Signs you are dealing with a 'Rooter'

the_pen_turner · 18-01-2021 11:11PM

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

He's hardly spending that though every year. If he is he'll have a perfect tractor or he has a dear mechanic.

or a bad one

19-01-2021 01:00AM

Dunedin wrote: »

€1500 is hardly small money to spend on repairs. In 10 years he’ll have spent €15k and still have no tractor.

How much is a replacement tractor that's maintenance free? The chap is well into his 70s. Splashing out on a tractor mightn't appeal when he has one that does the job with TLC.

Cerveza · 19-01-2021 03:04AM

I was in the local hardware today and your typical rooter landed. 01 cruiser with cow box on. Neither the cruiser, box or the driver had a wash in over 10 years. A dog riding shotgun with him. No lights on the box working, engine sounded good as he left it ticking over while he went about his business.

Dunedin · 19-01-2021 09:04AM

Augeo wrote: »

How much is a replacement tractor that's maintenance free? The chap is well into his 70s. Splashing out on a tractor mightn't appeal when he has one that does the job with TLC.

I’m only following the poster earlier that said he’s probably spending €1500 on repairs.

€1500 is hardly TLC.........

19-01-2021 09:18AM

Given the below limiting factors id say a lot of typical farms in Ireland have an element of rooting in them:

1. Time
2. Money
3. Help from others
4. Good weather
5. Reliable animals

Lets say if you are a part time farmer that spends about 45 hrs in work including the commute, surely you by default end up doing a bit of rooting?

The only way you don't is if your parents / spouse / kids are putting in the hours on the ranch when you aren't there?

Lets say if you farm full time and are on your own and not married then the temptation to be a rooter might be higher unless you have a relative that can take on the farm after you retire?

_Brian · 19-01-2021 09:31AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Given the below limiting factors id say a lot of typical farms in Ireland have an element of rooting in them:

1. Time
2. Money
3. Help from others
4. Good weather
5. Reliable animals

Lets say if you are a part time farmer that spends about 45 hrs in work including the commute, surely you by default end up doing a bit of rooting?

The only way you don't is if your parents / spouse / kids are putting in the hours on the ranch when you aren't there?

Lets say if you farm full time and are on your own and not married then the temptation to be a rooter might be higher unless you have a relative that can take on the farm after you retire?

From what I see people are often confusing lads running a low cost system with lads farming via bad practice or poor practice.

We run two old tractors, balls of shiite I’d imagine many above would say. But our DB for example has been on farm for 30+ years and never been away for a repair, we’ve done clutch etc ourselves but at that age that’s expected. It rarely fails to start and feeds all silage all winter, agitates slurry etc. I just see that as low cost operating on a small holding, is this rooting ??
Our slurry equipment is old as well, 20+ years, but works year after year for our needs.

Things like having gates hanging, tidying up plastic wraps, decent fencing, no wild cattle, these things are important to us and signs of rooting if your not.

19-01-2021 09:58AM

Dunedin wrote: »

I’m only following the poster earlier that said he’s probably spending €1500 on repairs.

€1500 is hardly TLC.........

.......... did you miss the bit where it's likely there's zero depreciation?

19-01-2021 10:08AM

_Brian wrote: »

Things like having gates hanging, tidying up plastic wraps, decent fencing, no wild cattle, these things are important to us and signs of rooting if your not.

Id say some of your examples there line up with what I was saying on resources

fencing / tidying up plastic / having gates hanging = time / help

wild cattle = reliable animals

19-01-2021 10:10AM

Augeo wrote: »

.......... did you miss the bit where it's likely there's zero depreciation?

Tractors don't deprecate much over time compared to cars

Buy a car for 10 k and a tractor for 10 k, after 2 years the tractor is probably wort 9 k and the car is probably worth 5 k

19-01-2021 10:13AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Tractors don't deprecate much over time compared to cars

Buy a car for 10 k and a tractor for 10 k, after 2 years the tractor is probably wort 9 k and the car is probably worth 5 k

I know.
I'd just not be reckoning a lad in his 70s throwing a guesstimated €1500/annum keeping a tractor going is too far out of the way. Why splash out on an upgrade at that stage in your life if you're quite happy with the thing you have?
A €10k tractor could give trouble also.

Plenty fancy tractors out there with folk struggling to pay for them.

19-01-2021 10:19AM

Augeo wrote: »

I know.
I'd just not be reckoning a lad in his 70s throwing a guesstimated €1500/annum keeping a tractor going is too far out of the way. Why splash out on an upgrade at that stage in your life if you're quite happy with the thing you have?
A €10k tractor could give trouble also.

Plenty fancy tractors out there with folk struggling to pay for them.

To me a fancy tractor is more tractor than I need

1500 a year sounds like a lot on maintenance but I guess it all adds up, maybe that includes fuel and insurance etc?

19-01-2021 10:29AM

Deleted User wrote: »

To me a fancy tractor is more tractor than I need

............

I would agree, I would guess the chap doesn't need anything more than the ole yoke he has.

whisky_galore · 19-01-2021 10:13PM

Finty Lemon wrote: »

Old kit is not a sign of rooting, quite the opposite in many cases. Nothing better than an old classic running like a clock.
Broken up machinery on the other hand...

