Everyones Opinions on Farmers

Jim Bob Scratcher · 08-07-2016 08:58AM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Get back to work, ya bleedin moocher :pac:

Ush1 · 08-07-2016 09:07AM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Just can't get the staff these days...

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 08-07-2016 09:14AM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

It's not a competition, you can work hard too and not be a farmer

I LOVE farming. Love it. I find it fascinating, so interesting. I love talking about it. I love being on farms. I love learning about it. But I would suck at being a farmer. There's so much to it.
You have to know about crops. You have to know how to treat uncomplicated illnesses. You have to give injections. You have to recognise when an animal is sick when they can't tell you and you need to be able to assess if you can treat what it is or if it needs a vet. You are a cow midwife. You need to stay calm even when you're stressed out because working with hyper and stressed out animals is a waste of time. You can't schedule anything because that'll be the time they'll all break out, or get sick, or give birth.
It can be dangerous at times, hormonal cow just after giving birth, a temperamental bull, a big gentle animal much bigger than you not realising its strength and accidently hurting you. You don't take days off, you don't take holidays, animals don't care if you're sick or hungover or can't be bothered, they need to be fed and looked after regardless.

It's so interesting. I'm never going to be farmer of the year but I learned so much from my dad. I learned you can put penicillin in a cows eye if it's sore. I have helped strip a cows womb and put it back inside her, I know how to treat mastitis, I could help get a large calf out of its mam if she was having difficultly. I know how to take care of an orphaned newborn calf so it doesn't die either. I can hand milk. I can tell when they're sick. I know the basics on what to check for when they're unwell. I can tell what vitamins and doses they need by looking/listening to them. I know how to choose a new calf to buy, what to look for and what to avoid. I know how to take care of the babies when they get a virus. I know how to bid for them. I know how to sell them in marts and I know how to push for the best possible price. I know how to treat the animals with the respect they deserve and I had an amazing childhood growing up with so many amazing beautiful animals.

And that's only one side. You have crops to grow and take care of and harvest. You have machinery to fix. You have records and paperwork to keep. You have accounts to keep. If there's a cow about to calve or a sick animal, you're up and down all night long. You don't get to leave the job at the door at finishing time.
There's been many nights I've set my alarm every four hours to get up and feed a baby calf to keep him hydrated during the night because he can't have any milk.

It's definitely not a life I could live by myself, it's a lot of responsibility and it's very very physical, and emotionally draining. But if you love it I think it makes things much easier. It would be an awful life to live if Farming was just a job.

Two Tone · 08-07-2016 09:28AM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

It's not a competition, you can work hard too and not be a farmer

I LOVE farming. Love it. I find it fascinating, so interesting. I love talking about it. I love being on farms. I love learning about it. But I would suck at being a farmer. There's so much to it.
You have to know about crops. You have to know how to treat uncomplicated illnesses. You have to give injections. You have to recognise when an animal is sick when they can't tell you and you need to be able to assess if you can treat what it is or if it needs a vet. You are a cow midwife. You need to stay calm even when you're stressed out because working with hyper and stressed out animals is a waste of time. You can't schedule anything because that'll be the time they'll all break out, or get sick, or give birth.
It can be dangerous at times, hormonal cow just after giving birth, a temperamental bull, a big gentle animal much bigger than you not realising its strength and accidently hurting you. You don't take days off, you don't take holidays, animals don't care if you're sick or hungover or can't be bothered, they need to be fed and looked after regardless.

It's so interesting. I'm never going to be farmer of the year but I learned so much from my dad. I learned you can put penicillin in a cows eye if it's sore. I have helped strip a cows womb and put it back inside her, I know how to treat mastitis, I could help get a large calf out of its mam if she was having difficultly. I know how to take care of an orphaned newborn calf so it doesn't die either. I can hand milk. I can tell when they're sick. I know the basics on what to check for when they're unwell. I can tell what vitamins and doses they need by looking/listening to them. I know how to choose a new calf to buy, what to look for and what to avoid. I know how to take care of the babies when they get a virus. I know how to bid for them. I know how to sell them in marts and I know how to push for the best possible price. I know how to treat the animals with the respect they deserve and I had an amazing childhood growing up with so many amazing beautiful animals.

And that's only one side. You have crops to grow and take care of and harvest. You have machinery to fix. You have records and paperwork to keep. You have accounts to keep. If there's a cow about to calve or a sick animal, you're up and down all night long. You don't get to leave the job at the door at finishing time.
There's been many nights I've set my alarm every four hours to get up and feed a baby calf to keep him hydrated during the night because he can't have any milk.

It's definitely not a life I could live by myself, it's a lot of responsibility and it's very very physical, and emotionally draining. But if you love it I think it makes things much easier. It would be an awful life to live if Farming was just a job.

Jeez, great post!

