Upset the farmer who owns the feild behind my house....
Discussion
Bit of a faux par on my part.
Moved in 10 days ago or so and the end of the garden was a bit of a mess of an old rockery/planting beds with about 7/8 smallish trees creating a boundary between us and the adjoining farmers field which appears to be a corn crop.
Many of the houses in this street have very low (or no) fences out onto this feild in order to extend the view from the garden, which is very pleasant.
So I was out walking the dog last Friday morning and had seen a chap doing a job down the way using a 20ton 360deg excavator (they are building a recreation feild thing) so I asked him if he'd mind pulling out all my trees etc. He did this for £50 which I thought was barganous as it's saved me a weekend of hard graft. Conveniently there was already a 2 wheel track running the full length of the feild right outside my garden so assumed the chap would trundle up that, rip out the trees and trundle back again.
He did that but seems to have screwed round his machine and damaged a small area of the corn crop. You can kinda see what I mean thus...
In the context of the feild it's sod all really, the feild is HUUUGGE.
Anyway, I get a knock on the door and Farmers son, a bit agitated asks me "who's gonna pay for the damaged crops?". All I could do really was be as polite as possible and apologise. I told him I was prepared to compensate him for any damage as long as it seemed reasonable.
He then went off saying he'd ask his dad to reckon it up and send me a bill.
So, I admit I was a bit off arranging a 20ton digger to drive down his feild, without permission and will be happy to pay him something but I'm curious as to how much an area of corn crop this small is worth.
You live and learn.
Moved in 10 days ago or so and the end of the garden was a bit of a mess of an old rockery/planting beds with about 7/8 smallish trees creating a boundary between us and the adjoining farmers field which appears to be a corn crop.
Many of the houses in this street have very low (or no) fences out onto this feild in order to extend the view from the garden, which is very pleasant.
So I was out walking the dog last Friday morning and had seen a chap doing a job down the way using a 20ton 360deg excavator (they are building a recreation feild thing) so I asked him if he'd mind pulling out all my trees etc. He did this for £50 which I thought was barganous as it's saved me a weekend of hard graft. Conveniently there was already a 2 wheel track running the full length of the feild right outside my garden so assumed the chap would trundle up that, rip out the trees and trundle back again.
He did that but seems to have screwed round his machine and damaged a small area of the corn crop. You can kinda see what I mean thus...
In the context of the feild it's sod all really, the feild is HUUUGGE.
Anyway, I get a knock on the door and Farmers son, a bit agitated asks me "who's gonna pay for the damaged crops?". All I could do really was be as polite as possible and apologise. I told him I was prepared to compensate him for any damage as long as it seemed reasonable.
He then went off saying he'd ask his dad to reckon it up and send me a bill.
So, I admit I was a bit off arranging a 20ton digger to drive down his feild, without permission and will be happy to pay him something but I'm curious as to how much an area of corn crop this small is worth.
You live and learn.
dave_s13 said:
Townie type destruction not 'ppreciatin coun'ry ways.
What are the dimensions of the damage? I've a few famers drink at my pub who'd know an approx. cost. I'll ask them if you like.Also, where is the land? This may make a difference to the value (though I wouldn't have thought so).
Edited by Landlord on Thursday 13th May 13:05
From the looks of that, you've driven a 20 ton excavator down a tramline in a field (use by tractors with a low ground pressure whilst spraying crops) it's not a track to be driven down., buggering a lot of crops and causing some serious compaction, the overall cost of that wont be cheap.
The price of the crop wont be great but it's the compaction that will cause problems.
Average yield for wheat is 8.2t/ha (for the east of england), a ha is 10,000m2 as for the price he'll be paid for it there's no easy way of knowing, you could look it up but he might have a contract signed at a better price.
Barley is nearer 6t/ha
Average yield for wheat is 8.2t/ha (for the east of england), a ha is 10,000m2 as for the price he'll be paid for it there's no easy way of knowing, you could look it up but he might have a contract signed at a better price.
