Combine harvesters that don't fit down the road?

[Sooty20235]

Have never seen this before in 29 years of rural living but this year a lot of the farm machinery does not seem to fit through the villages if cars are parked on the road (which is very common). People have been asked to remove cars and even fencing on their front garden as they come through. I've seen one farmer making sarcastic comments on village Facebook groups about not being allowed over someone's front lawn. Did farm machinery get bigger or have I just been really unobservant over the last few years?

I completely understand farmers need to do their job for all of us but should we really be using machinery that is so big it doesn't fit on the roads they need to use?!

I used to live somewhere where roads had to be closed for large vehicles occasionally but it was always with advance notice and they never drove them on people's front gardens.

Nope they have got bigger. Its a pain in the arse. And my husband agrees. He is a tractor driver who does combining at this time of the year.

Fair enough to ask for parked vehicles to move but not to drive over people's land. Would they be asking for a bridge or a house to be demolished?

Totally agree that they’ve got bigger . We have started varying our usual route to our pony as eventually I’m just going to end up mashed by machinery , this year is the worst it’s ever been

Interesting, maybe there is a new type they are using. It seems mad to me that they would be used if they are so inconvenient for the farmers to drive.

Very strange attitude from the farmer who thinks she is entitled to drive over somebody's lawn.

We had a massive one through the village the other day just as we were coming back from a dog walk so I was able to move my car but if they were an hour earlier I don't understand what they would have done?!

I certainly haven't seen any difference in size around here. But what I will tell you is that this year, farmers and contractors are under enormous pressure to get things done because the weather has been absolutely bonkers. Drought early on where everything was dying and then 2 months of rain and then this past week, it's finally stopped raining, so like a month's worth of work to get done before the rains come again today. I think people are stressed and sleep deprived and overworked and worrying about how they'll make it through the winter if things keep going like this. So I suspect that might make them extra twitchy.

It does depress me thinking how much is invested in these huge new machines and how much the banks must be making out of the finance deals. Of course to get the most from the investment, trees hedges and footpaths are likely to be a nuisance too. The economics of it all seems a bit machine-driven somehow.

But as for driving over front gardens --

Tractors and other farm machinery has got a lot bigger and heavier in the past 20 years or so. Not only do they struggle to fit down some roadds, they cause a lot more damage to the roads due to the hugely increased weight.

I guess it is progress. Bigger machinery is more efficient.

I have definitely seen more farm equipment needing to be preceded by an escort vehicle recently - some stuff really is huge! Tractors and combines are a common sight on local roads at this time of year but the massive ones do stand out. A tractor I wouldn’t even notice tbh.

Driving over front gardens

Time for some cctv

Much bigger tractors round here. Lots of reversing down the lanes so they can pass.

Rude and unreasonable to expect to drive over someone’s front garden, definitely.
Yes machinery is getting bigger, it has to, yields are higher, fields are bigger, pressure is higher. Farmers really have never had it so tough and so efficiency has to be optimised as much as possible. This year has been particularly catchy and frankly appalling for arable farmers. They’re not having fun either, trust me! We run two combines, and moving them is always a bloody palaver not least because no one respects the combines or the escort vehicle and seems to think we’re just there for the shits and giggles of slowing them down

I might be wrong but a vehicle that doesn’t fit on in it’s lane on a two way road needs a police escort or some sort of warning to other vehicles. On a one car wide road you still have to fit on it. You can’t drive over someone else’s land. You’d need a video of said vehicle driving on your land and then you could go to the police with evidence.

True, it's been a horrible year weather wise and things can be said on Facebook that maybe wouldn't be said under less stress. But expecting people to move the fence on their front garden and then moan about it on Facebook seems bonkers. I think I know where they mean and its only grass, not flowers, but still!

Up to 3m, you don’t need anything in the way of an escort. You can apply for exemption for up to 4.3m which means you can escort your own machinery (although not with the tractor pulling the header)

I've got a brand new combine harvester..............................

I blame Clarkson

But facilitating to the point they need to drive over your garden?

I've got no problem moving my car if I'm around but what happens if the person with the car (legally parked) on the road isn't around?

Did you want any food in the supermarkets?

Bigger fields, bigger machines help make farming more economical apparently.

Some machinery can be folded in to fit the road better, but I've heard that with this bad weather and trying to get between fields and continuing harvesting quickly, sometimes they make short journeys unfolded to save time.

Its all well and good saying that bigger fields and bigger yields mean bigger machinery but the roads don't suddenly get bigger, do they?

I have every sympathy for farmers, they’re knackered and it has been a difficult year for them, this one may have become a little belligerent. Yes machinery has got bigger, I see a few around here.

I cannot see how they'll manage to cope this year. And the knock on effects for prices in the UK aren't going to be fun.

We live in Normandy and we got the harvest in early in July. Earlier than usual and before the awful weather. By god we were lucky.

When we came to the UK In August we were really struck by the fact that in the three farming regions we went to not only was it still in the fields but it looked absolutely awful. New wheat growing through this years crop where the seed had dropped and grown.

Well only following what has happened with cars. Where infrastructure such as car parks is not designed for SUVs.

At least farm machinery has a valid use.

I guess if the fence was the only obstacle that prevented a bit of overhang and would have allowed the machine through otherwise, perhaps it looked reasonable to the farmer.

She must have felt pretty sure of her ground to fuss on FB otherwise.

Barmy.