BUSINESS ON T H E FA R M


108


ON THE FARM WI T H RI CH AT RI S B UR Y


Each month Richard Thomas will join us to talk about life on his family farm in North Herefordshire, where they farm beef, sheep, arable and apples. Their ethos is to try to farm in a more regenerative style for the benefit of future generations.


A recent social media post about a young girl driving a tractor and baler, and an article about it in a national farming magazine, have kicked off a debate about children on farms.


I t is a reoccur r ing topic wi th strong opinions in both camps. The social media post was a video of a thir teen year old girl on a very large tractor pulling a very large square baler. I am not absolutely sure, but I think by the letter of the law, it is not legal for anyone under six teen to dr ive such a large tractor and use an implement which requires high power via the ‘power take off shaf t’, like a baler. From ages thir teen to sixteen you are only allowed to per form low powered task s, like dragging a har row or roller around a f ield.


Typically there was a social media pi le on, not following the video, but following the ar ticle about the video, which it is impor tant to note, was mostly cr itical. Most of the comments I saw on Facebook were along


LIVE24-SEVEN.COM


the lines of, ‘we need the children to help’, ‘ it is good for them’, ‘ they enjoy it’, ‘ I did it when I was young’, ‘ they are more than capable’ and other such similar lines. Much of this is true of course. I f you have sat in a tractor, with your mother or father, from a young age; i t is qui te likely that you will k now how to operate it and understand how it work s. This is ignor ing the fact that anyone under the age of thir teen isn’t actually allowed to ride in a tractor, let alone drive it.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132