Is a combine necessary?

17 years ago

Hi there,

Found this site through a google search about hay and thought the discussion I found was so interesting I would join.

My parents have just bought themselves 21 acres of sloped land in Wales, United Kingdom. The plan is for my husband and I to join them and grow food to feed ourselves, and have a few animals (sheep, chickens, goat), we are not doing this to earn money. My husband and I would like to do things organically as possible and without the use of fuel as much as we can (so by hand!). My dad has just let us see a list of the machinery he wants to buy asap and we were shocked.

He currently has:

a landrover (4x4)

a small family car

a trailer (6ft x 4ft)

a horse box

He wants to get:

a tractor

a jcb style digger

a plough

2 types of harrow

a baler

a combine (a small one)

a tipping trailer

I think this is a waste of money and some of this could be hired as needed if at all. the worst offender I can see on this list is the combine. At most we plan to grow cereals on 1 acre, and hay if we have spare land - but at most 2-3 acres.

My question (and thank you for being patient enough to read all this) is what are your comments on the machinery list - especially the combine? What really is necessary?

Comments (4)

sylviatexas1
17 years ago
sounds like a wish list to me, maybe he's visited a farm machinery dealer!

nothing wrong with a wish list as long as you don't take yourself seriously & go broke...

If you have a Landrover, you don't need a 2nd car, & if you have a "tipping trailer", why would you need a "trailer"?

& if a horse box is the same as a horse trailer, I my own self would use the horse box as the only trailer:
unless there's a health or strength problem, you can get by without a tipping trailer, especially on 20 acres.
I've seen people use horse trailers for everything, including moving their children's furniture into dorms.

The only time I see combines & balers here is during harvest, & they're operated by people who contract with many farmers to do their harvests.

Lots of people have tractors, & the plows & harrows are attachments that hook on the back of the tractor.

I'd say:
Stay calm.
Don't shriek.
Discuss in a reasonable, logical, fiscally responsible manner.
Don't act like you find the list alarming-he may have slept on it & realized that he was fantasizing, & confronting him on it would embarrass him & put him in the position of having to defend himself.

Buy your stuff *second-hand*.

*Nobody* buys it new...unless they've been farming for generations & they have money in the bank that they *know* they'll never need.

Hide the checkbook.

Best luck:
I bet you'll love living on a big parcel of land.
sylviatexas1
17 years ago
...that you might also post on the Farm Life Forum & maybe the Permaculture Forum.
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terran
17 years ago
Hi Boristfrog,

Before I'd buy machinery, I'd buy books or do considerable reading on the web. How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons is where I had the opportunity to begin, and I recommend that particular path.

http://www.growbiointensive.org/

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/products.asp?dept=113

http://www.growbiointensive.org/publications_main.html

http://www.growbiointensive.org/grow_test.html

Terran
Heather Scholl_Henninger
17 years ago
A combine would be needed for harvesting wheat, soybeans, corn. For hay, you would need a large mower that cuts it, a rake and tetter to roll it over to dry and then a baler to bale it. A combine is not needed for hay if planting alfalfa. hth:)
Heather