Lads with places full of scrap on public display, then complaining about all the visits from "any oul scrap dere bass" types.

whisky_galore · 19-01-2021 10:24PM

Oul lad with a car battered from ramming the gate open as he was too lazy to get out and open it.

Another pair who killed both cow and calf by pulling the calf with the tractor.

Usually owner of a demented dog permanently chained in a shed for his natural life.

Household rubbish gets fcuked in a big hape in the ditch.

One, or more, cars with trees growing up through them, won't sell or scrap.

Cut down wellies used as shoes.

minerleague · 19-01-2021 10:24PM

Cerveza wrote: »

I was in the local hardware today and your typical rooter landed. 01 cruiser with cow box on. Neither the cruiser, box or the driver had a wash in over 10 years. A dog riding shotgun with him. No lights on the box working, engine sounded good as he left it ticking over while he went about his business.

01 jeep ticking over nicely - well maintained so - hardly a rooter
stop start driving bad for diesel engines - see above
brings the dog with him - better than the poor designer breeds locked up in tiny suburban gardens with an x marks the spot to do their business

20-01-2021 12:19AM

If its a suckler rooter then cows calving every month

Another rooter trait might be cattle/sheep breaking out and grazing the long acre

Cerveza · 20-01-2021 12:24AM

minerleague wrote: »

01 jeep ticking over nicely - well maintained so - hardly a rooter
stop start driving bad for diesel engines - see above
brings the dog with him - better than the poor designer breeds locked up in tiny suburban gardens with an x marks the spot to do their business

A landcruiser is not a jeep, the most abused landcruiser of that era had engines that just went on and on. A dog who has wrecked the interior yea that’s not a router.

Dinzee Conlee · 20-01-2021 12:58AM

I wish I had a 01 land cruiser...

Fcuk it - I don’t even have a dog to wreck the interior...

And with the way prices of both land cruisers and dogs are going, I won’t be getting either anytime soon...

That man ye speak of - he has it all... fair play to him...

Birdnuts · 20-01-2021 01:59AM

The classic Rooter keeps his poultry in scrap cars - my Dads cousins in Tipp spring to mind;)

PS: also operate a number of "cabless" old rusting JCB's for jobs around the farm:D

davidk1394 · 20-01-2021 09:28AM

Swaps the one good battery between the different machines in the yard.
Vince grips fixes everything
A window broke in at least one machine
Uses baling twine to hold up their trousers
Slurry and dung is full of netting, twine and pallets and has no idea how it got there.

Stihl waters · 20-01-2021 09:45AM

A load of concrete will stretch twice what it would do for anyone else

_Brian · 20-01-2021 11:46AM

Birdnuts wrote: »

The classic Rooter keeps his poultry in scrap cars - my Dads cousins in Tipp spring to mind;)

PS: also operate a number of "cabless" old rusting JCB's for jobs around the farm:D

Must be careful. Find myself looking at old diggers wondering how useful it would be.

foxy farmer · 20-01-2021 11:50AM

Stihl waters wrote: »

A load of concrete will stretch twice what it would do for anyone else

Or the other extreme - never orders enough and you have to mix a metre to finish the job.

20-01-2021 12:20PM

He'd keep a 5 gallon drum of burnt oil for medical emergencies

minerleague · 20-01-2021 12:38PM

Cerveza wrote: »

A landcruiser is not a jeep, the most abused landcruiser of that era had engines that just went on and on. A dog who has wrecked the interior yea that’s not a router.

whist my 3 mutts will be upset if they cant come with me, interior is fine ( liner ) whats he going to do trade it in for a few 100 more? call everything a jeep or a digger ( or hoover ! ) Yopur ould boy is happy out ( prob has the price of a new Jeep and/or tractor in the back pocket anyway

Sacrolyte · 20-01-2021 02:21PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He'd keep a 5 gallon drum of burnt oil for medical emergencies

He uses it for the ring worm.

the_pen_turner · 20-01-2021 02:28PM

No spanner or socket set has all its bits. The latches or hindges are broken the box and has to opened or closed in a special way to stop dropping everything.

There are more tools on the ground than in the tool box or bench

laoch na mona · 20-01-2021 04:07PM

whisky_galore wrote: »

Household rubbish gets fcuked in a big hape in the ditch.

This one boils my piss a lad near has his own personal dump, everything from dead calves to old fridges goes in a hole in the back field.

Never heard the term rooter though, we'd always call them raw lads

Oops! · 20-01-2021 07:43PM

laoch na mona wrote: »

This one boils my piss a lad near has his own personal dump, everything from dead calves to old fridges goes in a hole in the back field.

Never heard the term rooter though, we'd always call them raw lads

Or just dog rough!

whisky_galore · 20-01-2021 08:37PM

the_pen_turner wrote: »

No spanner or socket set has all its bits. The latches or hindges are broken the box and has to opened or closed in a special way to stop dropping everything.

To be fair, even with the most careful, at least a few get rounded, break or get lost. It would be a genuine achievement if you actually had a full set for years unless you never used them.

the_pen_turner wrote: »

There are more tools on the ground than in the tool box or bench

That's more like it.

Signs you are dealing with a 'Rooter'

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