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Hunting Its a sorry state of affairs..

Engraver

Engraver

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The farmer on my biggest permission passed away at christmas so thats all been left to stubble until the sons sell the farm, was out last night only saw 2 mice (both copped a .20) which I left for the barnowl I spent most of the night watching.

So Ive just been up to my second biggest perm to see if they had any rats, and the farmer has just told me they are not putting any crops in this year its all grass seeded they are in the process of selling all the dairy cows, he said they have just had enough of farming completely done with the lot of it, These two brothers have farmed all there lives thats all they have ever done bloody hard workers too and keep the farm immaculate, so I said to him what are you going to do then, and he just looked at the floor took a big sigh and said "I have no idea", I could see the anguish in his eyes, not looking good for farming in this country is it!

He said I can continue to shoot the ferals in the yard until the farm is sold, think Ill bob back down later, may as well whilst I can.
 
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Very sad to see farmers packing in.
Same with one of the farms i control ferels on sold his entire dairy herd & moved over to sheep and bull beef.
Thankfully he's bought a farm nr Hexam as its more suited as a sheep farm.
My daughter was hoping to get a farming apprenticeship through them this next august but has had to look elsewhere now that he's moving away.
 
In over 20 years Ive never witnessed a spring time with as few crops being planted, theres 4 fields in all my permissions that have wheat in, rest is stubble grass or what we call birdseed which just looks like 5 foot of weeds, not good is it mate, i know politics is not welcome on the forum but yeah think we all know whos to blame for the state of british farming, enough said about that.

There will be some cheap quality machinery available this year thats for sure.
 
Sorry to hear the plight of U.K. farmers - it's not an esoteric problem...
re: the second fellas, a fair measure of ( non corporate) farmers here are augmenting things by " agri- tourism". They keep their small operations supplemented by adding accomodations for " city folks" to have a country stay on a working farm, get an understanding of the workings by a farmer acting as a docent, B&B accomodations, meals, petting zoos & classes on things related to farming life...an escape from urbania for a relaxing weekend & a minor education too. May be worth a mention to both your perm holders ? The vineyard down the end of my road does quite well it seems, doing this...he installed rooming via / built with shipping containers finished out inside , complete w/ kitchenettes & wood decks/ pergolas - as a mini hotel room block in the vineyard...stays busy.
 
The UK will get to a point where it needs food, raw materials, power, and anything else that makes a civilised society work, from overseas.
I'll save my usual diatribe about why, let's pretend to be TV watchers, who believe the government are working in our best interest, and that the problems are caused by climate change.
 
Given how our Government works , diversifying is not as easy here as it it is in other places, for example a petty zoo would no doubt change from farming to commercial/leisure which could see the farmer losing money plus lots of paperwork to get it started .

We nearly had to have planning permission to even set up a target in a farmers field here until we got it stopped.

You would need it for a petting zoo plus all the other regulations .


My father in law got out of farming in 1985 as things changed for the worst then and its getting worse now .
 
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Bighit said:
Given how our Government works , diversifying is not as easy here as it it is in other places for example a petty zoo would no doubt change from farming to a commercial/leisure which could see the farmer losing money .


My father in law got out of farming in 1985 as things changed for the worst then and its getting worse now .
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One gets the govt. one votes for - a reality of democracy is reaping the bounty, good or bad, of the seeds sown.
 
I think a lot of people had rose coloured glasses in relation to farmers, ok some did quite well but others struggled,I remember with great sadness a permission in Essex, I really lovely guy always took time to speak to me,I was 18 years old so learning and using a shotgun, used to go on a Sunday the only day off for me,pitched up at the farm early morning, to be told by the farmers son that he had hung himself in the very barn I was standing near,I was speechless 😶
Another farmer lost his way Mitch21
 
Bighit said:
Given how our Government works , diversifying is not as easy here as it it is in other places, for example a petty zoo would no doubt change from farming to commercial/leisure which could see the farmer losing money plus lots of paperwork to get it started .

We nearly had to have planning permission to even set up a target in a farmers field here until we got it stopped.

You would need it for a petting zoo plus all the other regulations .


