sign of the times

[jac]

The agricultural college at Ayr… Auchincruive and the Hannah Institute are to close and move to an in town campus.. with no land 😮 how can you have an ag college with no land ??? . The land for these places were gifted to the people of Ayrshire for “Agricultural purposes”.. It is now to be developed into a housing estate of the upper class kind of place..immitation farm house type of places with big kitchens and beams glued to the ceiling..and inhabitited by folk who complain when a combine works past 8 at night and the “smell” of the country. How the hell they managed to translate “agricultural purposes” into “houses for wealthy people” beats me:mad:.. However… perhaps the agricultural community has brought this on itself.. for years farmers have been telling sons and daughters to find a career in anything but farming !! now the student numbers have fallen to an all time low and the men in suits have siezed the chance for short term gain and long term loss. There is a collection of rare trees that have been built up over the last 70 years for example, that they assure us the “bulldozers will stay away from”.. how far??? 10ft and these guys think they are doing us a favour.. blood pressure rising.. going to put the new pole on my mower….
John

[Tim Harrigan]

John, do you still have Ayrshire cattle up there?

[Marshall]

John, the more you tell of the way things are in Scotland the more it sound like the way things are in the US. Get big or get out. Get an off farm job because you can’t make a living farming. Land prices are so high now that if you wern’t rich to start with you can’t afford it. Any more if you wern’t born into a farm family there is no feasible way to get started. So much for the little guy needing to go to ag school.

[jac]

Hi Tim … yes there are still a few Ayrshire herds here, tho the cow is a lot bigger than they used to be but still have the grass conversion talent. The Fresian is gone pretty much totally.. not even a class at county shows for them,the Holstien rules, in fact my own local show doesnt have a dairy class anymore !!..

I think you’re right Marshall. Europe still has the small family farm mentality, tho even rural France is changing. I dont know what the answer is. As you say the price of land is jacked up to stupid levels by folk wanting a few acres for a pony or a quad bike to play on…
John

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