How Big Is Your Biggest Field?

mikefoxo

I was watching a video earlier of a fella discing in a 300 acre field:eek: Not too many of them in Ireland I'd wager! The biggest we have is about 12 acres. I was wondering what's the biggest field on other peoples farms, and what you think the ideal sized field would be? Any takers?

reilig

12 acres here too which is pretty big for this part of the country. Have a lot of 3 or 4 acre fields unfortunately.

yellow50HX

mikefoxo wrote: »

I was watching a video earlier of a fella discing in a 300 acre field:eek: Not too many of them in Ireland I'd wager! The biggest we have is about 12 acres. I was wondering what's the biggest field on other peoples farms, and what you think the ideal sized field would be? Any takers?

Plenty of mixed farming round here so some tiny fields and plenty of big ones. Our biggest is about 14ac. Neighbour has one 35ac acouple of the farms round here had all the ditch's removed years ago so there a few that are up to 80-100ac

Timmaay

20acres on the rented farm, handy for silage but pain in the arse for cattle! I don't think I'll be renting it again next year, but if I do I'll be splitting it up!

jp6470

One 20 acre field.gets abit boring having to roll it or do something.have couple nice square 10s are good.around yard is all 3/4 which is good for grazing.

freedominacup

Depends what you describe as a field. If roads aren't counted as making a field then we'd have 2 of around 40 acres. Otherwise 24 would be the biggest.

farmerjack

We have a 100 acre field all in winter wheat

whelan1

30 acres

GERMAN ROCKS

it depends whos asking but if im selling it 32 acres but 30 acres if im going paying the contractor haha

moy83

19 acres here but most are between 2 and 4 ,

renandstimpy

We had an 18 acre field but divided it up for grass management and easier to move stock . Its now divided with mains fence and 2 strands of wire into 4 even paddocks

Username John

17 acres, but divided into 6 paddocks, most are around 4 - 6 acres (although there are only very few fields, so saying most gives the wrong impression)

C0N0R

This year about 15 hectares, last year was 16, had a few of them, perfect rectangles with hedges on all four sides. Handy mowed anyway!

lakill Farm

picked up silage in a 65 acre field with 10ft swarts and a jf900.

around and around and around and around and around for 2 fxcking long days :rolleyes:

funny man

288 acres with a roadway up the middle of it, if that counts.

severeoversteer

28 acres,

Rho b

We have a field that is called the "17 acres". That is 17 Irish acres as opposed to statute acres. I think is about 22 or 23 statute acres.

kevthegaff

30 acres but gona start paddocking it soon

nashmach

8 acres and have three one acre fields!!

KatyMac

15, but most are 2 - 5.

AntrimGlens

Depends how you classify field, if you can drive a vehicle on it then its 14 acres, if you can barely walk on it then about 45 acres...oh actually thats the hill.

when working in oz i drove this yoke with an 8m ripper on it and started in the "paddock" beside the house one morning at 6am, didn't get the headland finished until smoko break at 10, i spent three days in that one "paddock". I thought paddocks were for keeping horses in..

aidanki

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Depends how you classify field, if you can drive a vehicle on it then its 14 acres, if you can barely walk on it then about 45 acres...oh actually thats the hill.

when working in oz i drove this yoke with an 8m ripper on it and started in the "paddock" beside the house one morning at 6am, didn't get the headland finished until smoko break at 10, i spent three days in that one "paddock". I thought paddocks were for keeping horses in..

looking at the picture a decent paddock might yield just as much

grazeaway

did a bit of harrowning and rib rolling for the missus dad a few years ago in the big field, its 60ha. was using a 200hp tractor and a 6m harrow

when i was finished he asked to do thier neighbours too as his tractor had broke down and he wanted to get the place done ASAP. Her dad came to relive me that evening and i went back that night to finish it. it was about 6 the following morning when i got back. I had done over 200ha between the two places. Went back the following day to do another "field", just for the craic i clocked a few of the runs and i was averaging about 4-5km between headlands.

As her dad said to me afterwards there are plenty of much bigger places in parts of germany france and russia. buddy worked in a place in canada cutting corn and as he said somedays you might only reach the headland a couple of times

delaval

Aussi in the local here told us one night when asked how long it would take to drive the boundry of her farm, she said it would take about 3 days to which a old man at the other end said

'I used to have a car like that once and had to get rid of it'

1chippy

Big fields are great for machinery work, but for grazing stock 3-4 acre fields are ideal, imo.

