Missed hedge cutting deadline

foxylock

Lads I've about twenty acres to reseed this year and am planning to spray off the grass shortly. My problem is the ditches have about thirty years of growth on them and are well into the fields, it's mostly gorse and briars. I know the deadline for hedge cutting has long since passed but do ye think I could tidy the sides up before spraying the land or will I put my SFP at risk.

snowman707

foxylock wrote: »

Lads I've about twenty acres to reseed this year and am planning to spray off the grass shortly. My problem is the ditches have about thirty years of growth on them and are well into the fields, it's mostly gorse and briars. I know the deadline for hedge cutting has long since passed but do ye think I could tidy the sides up before spraying the land or will I put my SFP at risk.

basically if you do not touch the side of the actual ditch you can not interfering with it

don't blame me if you get penalised however

grange mac

I would get in a Komatsu 14t, and clean around the ditches, I am open to correction on this but I think all ditches can be no wider than 6ft anything over it is could be deducted from your sfp...

rancher

grange mac wrote: »

I would get in a Komatsu 14t, and clean around the ditches, I am open to correction on this but I think all ditches can be no wider than 6ft anything over it is could be deducted from your sfp...

It is illegal to touch any ditches this time of the year, only allowed trim road ditches if they are a safety risk, not even allowed burn bushes for fear there's nests in them.

Viewtodiefor

rancher wrote: »

grange mac wrote: »

I would get in a Komatsu 14t, and clean around the ditches, I am open to correction on this but I think all ditches can be no wider than 6ft anything over it is could be deducted from your sfp...

It is illegal to touch any ditches this time of the year, only allowed trim road ditches if they are a safety risk, not even allowed burn bushes for fear there's nests in them.

As an aside to this I'm putting in new roadway now and have two ditches to knock.can I do this now if I have equal length set beforehand?

Ashill5

Well Foxylock

I agree with grange mac, Get a track machine and clear away . You will be penalised if you get an inspection if they are not cleared back to 6ft ditch's. What i would do is spray your field, clear your ditch's and plough.

foxylock

So am I right in saying if I attack the ditches now I will be penalised and if I'm inspected and the ditces are seen to be too wide I will be penalised also. I just inherited and am trying to tidy the feckin place up after years of neglect, So for my troubles all I have to look forward to is penalties.:mad::mad::mad:

grange mac

Leave the ditches alone, just clear upto 1ft of them on both sides...that is what I do.
Btw what kind grass seed you planning to use it is gone very expensivs from last year, I also have plans for some summer reseeding and will be clearing some scrub upto the ditch b4 I get them ploughed.

rancher

foxylock wrote: »

So am I right in saying if I attack the ditches now I will be penalised and if I'm inspected and the ditces are seen to be too wide I will be penalised also. I just inherited and am trying to tidy the feckin place up after years of neglect, So for my troubles all I have to look forward to is penalties.:mad::mad::mad:

Surely you can estimate the amount that the ditch comes out into the field and multiply that by the lenght of the ditch and subtract that area from your single farm payment application, your SFP will only be reduced by a small amount for one year, they can't penalise you if you don't apply for the area under wide ditches, think it has to be marked out in red in your map, see your teagasc adviser. Then do your reclamation in september.
The penalty in the SFP for disturbing wildlife will seem minor if the wildlife ranger catches you and you end up in front of a judge

49801

many busy bodies about?
personally I think id just crack on with the job you want to do. ur fecked if you do and fecked if you dont IFKWIM so may as well do the job right.

Viewtodiefor

Do you know what your dead right! its a load of bollocks a lot of this ****e, eu crap one rule for us yet the germans can bypass all this crap if they like.

johngalway

foxylock wrote: »

Lads I've about twenty acres to reseed this year and am planning to spray off the grass shortly. My problem is the ditches have about thirty years of growth on them and are well into the fields, it's mostly gorse and briars. I know the deadline for hedge cutting has long since passed but do ye think I could tidy the sides up before spraying the land or will I put my SFP at risk.

I suppose the crux of the issue is how much is your SFP and how much would penalties possibly be? I'm not prying by the way. If you get caught out it'll hit you in the pocket. Could you reseed as much as possible, then in September clean the place up and do something like an overseed for the rest of the area afterwards

Just not sure it's worth the risk, it's not one I'd take but we're inundated with busybodies and tourists.