Permabear · 08-07-2016 09:38AM

This post has been deleted.

siblers · 08-07-2016 09:45AM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

What a load of nonsense. Most of the work is done off a tractor.
-Try assist a calving heifer where the poor calf is upside down or is already dead because it's too big.
-Spend a day setting up fences and electric wire, go pull steel wire with your hands and see how you feel.
-Try fix a broken water trough or find the source of a burst pipe, might craic all together.
-Cleaning out pens, cleaning out dead silage, piking in silage, cleaning out sheds, repairing damaged roofs due to storms etc.
-Hang and weld gates, you'd never need a gym ever again if you were at that every day.

Just a fraction of the jobs farmers have to do..wouldn't get very far doing them while sat on a tractor :rolleyes:

There's also all the paper work, plus actually being able to take care of the animals, not just feeding them but giving them injections, being able to tell when in discomfort, able to tell when they are ready to calf, dehorning, shoe fitting etc.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 08-07-2016 09:47AM

I dunno if I'd agree with you there Permabear. I think older farmers can be quite set in their ways but in terms of knowledge, I think they could buy and sell the younger farmers. My brother is farming (part time) now, and if there's ever anything he's unsure of, he passes by all the other farmers to go to an old farmer because he knows so much about cattle it's almost like he can talk to them.

I think if older and younger worked more together they would both learn a lot from each other. Farming is not something you can learn in agricultural college.

Permabear · 08-07-2016 10:01AM

This post has been deleted.

Muckie · 08-07-2016 10:07AM

Being from the country myself, worked on farms with many farmers.
Loved being out doors, its a tough job out in all kinds of weather.

Then in my 20's moved to Dublin and worked on the Buildings.
Most Farmers Sons i meet "knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing". They talked about GAA and read the Sun/Mirror newspapers.

Drove diesels full of "greeen diesel horsebox!

Maybe i worked with a bad bunch from Cavan/Kildare.

They were jack of all trades and when the Building went wallop they went back to the farm.

sbsquarepants · 08-07-2016 10:21AM

I find a lot of farmers act like they have some sort of god given right to be farmers - they seem to be forever whinging about how they can't make a living whilst simultaneously putting their mucky hands out for a subsidy instead of doing something else and actually earning a living.
if you're working hard and you still can't make a living at what you're doing- what you're doing is just not viable. Do something else.:mad:

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 08-07-2016 10:25AM

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I find a lot of farmers act like they have some sort of god given right to be farmers - they seem to be forever whinging about how they can't make a living whilst simultaneously putting their mucky hands out for a subsidy instead of doing something else and actually earning a living.
if you're working hard and you still can't make a living at what you're doing- what you're doing is just not viable. Do something else.:mad:

Do you like being able to buy 2 litres of milk for under 3 euro?

swimming in a sea · 08-07-2016 01:50PM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Do you like being able to buy 2 litres of milk for under 3 euro?

I know idea if that is good or bad price, for the consumer that is.

FortySeven · 08-07-2016 02:05PM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Do you like being able to buy 2 litres of milk for under 3 euro?

CAP subsidies actually raise prices due to the secondary price intervention restricting competitiveness. If we scrapped CAP we would see a period of deflation across the industry as a whole until prices stabilised. With CAP they have created a bit of a monster that is very difficult to reform without severe wide ranging implications.

Be a bit more tax money sloshing around for all instead of being funnelled straight into farmers pockets.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k · 08-07-2016 02:25PM

FortySeven wrote: »

CAP subsidies actually raise prices due to the secondary price intervention restricting competitiveness. If we scrapped CAP we would see a period of deflation across the industry as a whole until prices stabilised. With CAP they have created a bit of a monster that is very difficult to reform without severe wide ranging implications.

Be a bit more tax money sloshing around for all instead of being funnelled straight into farmers pockets.

If you cut subsidies to dairy farmers you can be sure you'd be paying a lot more for your dairy products. Someone would have to pay vets bills, food bills, storage bills. They'd sell their milk at a much higher price to make ends meet.

Dr Crayfish · 08-07-2016 02:25PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Gordon Gecko over here. Why on Earth do you bother? Sounds like a f**king horrible life.

freedominacup · 08-07-2016 02:32PM

FortySeven wrote: »

CAP subsidies actually raise prices due to the secondary price intervention restricting competitiveness. If we scrapped CAP we would see a period of deflation across the industry as a whole until prices stabilised. With CAP they have created a bit of a monster that is very difficult to reform without severe wide ranging implications.

Be a bit more tax money sloshing around for all instead of being funnelled straight into farmers pockets.

Thank fcuk for the CAP so. God knows what prices would be like without it. Milk price in 1989 mid season was £1.06 per gallon or 23.3 pence per litre. Milk price at farm gate today 22 cent per litre. Subsidy worth around 4cent per litre to me on top of milk price and ours would be regarded as a large subsidy. I'm willing to bet that the list of other consumer products worth less in euro today than they were in pounds almost thirty years ago is quite short.