Western Pomise

Biggest field 5acres,had a farm rented for years that had a 30 acre field with pen in worst corner,now that was fun trying to get 30 plus sucklers and calves and bull into to move stock etc!

severeoversteer

delaval wrote: »

Aussi in the local here told us one night when asked how long it would take to drive the boundry of her farm, she said it would take about 3 days to which a old man at the other end said

'I used to have a car like that once and had to get rid of it'

about 15 years ago, the was some local who won the lotto, people were gossipin who won it in the pub and an old stockman was asked what he'd do with the money if he won, he looked up and sayed '' if i won the lotto id stay farmin until its all gone''

bbam

Its not the size of the field lads...
Its what you do with it that counts ;)

Plenty of big fields of rushes..

funny man

bbam wrote: »

Its not the size of the field lads...
Its what you do with it that counts ;)

Plenty of big fields of rushes..

funny you say this, i've come to the end of my career in farming having built up a sizeable farm, my nieces and nephews don't want it and my fear now is all my hard work will count for nothing if the farm reverts to its previous state.

freedominacup

funny man wrote: »

funny you say this, i've come to the end of my career in farming having built up a sizeable farm, my nieces and nephews don't want it and my fear now is all my hard work will count for nothing if the farm reverts to its previous state.

Sell it and retire at your ease. There'll be no danger of it reverting to it's previous state because the boy who purchases it will really want it and will need to mind it to get his money back.

gozunda

With the climate we have in this country and outside the decent tillage areas - large fields are just plain ridiculous imo

Boundaries in the form of hedges and ditches are important for shelter, water control and decent grass growth

Get one big wind swept field as some I have seen done around here with only wire fences and you soon get problems with land and stock

I have noticed that the unemployed digger boys are being in increasingly brought in to "tidy up " fields bulldozing their way thru hedges and ditches that just cannot be replaced even if you had the time and money.

I have to laugh at the boyo ranchers that they think they are living in Wyoming or other part of the states....they need to get a grip that this is Ireland and we have a fairly standard maritime climate that needs shelter for both stock and proper grass growth....

Just my two sense worth....

delaval

funny man wrote: »

funny you say this, i've come to the end of my career in farming having built up a sizeable farm, my nieces and nephews don't want it and my fear now is all my hard work will count for nothing if the farm reverts to its previous state.

Send me a pm!!!!!!!!

yellow50HX

delaval wrote: »

Send me a pm!!!!!!!!

its like waving sweets in front of a child.

whats that they say about us irish and never havign enough land!!!!

jaysus delaval your some glutten for punishment

yellow50HX

gozunda wrote: »

With the climate we have in this country and outside the decent tillage areas - large fields are just plain ridiculous imo

Boundaries in the form of hedges and ditches are important for shelter, water control and decent grass growth

Get one big wind swept field as some I have seen done around here with only wire fences and you soon get problems with land and stock

I have noticed that the unemployed digger boys are being in increasingly brought in to "tidy up " fields bulldozing their way thru hedges and ditches that just cannot be replaced even if you had the time and money.

I have to laugh at the boyo ranchers that they think they are living in Wyoming or other part of the states....they need to get a grip that this is Ireland and we have a fairly standard maritime climate that needs shelter for both stock and proper grass growth....

Just my two sense worth....

thats a fair point too. there are a number of farms near here that have no internal ditches. many of these were cleared away in the 60's and 70's and the farms mostly worked as tillage. they are now in differnt hands and are dairy and dry stock farms. it was quite telling looking accross at them this spring to see all the cattle in 1 big group huddled together for shelter, while the cattle in my place were all along a line under the ditches. one farm bounds a wood land on two sides and the lad that has it only has cattle in the paddocks along the boudary with the wood. the rest of the place is used for tillage and silage ground. the middle paddocks are only grazed in the summer. he told me that in spring and authnm he had too much problems espically with the sucklers.

funny man

delaval wrote: »

Send me a pm!!!!!!!!

pm for what?

Figerty

funny man wrote: »

funny you say this, i've come to the end of my career in farming having built up a sizeable farm, my nieces and nephews don't want it and my fear now is all my hard work will count for nothing if the farm reverts to its previous state.

Threaten to sell and give the remaining money to charity when you eventually pass on and watch the nieces and nephews jump!

freedominacup

Figerty wrote: »

Threaten to sell and give the remaining money to charity when you eventually pass on and watch the nieces and nephews jump!

Why threaten? Just sell it and enjoy your retirement. Keep a small plot beside the house if you don't want to stop completely but all you'll need at some point in the not too distant future will be around 3 square yards.