Muckit

foxylock wrote: »

Lads I've about twenty acres to reseed this year and am planning to spray off the grass shortly. My problem is the ditches have about thirty years of growth on them and are well into the fields, it's mostly gorse and briars. I know the deadline for hedge cutting has long since passed but do ye think I could tidy the sides up before spraying the land or will I put my SFP at risk.

A hedgecutter will not do what you want to do. You want to tidy the edges with a track machine. 6-7.5 ton machine is more than ample. It's mainly briars and such sh*t. You won't need to touch the hedge.

foxylock

oh me brainache!! Something I didn't mention before is that I also need to fence the fields as well. So if I fence it as it is I lose ground but if I don't fence I can't graze it later in the year. And the fields are running along a main road so I take the point about the fuppin busybodies............... Aaaaargh!

1chippy

justed rented same sort of ground 25 acres with 15' ditches. hedges sawn just before deadline. track machine in at moment getting ready for easter bon fires. just get it done.
have you done up all your costs yet. fencing reseeding, hedge trimming, water, ploughing, seed. its all getting dearer.

tvo

Asked my hedgecutting contractor about doing a few hedges after the deadline he said not a chance as the fine he d recieve is not worth the risk so might be hard
enough yo get someone to do the hedges this time of year mihht be better to wait till autumn to do hedges

foxylock

1chippy wrote: »

justed rented same sort of ground 25 acres with 15' ditches. hedges sawn just before deadline. track machine in at moment getting ready for easter bon fires. just get it done.
have you done up all your costs yet. fencing reseeding, hedge trimming, water, ploughing, seed. its all getting dearer.

Only costed the fencing, not the reseeding or hedge cutting but it's a job that really needs to be done.

J DEERE

1chippy wrote: »

justed rented same sort of ground 25 acres with 15' ditches. hedges sawn just before deadline. track machine in at moment getting ready for easter bon fires. just get it done.
have you done up all your costs yet. fencing reseeding, hedge trimming, water, ploughing, seed. its all getting dearer.

Chippy, Are you doing this at your own expense or do ya have some arrangement made with landlord?

Attie

Foxy
You are going to spend lots of money on this personally I'd look at getting it right first time.
After all Rome wasn't built in a day.
Attie

Farmer Pudsey

OP I let it until the autaum if I could no point in getting fined or hassle better to put a tempory fence around it get your machine in in late august clean back the scrub fence it then and reseed also I consider spraying the briars in May they will die back and you will have a good job no point in half doing it now

foxylock

Spraying off now and reseeding in autumn is not a bad idea, roughly how much an acre is it to kill off the grass and weeds?

brian_t

rancher wrote: »

It is illegal to touch any ditches this time of the year, only allowed trim road ditches if they are a safety risk, not even allowed burn bushes for fear there's nests in them.

This is an interesting thread. I had thought that the rule only applied to hedges.

2. Extract from Section 46, Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000:

"(1) (a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection."

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/council/press/March-09/presshedgecuttingmar09.htm

Muckit

(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection."

A bit of a loop hole perhaps....:rolleyes:

Also the 'in'....

brian_t

foxylock wrote: »

I know the deadline for hedge cutting has long since passed but do ye think I could tidy the sides up before spraying the land or will I put my SFP at risk.

You would also run the risk of a busybody neighbour reporting you to the Gardai and finding yourself in court.

In Kilcock court recently a man from Maynooth was fined €750 for clearing a couple of acres of scrub out of season.

foxylock

Anyone notice that a lot of the posts in this thread contain the term "Busybody"

If we had less busybodies would we get more work done? I must admit the busybody factor is a huge influence on my decision to just spray off the pasture for now and reseed and sort the ditches later.

Maudi

brian_t wrote: »

rancher wrote: »

It is illegal to touch any ditches this time of the year, only allowed trim road ditches if they are a safety risk, not even allowed burn bushes for fear there's nests in them.

This is an interesting thread. I had thought that the rule only applied to hedges.

2. Extract from Section 46, Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000:

"(1) (a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection."

http://www.donegalcoco.ie/council/press/March-09/presshedgecuttingmar09.htm

how come the developers have bulldozed maybe half an acre of scrub and brush after this date..i was jus looking at it today??near where i live in greystones...are builders exempt?