My father in law got out of farming in 1985 as things changed for the worst then and its getting worse now .
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Cotswold cc fight farmers tooth and nail when they try to do anything different. Buttholes.
 
mitch21 said:
I think a lot of people had rose coloured glasses in relation to farmers, ok some did quite well but others struggled,I remember with great sadness a permission in Essex, I really lovely guy always took time to speak to me,I was 18 years old so learning and using a shotgun, used to go on a Sunday the only day off for me,pitched up at the farm early morning, to be told by the farmers son that he had hung himself in the very barn I was standing near,I was speechless 😶
Another farmer lost his way Mitch21
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We have lost a few up this way due to the changes in farming and many see it as the only way out but it leaves the family left behind to pick up the pieces

We have a local farmer here who did a lot for mental health in farming . He took over his parents farm when his dad died when he was 22 and it affected his mental health , He is still farming and helping others .

A lot of farms are renting the land to companies installing Wind Turbines to bring in money .

A farm my old boss rented land on for a syndicate did it , When the father died, the sons split the farm and one who got the land my old boss was renting decided to put turbines in . That then meant my old boss lost the syndicate land . He had been renting the land for 20+ years and the Father who owned the farms said he would have the land even when he was gone but it did not work out that way .

I’m not sure if he got any other land to shoot over as I left the company not long after.
 
mitch21 said:
I think a lot of people had rose coloured glasses in relation to farmers, ok some did quite well but others struggled,I remember with great sadness a permission in Essex, I really lovely guy always took time to speak to me,I was 18 years old so learning and using a shotgun, used to go on a Sunday the only day off for me,pitched up at the farm early morning, to be told by the farmers son that he had hung himself in the very barn I was standing near,I was speechless 😶
Another farmer lost his way Mitch21
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Same thing happened on one of my other permissions when inherritance tax for farmers was proposed he hung himself in the barn thinking he was doing the right thing for his son, for labour to then do the U turn.

He was also a lovely bloke he was a dead ringer of the actor who played gandolf in lord of the rings, he gave me my first ever shooting permission and signed my shotgun licence.
 
Lichfield/Shenstone used to be just fields and when I was a youngster we used to spend many a summers holiday helping the local farmer with the bailing. It's in a sorry state now, the amount of housing estates and retirement homes now being built on the land as well as all the complusary purchase for HS2 going through it. I don't understand it as when you look at all the history they must be digging up and through - Wall which is pretty much next to all this work was a Roman military staging post I just don't understand how they can do it. A38 from Lichfield to Burton on Trent is now just full off huge ugly logistic warehouses.
 
Engraver said:
Same thing happened on one of my other permissions when inherritance tax for farmers was proposed he hung himself in the barn thinking he was doing the right thing for his son, for labour to then do the U turn.

He was also a lovely bloke he was a dead ringer of the actor who played gandolf in lord of the rings, he gave me my first ever shooting permission and signed my shotgun licence.
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I figured they'd expect that, part and parcel of selling the country to corporate, a "sacrifice they were willing to make".

I'm not sure what motivated a land owner I know, to sell 40 acres of orchards, but that was about the same time.
 
Bighit said:
One farm near one of my permissions was sold for housing.

Up here a lot of farm land has been sold for housing.
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Yes alot of land is being sold off for housing. One of the local farmers said he will have to reduce his livestock. This he explained was because he can no longer rent the fields he once used for grazing because they've built on them. There is only so much land to go around!
 
Hello, This Labour Government will decimate the Farming Community and families, In 2024 47 involved in Farming and Farmers took their own lives, And it is only going to get worse, hence Farms for sale, Dairy Cattle, and milk quotas
 
varta330 said:
Yes alot of land is being sold off for housing. One of the local farmers said he will have to reduce his livestock. This he explained was because he can no longer rent the fields he once used for grazing because they've built on them. There is only so much land to go around!
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The one near my permission was all 4and 5 bedroom houses and none of them got built as the Oil and Gas downturn happened and no one even put down a deposit. They sold some of the fields to farms nearby but the farm house and barns were demolished and no houses built . its just waste ground at the moment .
 
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