Btw wheat this year will be getting around €130/tonne, harvest price in 1996 was around £130/tonne. Subsidy was more or less the same twenty years ago.

Great scheme CAP. Really driving farm gate prices higher, we'd be screwed without it.

FortySeven · 08-07-2016 02:32PM

LexieOnRale wrote: »

If you cut subsidies to dairy farmers you can be sure you'd be paying a lot more for your dairy products. Someone would have to pay vets bills, food bills, storage bills. They'd sell their milk at a much higher price to make ends meet.

With CAP gone we could drop the punitive import tarriffs and allow competitiveness back into the market. A lot of small farms would go out of business but that is not a bad thing. Not denying it would hurt the country short term but long term the benefits would be for everyone.

pickarooney · 08-07-2016 02:36PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

What on earth would possess someone to live like that?

onrail · 08-07-2016 02:40PM

pickarooney wrote: »

What on earth would possess someone to live like that?

Job satisfaction. Money.

Tbf, thats not massively far off what farmers are doing anyway - and with far, far less reward.

JinkyJackson · 08-07-2016 02:42PM

Farmers are wealthy folk with a poor mouth

jmayo · 08-07-2016 02:42PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Lads, laddies instead of picking on farmers we have the real enemy in our midst.
Hedge fund managers, bond managers, future traders, stockbrokers, etc they are the real enemy.

They create nothing, they grow nothing, they build nothing, they fix nothing, they trade on the hard work of others.

Oh they tell you they work hard looking at their screens watching for an increase or drop of a few percentage points so that they can pounce or run.

So less of the ire for the farmers, grab a hay fork (will sell you some cheap ones that not used since the days of the hay) and chase these out from amongst us.

Ah feck it ...
I just realised permabear has already gone.
Hell they has even forgotten his Donegal roots the poor fella.

There is no hope for him, last I heard he had gone libertarian and joined the tea-party.
Maybe he hoped they would be having cups of tea to remind him of his younger days growing up on the old farm.:D

Muckie wrote: »

Being from the country myself, worked on farms with many farmers.
Loved being out doors, its a tough job out in all kinds of weather.

Then in my 20's moved to Dublin and worked on the Buildings.
Most Farmers Sons i meet "knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing". They talked about GAA and read the Sun/Mirror newspapers.

Drove diesels full of "greeen diesel horsebox!

Maybe i worked with a bad bunch from Cavan/Kildare.

Stop hanging around with Seanie Johnston.

(this will sort the culchies from the townies)

screamer · 08-07-2016 02:47PM

I'd love to post what I think about farmers but I'd be banned from boards if I was truthful.

freedominacup · 08-07-2016 02:49PM

screamer wrote: »

I'd love to post what I think about farmers but I'd be banned from boards if I was truthful.

Pm someone. It'll probably help you if you get it off your chest.

pickarooney · 08-07-2016 02:50PM

onrail wrote: »

Job satisfaction. Money.

Tbf, thats not massively far off what farmers are doing anyway - and with far, far less reward.

What's satisfying about a never-ending cycle of work? What use is money with no time off? Sounds like the worst kind of hell to me.

the evasion_kid · 08-07-2016 02:52PM

Im from a horticultural farming area....big,thick and ignorant is how I'd describe the farmers around here...and dog rough too some of them

whisky_galore · 08-07-2016 03:04PM

A mix of decent people, hard workers, salt-of-the earth, complete bastards, chancers and opportunists, like the rest of the population.

swimming in a sea · 08-07-2016 03:07PM

Its hard to understand the mentality of farmers, I grew up in the countryside but was not from a farming family so I have only a limited insight. Truly some of them have horrible lives and then they die....

for 90% of small 30 acre farmers they would more likely sell their daughter into the sex trade rather than sell-up and that is not far fetched considering they most probably already fu*ked over their brothers to get the farm in the first place and haven't talked to them for 30 years afterwards.

I knew one farmer who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but instead of getting rest or treatment he was negotiating the buying of another field, I think he got the deal done 2 weeks before he died.

Samaris · 08-07-2016 03:10PM

onrail wrote: »

[*]Normal people. Stop making an issue where there is no issue, you culchie gob****e.

[/LIST]

I've known plenty of farmers, and while I'd be inclined to see them as being socially less progressive, I have often been surprised at very liberal opinions from some of them. So that suggests it's my own "prejudices" rather than fact.

tayto lover · 08-07-2016 03:11PM

They seem to get loads of grants and also get to educate their children with more grants unlike many a PAYE worker. I think they manipulate their income in order to do so. Cute hoors.

whisky_galore · 08-07-2016 03:12PM

Greed is hardly confined to the farming community, we all hear of the family that tears itself apart over money or a will.

And as for 'land'...well....urban-dwelling neighbours will fight and go to court over a boundary wall or a hedge.

Everyones Opinions on Farmers

Comments