Muckit

funny man wrote: »

funny you say this, i've come to the end of my career in farming having built up a sizeable farm, my nieces and nephews don't want it and my fear now is all my hard work will count for nothing if the farm reverts to its previous state.

Were you ever sorry for buying land? What if anything would u have done differently?

Victor

This is between Cambridge and Peterborough in England, where I was in May. As you can see from the flatness, up to a few hundred years ago, it was part of the North Sea. In paces, there is no treeline for 1km or more, suggesting field sizes in the order of 200 acres. That said, there are regular drainage ditches every few hundred metres.

The land is so low that the roads, railways and even canals are raised above the surrounding land.

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cambridge,+england&ll=52.554437,0.0424&spn=0.009654,0.061111&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Cambridge,+United+Kingdom&gl=ie&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=52.552343,0.015916&panoid=rUixJQ_XKRIToFk3xpO4Mg&cbp=11,19.47,,0,5.81

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cambridge,+england&ll=52.518101,0.149174&spn=0.019325,0.122223&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Cambridge,+United+Kingdom&gl=ie&t=h&z=13&layer=c&cbll=52.518138,0.149144&panoid=OfOKS7tvumx6_5owjxVEKQ&cbp=11,290.44,,1,0.05

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cambridge,+england&ll=52.463488,0.211916&spn=0.009674,0.061111&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Cambridge,+United+Kingdom&gl=ie&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=52.463481,0.211889&panoid=1JQ-iyfqxq1O81PKWwCpXw&cbp=11,115.06,,0,-2.05

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cambridge,+england&ll=52.296168,0.225317&spn=0.085038,0.244446&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Cambridge,+United+Kingdom&gl=ie&t=m&z=12&layer=c&cbll=52.296168,0.225317&panoid=YtKg2cwR9rNEiS-oDYZQUw&cbp=12,121.49,,1,3.49

gozunda

Victor wrote: »

This is between Cambridge and Peterborough in England, where I was in May. As you can see from the flatness, up to a few hundred years ago, it was part of the North Sea. In paces, there is no treeline for 1km or more, suggesting field sizes in the order of 200 acres. That said, there are regular drainage ditches every few hundred metres.

The land is so low that the roads, railways and even canals are raised above the surrounding land.

Photo?

tabby aspreme

Biggest field here is 12 acres , will be divided shortly into three, tillage men can't get fields big enough, 22 acre field of barley beside me cut in 1 1/2 hours yesterday

Dont be daft

We've a 60 acre silage field here. All the ditches taken out by the previous owner so just one continuous field around an old farmyard.
Been threatening to turn it into a grazing block for a long time now but it hasn't happened.

Homefarm has very little ditches either. All taken out long before my time. Very handy from a management point of view and no waste ground at all.
But if I had the choice I'd go with ditches and fields around the 10-15 acre mark.

KatyMac

yellow50HX wrote: »

he told me that in spring and authnm he had too much problems espically with the sucklers.

I have a windswept field, it's only about 3 acres with reasonable hedges around but, the rain/wind/weather in general comes straight off a mountain across it. I can only graze it this time of the year with cows and strong sucklers. If I put in year to year and half year olds they will not stay. I put horses on it with weather proof blankets during the spring. I even tried growing trees along one side to add to the shelter belt and they are struggling!

yellow50HX

KatyMac wrote: »

I have a windswept field, it's only about 3 acres with reasonable hedges around but, the rain/wind/weather in general comes straight off a mountain across it. I can only graze it this time of the year with cows and strong sucklers. If I put in year to year and half year olds they will not stay. I put horses on it with weather proof blankets during the spring. I even tried growing trees along one side to add to the shelter belt and they are struggling!

sligo is a bit like that alright. i remember driving out a backroad of the town and seeing all the blacktorn trees all lean to the east. its kinda exposed to the sea alright

Muckit

yellow50HX wrote: »

whats that they say about us irish and never having enough land!!!!

'Much wants more..... and loses everything' :rolleyes:

Victor

Ooops, forgot to add links and can't find the exact location again. The field in the first link above is about 50 acres.

RaggyDays

Farming 127 acres and the biggest field is a tad over 4 acres
The farm a pure Maze of fields

freedominacup

yellow50HX wrote: »

sligo is a bit like that alright. i remember driving out a backroad of the town and seeing all the blacktorn trees all lean to the east. its kinda exposed to the sea alright

You don't have to go to Sligo to see that except around here they lean North.