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Threshin (thrashing) corn what mth ?


ditchman
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when i was about 10 the thrashing machine used to turn up and all the terrier men with money and a bookie used to come as well.............the reason they still used a threshing machine is 

  1. the straw used to go to Newmarket for the racehorse studs
  2. for thatching

i remember it being cold..and a bit of snow on the ground ...but i cant remember what month of the year .

 

anyone know....ive googled it but the info isnt there..............

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Ditchy, your post has brought back some lovely memories of ‘threshin’.

In the late50’s I would be about 6 and remember the great excitement of threshin day. A monster of a steam engine would arrive, belching smoke and with flapping Drive belts & lots of dust (no health &safety!). Threshin would begin. The only concession to safety was the labourers would tie bailer twine round their trouser legs!

Us boys would be given sticks to hit the rats, but the terriers (Ormskirk heelers) would always beat us to it. I don’t remember any betting but the farmer had a party trick of simultaneously catching a rat by the tail and booting it 10 feet in the air without getting bitten. I have never seen that since. It was very exciting to a 6 year old.

I think threshin was in the autumn. I suppose it would be whenever the thresher and extra labour was available and after potato harvesting.

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excellent im glad im not the only one that remembers that...........i remember it was jan-feb time ...when they used to get down to the last layer of stooked corn there were bloody rats everywhere...and the bookies took money on the best terrier...and we as 9-10 year old used to puff on weights fags and quaff green king ale .......and chomp on homemade sausage rollls..........

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30 minutes ago, ditchman said:

puff on weights fags

Players Weights !!!. Their`s a name to take me back to when I first started work. If cash was short which it invariably was, we used to buy a paper pack of 5. The start of 50 years on the evil weed before a dose of pneumonia and a very blunt consultant convinced me to kick the habit before it kicked me into touch.

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1 minute ago, JJsDad said:

Players Weights !!!. Their`s a name to take me back to when I first started work. If cash was short which it invariably was, we used to buy a paper pack of 5. The start of 50 years on the evil weed before a dose of pneumonia and a very blunt consultant convinced me to kick the habit before it kicked me into touch.

Parky rough round here, Park Drive in red packets. Never smoked one, grandads belt was faster than I could run. But I remember swigging beer when the grown ups wasn't looking. 

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12 minutes ago, Centrepin said:

Parky rough round here, Park Drive in red packets. Never smoked one, grandads belt was faster than I could run. But I remember swigging beer when the grown ups wasn't looking. 

do you remember the eleptical fag called "passing cloud".....

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41 minutes ago, ditchman said:

excellent im glad im not the only one that remembers that...........i remember it was jan-feb time ...when they used to get down to the last layer of stooked corn there were bloody rats everywhere...and the bookies took money on the best terrier...and we as 9-10 year old used to puff on weights fags and quaff green king ale .......and chomp on homemade sausage rollls..........

Cant really remember the thrashing machine coming onto the island , in they did they would have sunk like the Titanic with all hands on board and never to be seen again .

My mum used to smoke Weights and me dad smoked Churchmans Dark Counter **** , JJs Dad mentioned buying a paper packet of five , which I can well remember , also at the old Jubilee snooker hall in Yarmouth they sold Weights and Woodbines in ones , so if you and your mate wanted a fag you could buy 2 , you thought you were well off is you bought a mug of strong tea , a meat pie and a fag , and then go and stand near the old pot belly stove to get warm , good ole days ? , I have certainly known better :lol:

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1 hour ago, ditchman said:

.... and we as 9-10 year old used to puff on weights fags and quaff green king ale ....

..... and there was Cider with Rosie ......

As far as I can remember, all the threshing machines where I grew up (Hunts/Cambs/Beds) were painted PINK.   I wonder why.   Some of the later models used ball/roller bearings for the threshing mechanism, but our machine had ring oilers, wonderfully simple things and trouble-free as long as you remembered to keep them topped up.     Cannot remember the manufacturer, but I am fairly sure the name plate said it was made in Diss.   We had a combine from the late 1940s, so I missed out on the ratting, but there were plenty of rabbits to chase as the combine closed in on them.   The threshing machine was still in use as a dresser until the early 1960s, belt driven from the Field Marshall, and all grain went away in sacks (2cwt barley, 2-1/4cwt wheat), thank God I was too young to heave them around on my back as all the adults did.   Oh, the days of wooden ships and iron men.     

