Threshing time again

[fireman 10,987]

Got a phone call late last night after the old suffolk farmer had seen the red sunset and was sure it was a sunny day today to tell us he was threshing the bottom of a stack he had left over from a few weeks ago.We got there at 9ish for a earlyish start and once the old boys had had there natters and put the world right suffolk stylie we got going about 11 ish ,well after taking over with the pitch forks as the other 2 fellas were fecking useless we soon got most of the stack moved and then the fun started.At first as allways with threshing the rats come out in ones and twos and as we get closer to the bottom they start to shift in numbers,well more than once today we had over a dozen rats bolting at the same time and the dogs were going at it left,right and fecking center picking them off.A few did get away but there our breeding stock for next time and to be honest the old farmer don't mind a few rats getting away as there all part and parcel of the countryside,but not to many.Well we were at it for a good few hours and in the end we ended up with a body count of 213 dead rats and we all know we didn't find all the bodies as at times 2 of us were running flat out collecting the rats the dogs were catching,by feck they were chopping and dropping them .Well some pics of the day and a few of the scene of the old school working farm.

feck off it's hot.

the team.

And well worth the sicky i pulled at work to get the day off.

[DottyDoo 500]

[gonetoearth 5,144]

Got a phone call late last night after the old suffolk farmer had seen the red sunset and was sure it was a sunny day today to tell us he was threshing the bottom of a stack he had left over from a few weeks ago.We got there at 9ish for a earlyish start and once the old boys had had there natters and put the world right suffolk stylie we got going about 11 ish ,well after taking over with the pitch forks as the other 2 fellas were fecking useless we soon got most of the stack moved and then the fun started.At first as allways with threshing the rats come out in ones and twos and as we get closer to the bottom they start to shift in numbers,well more than once today we had over a dozen rats bolting at the same time and the dogs were going at it left,right and fecking center picking them off.A few did get away but there our breeding stock for next time and to be honest the old farmer don't mind a few rats getting away as there all part and parcel of the countryside,but not to many.Well we were at it for a good few hours and in the end we ended up with a body count of 213 dead rats and we all know we didn't find all the bodies as at times 2 of us were running flat out collecting the rats the dogs were catching,by feck they were chopping and dropping them .Well some pics of the day and a few of the scene of the old school working farm.

feck off it's hot.

the team.

And well worth the sicky i pulled at work to get the day off.

thanks for sharing class photos i worked on a farm that had all old gear the combine used to drop bags of corn/barley on to the floor and we used to pick them up using a old pikel handel , no silos in them days but great for ratting

[MAIN MAN 277]

Thats real good to see well done!

[foxing machine 144]

good pics mate. looks like you had a great day.

[the loner 11]

nice 1 good pic,s

[longbow 14]

Thanks for sharing, great pics, looks like you had a great day. I heard many tales of threshing from my farming forebears & the sport that went with it. It dont happen like that anymore.

[wirral countryman 2,110]

Nice one Fireman,looks like a scene from heartbeat LOL's,can't believe you're still that far behind in them thar hills far away !!! what happened to technology over there,that farms got to be a one off in this day and age,last time I even seen that sort of gear was in the 60's,very labour intensive for you boys and I bet you were aching afterwards,well worth it though for the final tally of vermin destroyed,nice to see some old style pics and looked a great day out,atb,wirralman

[Scallywag 78]

Looks like the farms of my childhood! What a great day out, I'd give my eye teeth for a go at that!!

[oyama 27]

Looks like the farms of my childhood! What a great day out, I'd give my eye teeth for a go at that!!

serious old school!Good to see my girl still in thick of it.Had to pass her mum on,in fact all my dogs on due to splitting with wife,so dog less mate.Other than borrowing my retired dogs that live with my mum yesterday to do some ratting.

[fireman 10,987]

Looks like the farms of my childhood! What a great day out, I'd give my eye teeth for a go at that!!

serious old school!Good to see my girl still in thick of it.Had to pass her mum on,in fact all my dogs on due to splitting with wife,so dog less mate.Other than borrowing my retired dogs that live with my mum yesterday to do some ratting.

She's a bit quiet today if the truth be told(well they all are ) but she was at the front end of it all yesterday and she got there first on most occasions and didn't flag even though it was hot as a couple of the other terriers were picking their shots by the end of it.As said before mate well happy with her and what she can do for me and she's here if you ever need her for a loan spell or to get a pup from for yourself,pm also sent mate .

Scallywag i pull the kids out of school for it so they can see how it was done and it still amazes me that all corn or barley fields used to be done like this and to have this oppotunity to get in there just has to be taken,Wirrel Countryman that tractors got wheels and thats about as far with technology they go down this way and yes mate i can feel it today as we did graft on that stack once we got hold of the pitchforks ourselves,but needs must and we needed that stack moving to get to the rats.

[Scallywag 78]

Yep - my dad used to take me when I was kid - he'd tuck my trousers into my wellies, give me a big stick and off we'd go! We lived in Suffolk then, tho I'm up north nowadays.

[KawValley 131]

nice pics. I like those old machines! what exactly are the machines doing? nice dogs and good work on those rats too.

[fireman 10,987]

The green tractor which is a 1947 single cylinder Field Marshal and drives the lot by a large belt,the first pic is of the bailer,this is seperate from the thresher itself and it only loosely packs the straw into bails that go for thatching,the red machine the thresher itself threshes the corn and seperates the corn from the stalk and seperates the chaff from the grain also.It can also grade the grain into differet sizes when used for different grains,the thresher used to do the jobs the modern combine does apart from the cutting.The farmer has to thresh his corn this way as like i say it goes for thatching and it's the only way to seperate the grain without ruining the stalk and at around 500 pound a ton he looks after it,he weighs a bail or three then works it out with the thatcher how much they recon the load weighs all proper old school with no short cuts .

[p3d 879]

Got a phone call late last night after the old suffolk farmer had seen the red sunset and was sure it was a sunny day today to tell us he was threshing the bottom of a stack he had left over from a few weeks ago.We got there at 9ish for a earlyish start and once the old boys had had there natters and put the world right suffolk stylie we got going about 11 ish ,well after taking over with the pitch forks as the other 2 fellas were fecking useless we soon got most of the stack moved and then the fun started.At first as allways with threshing the rats come out in ones and twos and as we get closer to the bottom they start to shift in numbers,well more than once today we had over a dozen rats bolting at the same time and the dogs were going at it left,right and fecking center picking them off.A few did get away but there our breeding stock for next time and to be honest the old farmer don't mind a few rats getting away as there all part and parcel of the countryside,but not to many.Well we were at it for a good few hours and in the end we ended up with a body count of 213 dead rats and we all know we didn't find all the bodies as at times 2 of us were running flat out collecting the rats the dogs were catching,by feck they were chopping and dropping them .Well some pics of the day and a few of the scene of the old school working farm.

feck off it's hot.

the team.

And well worth the sicky i pulled at work to get the day off.

 

Great write up and photos. It's like a scene from the "Darling Buds of May"

All you were short was Zeta Jones arriving with some beers and lunch!!.

ATB