Muckit

Should a person let 'busy bodies' determine how they farm?

johngalway

Muckit wrote: »

Should a person let 'busy bodies' determine how they farm?

No. But the Ranger or Inspectors visit that results from a busy bodies phone call or photos may well do.

brian_t

Maudi wrote: »

how come the developers have bulldozed maybe half an acre of scrub and brush after this date..i was jus looking at it today??near where i live in greystones...are builders exempt?

The County Councils are seemingly excempt when it comes to road widening projects.

Maudi

brian_t wrote: »

Maudi wrote: »

how come the developers have bulldozed maybe half an acre of scrub and brush after this date..i was jus looking at it today??near where i live in greystones...are builders exempt?

The County Councils are seemingly excempt when it comes to road widening projects.

nope...they wernt road widening...it was more like land scapeing/clearing around a factory site..good bit away from road...would that be exempt from the march 1st deadline?

brian_t

Maudi wrote: »

nope...they wernt road widening...it was more like land scapeing/clearing around a factory site..good bit away from road...would that be exempt from the march 1st deadline?

A court fine and the loss of part of the SFP would mean a lot to a farmer.

It wouldn't mean a lot to a developer in terms of the whole cost of the project.

It's all relative!

johngalway

Would a building site be exempt? Not being farmland.

Maudi

johngalway wrote: »

Would a building site be exempt? Not being farmland.

hmm..duno..shud leave the farmers to get on wit it...ye must have a pain in ur ass with eu regs....i was more thinkin bout the wild birds nesting in the hedges that was bulldosed recently where i am...i drove those yokes at one time and refused to do it..seems to be a blind eye turned to it or the guys driving the machines mitnt be familiar wit the regs.

rancher

johngalway wrote: »

Would a building site be exempt? Not being farmland.

Rules apply to any where a bird can put a nest, that's why it applies to burning bushes as well

1chippy

J DEERE wrote: »

Chippy, Are you doing this at your own expense or do ya have some arrangement made with landlord?

arrangement with landlord. worked out ok for me out of it and the landlord gets his land sorted out properly. got it for 7 years

Drawinhard!!

A good man with a flail or 12t track machine will clear it no bother feck d regs we got our ditches cut ob friday . Work away til b d finest

amber2

Just wondering if I could cut the bottom, grassy part of the ditch next to our house as when i pull out of my driveway i cannot see oncoming traffic as the grass and weeds are so high, my driveway is quite near a blind bend. The field belongs to farmer next door and who is not at all approachable just wondering if i cut it, could he stop me or who should maintain it. Thanks.

bob charles

amber2 wrote: »

Just wondering if I could cut the bottom, grassy part of the ditch next to our house as when i pull out of my driveway i cannot see oncoming traffic as the grass and weeds are so high, my driveway is quite near a blind bend. The field belongs to farmer next door and who is not at all approachable just wondering if i cut it, could he stop me or who should maintain it. Thanks.

Unless he is a complete ...., I can't see the problem.

johngalway

bob charles wrote: »

Unless he is a complete ...., I can't see the problem.

Agree, just make sure to ask first

brian_t

amber2 wrote: »

when i pull out of my driveway i cannot see oncoming traffic as the grass and weeds are so high.

I don't think that it is necessary to ask permission if the grass is currently high enough to be the cause of an accident.

You should cut it back immediately and not let it get to this stage in future.

If there is an accident you will be the one to get injured.

(Currently the County Council is cutting back the overgrowth at junctions. I doubt if they have asked permission of the landowners.)

johngalway

brian_t wrote: »

I don't think that it is necessary to ask permission if the grass is currently high enough to be the cause of an accident.

May save someone getting "thick" after the fact, cost's nothing either.

brian_t

amber2 wrote: »

Just wondering if I could cut the bottom, grassy part of the ditch next to our house as when i pull out of my driveway i cannot see oncoming traffic as the grass and weeds are so high, my driveway is quite near a blind bend. The field belongs to farmer next door and who is not at all approachable just wondering if i cut it, could he stop me or who should maintain it. Thanks.

Whether you look for permission or not I would recommend the wearing of a High visibility jacket any time you are working alongside a road edge and also work facing oncomming traffic.

amber2

Thanks for all the replies definitely not asking as yes he is a complete w...er absolutely no way he would give permission anyway will just cut away and see what happens. Thanks again.