Oh. Hello. I didn't know we'd invited another The Archers thread round darling. How nice to see you. Discuss Ambridge here.

[PseudoBadger]

As tribute to the best SL at the moment...

Oh no I clicked on the Ed link and ended up looking at all of the actors' photos. I feel dirty and now need to erase my mind!

The implication of what David was saying was that even poor farmers in a recession could make a living with open air because the overheads are low. No parlour to keep. The cattle don't come in so you spend less on feed and possibly less on vet bills.
So it works for small independent farmers who e.g. might have access to processing and delivery. Whereas the current system works for big farms such as Berrow.

So either its a plot for Ed, or Deevid is going to throw his lot in with Ed, or it is him musing that he would rather be Dan Archer than Berrow. So no robotic parlour. Back to basics. Massive flounce from Pip.

Or maybe it was just historical agricultural fluff

I do think it would be a kindness to us all if Pip and Charlie could be persuaded to run off and breed robots together in Northumberland.

As for Ed - he now has David, Oliver, Joe, ancient milk bottles and the new sinkhole all shaking their heads at his misfortune. There's surely a rescue brewing somewhere amongst them.

It could just be historical agricultural fluff, but unless the dairy is something old listeners might actually remember why bother? The same with the rain - it's not there to make the programme more realistic (like the specially recorded segments when we really are having exceptional weather). That's what makes me think both must be deliberate plot devices (along with Ed's spring drying up and the hole in the track).

Re the open air dairying, there is someone doing that very thing on a farm in Somerset. The farm is rented and the landlord didn't want to invest in a parlour. I'm surprised David hasn't heard about it. (In my head I think David is a real farmer surrounded by actors!)

What on earth does Pip want a £100k tractor for on a dairy unit. Pip you need to keep costs down with the milk price as it is! You can use the tractor you have presumably already got!

There was an item in Countryfile a while ago about two young farmers who have a mobile milking unit that they take to the cows rather than the cows coming in. Is this the sort of thing David is talking about?

Pip is like one of those cartoon characters with pound signs in their eyeballs. I'm a bit suspicious that she was having a month off when they did the business planning module at yewnee, such is her haste to spend every last penny on an area of farming that is not terribly secure.

Truman Archer

Just to be clear, isn't Ed doing the open-air dairy thing already? What he needs is someone to take his milk (ie takeover Mike's business). David is the only person to sound even remotely enthusiastic about doing things the old way - Oliver, Eddie and Joe seemed resigned to the fact he would have to throw in the towel. But even if the Dopeys stay and even with their historical dairy links I just can't see them being the ones to go back to basics - not with Robotic Pip onboard.

What a nice bottle Toldmywrath I wonder what the top was like,have you any idea of its age?

Bluestocking clever song, i love South Pacific! How about the last verse….

Once you go, you'll regret it

And Ambridge won't be the same,

If you go you'll upset us

And SOC will get the blame!

Traitorous,traitorous, traitorous……..

I quite like the prospect of old Dan Archer having been the Pat Mustard of Borsetshire. Although wouldn't have more people remembered him if so...

Quite so Panzee. like the fantastic comment from a poster down thread who said their grandfather had had a milk round and never ceased alluding to it years later.

Where did I hear that 'open air' dairies were the norm in the old days; the milkmaids ands men took their stools and buckets to the cows in the fields then ! Those were the days I say!

Must also add my applause for Bluestocking's lyrics!

Wish they'd get on wth it though. There's too much signposting of drama to come. All this milk bottle detective work is decidedly amateurish storytelling.

And I'm wondering if the lovely, lighthearted birdwatching story will have a twist in the tail ...

Panzee given it was Pat Mustard's red haired spawn that were the giveaway on Craggy Island perhaps if Dan had brown or blonde hair his secret was kept well hidden. They could all be related ...even more so than they already are I mean

That's the one I was talking about gypsy . I don't think Ed's is mobile, its used in the yard and hooked up to a fixed bulk milk tank I imagine. The mobile one I was talking about carries literally everything with it, bulk tank, vacuum pump, generator for electricity, the lot.

It looked excellent dairyfarmerswife. Their herd wasn't terribly big though was it? I wonder whether it only works up to a certain size herd?

Pip's expensive tractor is making David feel even more nostalgic for the farming practices of his Grandfather. It would be interesting if we were to see a revival of pre-war farming practices alongside the high-tech Berrow Farm model in Ambridge. I wonder if the SLs are going that way (calling off the move north, of course.)
A horse-drawn milk cart would be the icing on the cake and could be a raging success.

I hope Ed lives to a ripe old age and leaves a vast fortune for his GC's to fight over.

Depending on the time of the delivery, a horse-drawn milk cart clopping around could be extraordinarily annoying.

Oh, wouldn't that be a crowning glory to end Joe's farming life - Bartleby drawing a milk cart filled with Ed's milk, with "Grundys of Grange Farm" on cart and bottle.

Yes I saw that too Gypsy and farmer's wife on Country File, the cows loved it they just milked themselves apparently,David obviously doesn't watch CF. Though 'progress at any cost' Pip would love it wouldn't she?

ZeroFunDame what a lovely idea sniff oh just a moment, I seem to have something in my eye

With any luck David will decide to go back to his roots and get the outdoor milker and re-establish Dan's milk business with Ed's help so he can organise his own distribution; and Pip will have a major strop about not being able to spend millions on new farming toys and will flounce off to join some mega farming business never to be heard again.

Well, we can all dream.

Its 300 cows, so pretty big. I'm having trouble posting a link for some reason but if you google tom foot and Neil grigg there's a few articles about them

Oh Zero I really want to see that as well.

I will selflessly offer my services as a horse driver (which actually is one of the strings in my bow) for those damp mornings when Joe is being troubled by his Farmer's Lung.