the daydream fund challenge thread

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

Agree, it's important to keep a fairly hard heart, especially if you have quite a few birds. By the law of averages, some aren't going to make it. Then, if you breed there's the matter of the 'boys!'

Still smarting today after almost picking up a two wheeled tractor at farm auction yesterday. As the auctioneers had mis-described it, I thought I was in with a chance of a bargain.

The bidding stopped,and it looked like it was mine, but then 'Grandad,' who owned it, appeared & shouted that he'd start it up. That revealed the fact that it was a diesel (someone here had done his homework & knew that!) and two more bidders came in at that point. Between them, they pushed the price up to double what it had been. I was out of my comfort zone by then.

I'll definitely get one though.....one day.

last year in one of local farm auctions, i nearly bid on a tractor:rotfl:
hubby would love one, but as he said, it would be parked outside the house and only used to drive up and down the little bit of waste ground outside our house...lol... it went for around the £900 mark, then this year the person who bought the goldwing and bits off us, we found out he bought it, and just done a serivce on it, and sold it for £1600. This tractor was a ford something or other...:rotfl:

what was the one you were bidding on? i bet you were gutted that the other two bidders started bidding.

dont rule out ebay for tractors....If you are in no rush, the right one will come along, at the right price... just keep your ear to the ground, and tell people you are looking for a tractor, it will be suprising who has got what in their farm yard,

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

what was the one you were bidding on? i bet you were gutted that the other two bidders started bidding.

dont rule out ebay for tractors....If you are in no rush, the right one will come along, at the right price... just keep your ear to the ground, and tell people you are looking for a tractor, it will be suprising who has got what in their farm yard,

Ah, but it's a two wheeled tractor I want, not your ride-on variety. They are as rare as chicken's teeth around here, which is why the auctioneers described it as a rotovator!

Two wheelers, like Goldinis and Grillos, are very versatile and used a lot on the continent, but people here are only just waking up to them. This one was a Goldini. You can run all kinds of stuff like mowers, ploughs, trailers, and even hedge cutters from them.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

Ah, but it's a two wheeled tractor I want, not your ride-on variety. They are as rare as chicken's teeth around here, which is why the auctioneers described it as a rotovator!

Two wheelers, like Goldinis and Grillos, are very versatile and used a lot on the continent, but people here are only just waking up to them. This one was a Goldini. You can run all kinds of stuff like mowers, ploughs, trailers, and even hedge cutters from them.

ah right gotcha.

will keep my ear to the ground, I will google to see what they look like...

dont mind me being nosey:D but how much did it go for? pm me if you if dont want to say on the thread.

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

dont mind me being nosey:D but how much did it go for? pm me if you if dont want to say on the thread.

£600. It wasn't the latest model, which looks like this:

but it had been well cared-for.

Considering a new one is about £3500, it was still a bargain, I think. Then there are the attachments...... :eek:
The problem is, we're running out of money for 'stuff.' We took delivery of the polytunnel a little while ago, and we had a huge pile of fence posts etc arrive this morning, so we have to leave some dosh for the sheep wire, and for the guys who are putting it in. We will be OK once we sell our old nursery site, but that could be 6 months away yet.

I have just got back from spraying docks and thistles, probably one of the most mind-numbing jobs there are! I know some of the organic folk won't like that, but I'm doing it in the most environmentally-friendly way I can, selectively, rather than paying someone to charge around on an ATV, blitzing everything in sight. I want to keep the wild flowers we have, (not many!) and I'm ignoring stuff sheep can eat, like dandelions. Once the fences are in and the sheep are doing their stuff, I doubt it will be necessary.

Not much ragwort on the land now, but we have a neighbour who doesn't farm and he has loads. :mad:

Oh, ought to mention that we took our plants along to the town's Old Fayre yesterday and took £200. Not bad, considering we are still just getting going, but it was mainly for PR anyway.

choille

Hi All - Not been on much as I seem to have been busy with orphan lambs we got given. Sorry to hear of chicken & ferret passings.

We are still living in the caravan but house build progresses slow as we scrape together enough money to get another order of wood delivered - the stuff gets dearer by the month.

I've stopped smoking since feb so that's good but I don't seem to feel any richer. We are eating a fair bit of home grown veg & I made a load of gooseberry jam last week but the strawbs & blackcurrants seem a bit of a disaster this year.

We have a deer that has somehow gotten into our croft & it's been coming up & gnawing our tattie shaws & eating away at the apple & other trees up near the house site - grrrrr. I've spent a fortune on deer fencing but I think it's getting in next door & coming over that fence - he would love us to deer fence that for him but we haven't - grrrr sore point.

Have put in an application to put a woodland on the hill but don't know if I will get permission. I'm not too bothered as it will be a load of work that I could do without but will just wait & see.

Hope everyone is well & getting a better Summer than us - t'is so wet & midgy & have never seen so many clegs (horse flies) about - grrrr.

Loads of Grrrrrs from me just now.
All the best to all.

rhiwfield

Choille, remember the deer at my old house (1970s) near Saffron Walden, must have been about 30 of them. Despite putting up a 6' bullwire fence round the plot they either jumped it or managed to barge through weak spots.

I'd planted about 40 fruit trees and went out each morning to find them grazed to death. Or maybe not. Drove past a few years ago and saw an orchard where the trees had been planted. Chuffed to bits even though I never reaped the benefits!

choille

Hi rhiwfield,

deer are a pest. I've spent an absolute fortune on fencing too.

Great that you started an orchard.

Davesnave

Hello choile, I was wondering how you are getting on! Sympathise about the midges. Don't get many here, but plenty of other nasties, including horse flies. :mad:

Wood is certainly a heck of a price, and going up all the time. I had a quote half way through July for fencing, and by the time I submitted the order it had gone up, though they honoured the quote. Had it delivered yesterday, followed by a complaint from the barn conversions about the lorry turning round in their yard. That gave me the chance to point out that the trees were so low in the other turning area, even my van won't go under them any more.:o .They'll be having them cut!

Harvested my first sweet peppers, but disappointed that they taste just like the ones from the supermarket! The chillies may be better. Suddenly, there is a glut of everything, except lettuce, because the chickens are munching through all those that have gone past their best and I can't keep up.

I'm fixing the gate to the orchard today, after which the older chickens can go loose in there. They won't believe their luck!:)

On the subject of orchards, ours is really showing the benefits of the pruning we did back in February. We also moved two trees with a digger and they have survived OK. We shall be taking the pears in there to fill up the gaps left by the dead and diseased trees, but that will have to wait till the onset of winter, of course. It must be very satisfying planting an orchard and seeing it come to fruition, rhiwfield. Here, we are just moving existing stuff around.

choille

Hi Dave - we are actually having problems ordering wood - some companies don't have any at the moment - weird to my mind, but we've gone in with a builder we know & he's going to tack our relatively small order onto his so we'll get it cheaper & won't be as gruelling a delivery charge - which is always a major issue here.

The garden has been neglected a bit this year but the lettuces are good.
Blackcurrants seem really sparce & the bushes are starting to look a bit lime green - hardly any fruit on them - don't know what the problem is.
The black gooseberries have been incredibly abundant & I've made loads of jam with most of them.
The sheep cost me a fortune over the Winter & I'm having a big think about those - I don't think I'm shep farmer material as I do like them too much. I'm going to really cut down the flock - eeeeekkkk.
Still the freezer will be full!!!

Lotus-eater

What black gooseberry is that choille?

Never heard of one of those before.