Barley is nearer 6t/ha
Silent1 said:
From the looks of that, you've driven a 20 ton excavator down a tramline in a field (use by tractors with a low ground pressure whilst spraying crops) it's not a track to be driven down., buggering a lot of crops and causing some serious compaction, the overall cost of that wont be cheap.
How on earth can you tell that from just 1 photo that doesn't show the track at all?bonsai said:
Silent1 said:
From the looks of that, you've driven a 20 ton excavator down a tramline in a field (use by tractors with a low ground pressure whilst spraying crops) it's not a track to be driven down., buggering a lot of crops and causing some serious compaction, the overall cost of that wont be cheap.
How on earth can you tell that from just 1 photo that doesn't show the track at all?ETA: the OP says that.
Edited by CommanderJameson on Thursday 13th May 13:47
bonsai said:
Silent1 said:
From the looks of that, you've driven a 20 ton excavator down a tramline in a field (use by tractors with a low ground pressure whilst spraying crops) it's not a track to be driven down., buggering a lot of crops and causing some serious compaction, the overall cost of that wont be cheap.
How on earth can you tell that from just 1 photo that doesn't show the track at all?Not that i have any connection to farming, no siree.
The track lines down the back of the houses are 2 clearly demarcated lines wide enough for a big tractor and the tracks themselves didn't have anything useful growing in them before the excavator went down them. Oh and the excavator only travelled about 40m down the track, and back.
Maybe I need to start palming this off on to the digger driver!
Maybe I need to start palming this off on to the digger driver!
Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 13th May 14:03
dave_s13 said:
The track lines down the back of the houses are 2 clearly demarcated lines wide enough for a big tractor and the tracks themselves didn't have anything useful growing in them before the excavator went down them. Oh and the excavator only travelled about 40m down the track, and back.
Maybe I need to start palming this off on to the digger driver!
They're not used as a track though, crop isn't grown in them but the tractors that drive down them exert a very low ground pressure so the crops around it aren't affected, a 20 ton excavator doesn't have quite the same approach to ground pressure. For instance, the tractor above could run over your foot and not break it despite weighing ~25 tons.Maybe I need to start palming this off on to the digger driver!
Edited by dave_s13 on Thursday 13th May 14:03
The tracks are tramlines. These are put in by the seeding drill. Blanking off plates activated by solenoids close off the seed tubes so no seed is sown and this is what produces the tramline. They are precisely placed for the correct axle width of the sprayer, and the correct intervals down the field for the spray boom width. This is so that 1. No part of the field is double dosed with crop protection product, and 2 virtually no growing crop is compacted by spraying or spreading machinery.
If the 20 tonne tracked excavator has the same axle widths as the tractors then I cant see a problem, but if not the compaction caused will delay ripening of the affected areas of crop. This means wet grain in the combine, or potentially the contamination of a whole grainstore. HTH.
Personally I'd offer to but the farmer 10 litres of glyphosate so he can burn off the whole area around the effected tramline 10 days before harvest.
If the 20 tonne tracked excavator has the same axle widths as the tractors then I cant see a problem, but if not the compaction caused will delay ripening of the affected areas of crop. This means wet grain in the combine, or potentially the contamination of a whole grainstore. HTH.
Personally I'd offer to but the farmer 10 litres of glyphosate so he can burn off the whole area around the effected tramline 10 days before harvest.
bonsai said:
How on earth can you tell that from just 1 photo that doesn't show the track at all?
Because he said this:dave_s13 said:
Conveniently there was already a 2 wheel track running the full length of the feild right outside my garden so assumed the chap would trundle up that, rip out the trees and trundle back again.
They will miffed you didn't ask permission to drive down their field. If you had asked, they would likely have explained why they don't want a heavy machine driving down the side of their field, and you may have reached a compromise - i.e. they might have done the works for you or suggested an alternative.Why don't people talk to neighbours anymore?
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