.cowcradle.com/cowcradle/default.aspx

Its a fine rig alright but on the very rare occasion when its required i'd guess its an expensive luxury. You'll get a lot more uses for ratchet straps & your only going to lift the cow into a standing position so as she puts some weight on her legs.

I find lifting to be more successful with heifers or younger stock. With older cows they lose heart & its like they just give up, downhill slide from there out

dar31

jeff greene wrote: »

Lifting them up with straps invariable does more harm I think, one of these looks to spread the weight better, anyone have one or know the price?

howitworks1.jpg

http://www.cowcradle.com/cowcradle/default.aspx

nothing but hardship trying to get cows into the likes of them, and when you get it on and lift her. it left on till next day lift and she get herself in a black knot in it, it then has to be taken back off, then put back on ahhhh.

use a richie cow harnes ( glorified straps setup) or used to use a hip clamp

jeff greene

dar31 wrote: »

nothing but hardship trying to get cows into the likes of them, and when you get it on and lift her. it left on till next day lift and she get herself in a black knot in it, it then has to be taken back off, then put back on ahhhh.

use a richie cow harnes ( glorified straps setup) or used to use a hip clamp

I know, it look hard to put on but from cow comfort point of view is best, I have a hip clamp and its good. Need to be careful with it tho