 

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4 minutes ago, old'un said:

Old thrashing machine, beware no health and safety, looking at the video must be winter as there’s no leaves on the trees.

https://youtu.be/MdCp44an3d8

i nremember when the men were laying a sheaf in the strippers a rat come out a jack russell chased it straight into the strippers...inhalf a second it went to red mush and never seen again.........

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14 minutes ago, McSpredder said:

..... and there was Cider with Rosie ......

As far as I can remember, all the threshing machines where I grew up (Hunts/Cambs/Beds) were painted PINK.   I wonder why.   Some of the later models used ball/roller bearings for the threshing mechanism, but our machine had ring oilers, wonderfully simple things and trouble-free as long as you remembered to keep them topped up.     Cannot remember the manufacturer, but I am fairly sure the name plate said it was made in Diss.   We had a combine from the late 1940s, so I missed out on the ratting, but there were plenty of rabbits to chase as the combine closed in on them.   The threshing machine was still in use as a dresser until the early 1960s, belt driven from the Field Marshall, and all grain went away in sacks (2cwt barley, 2-1/4cwt wheat), thank God I was too young to heave them around on my back as all the adults did.   Oh, the days of wooden ships and iron men.     

 

Your right , most of the thrashing machines were painted Pink , the ones I had seen working were Ramsomes that were made in Ipswich ( not far from Diss ) , each year they have one working at the Fenland Game Fair , when you watch all the belts going hell for leather all over the place  it would be nowadays a heath and safety night mare .

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17 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Your right , most of the thrashing machines were painted Pink , the ones I had seen working were Ramsomes that were made in Ipswich ( not far from Diss ) , each year they have one working at the Fenland Game Fair , when you watch all the belts going hell for leather all over the place  it would be nowadays a heath and safety night mare .

RS&J.............ransomes simmes and jefferies........

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4 minutes ago, ditchman said:

RS&J.............ransomes simmes and jefferies........

That's the kiddie , mustn't forget Mr Simmes and Jefferies , nothing better watching the ole gals working with getting covered with all the little bits of straw , I could just about handle the small bales of straw that came out of the side , but I am not so sure about the big sacks of grain , my ole back would feel it just connecting the empty sack on the machine ,let alone when it get full up , certainly sort out the men from the boys . 

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18 minutes ago, marsh man said:

That's the kiddie , mustn't forget Mr Simmes and Jefferies , nothing better watching the ole gals working with getting covered with all the little bits of straw , I could just about handle the small bales of straw that came out of the side , but I am not so sure about the big sacks of grain , my ole back would feel it just connecting the empty sack on the machine ,let alone when it get full up , certainly sort out the men from the boys . 

sacks of oats were always in coomb sacks........which were i think 13 stone...and barley was 16stone / coomb

 

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8 minutes ago, ditchman said:

sacks of oats were always in coomb sacks........which were i think 13 stone...and barley was 16stone / coomb

 

When I was younger I could manage a bag of cement on my shoulder that came in the cwt bags ( 8 stone in old money ) , now they are in 25 kilo bag which is roughly half the weight of the old bags , this was done because of E U regulations , or so I was told , what they would think of men lifting bags of grain weighing 16 stone ( 2 cwt ) I shudder to think , :hmm:

 

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17 minutes ago, marsh man said:

When I was younger I could manage a bag of cement on my shoulder that came in the cwt bags ( 8 stone in old money ) , now they are in 25 kilo bag which is roughly half the weight of the old bags , this was done because of E U regulations , or so I was told , what they would think of men lifting bags of grain weighing 16 stone ( 2 cwt ) I shudder to think , :hmm:

 

when i was 13 i could help unload a trialer of coomb sacks...providing i didnt need to lift them..................and when the grain lorry came with a cradle power lift we used to sac barrow them onto the powerlift which went up to shoulder height for the bloke on the flat bed to stack..........

do you remember them powerlifts...you chucked the sack on them and it tightened a canvas strap that pulled the hydraulic lever ...all modern stuff eh .....the EU would have a fit now Hhhahhahhha

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Crikey, that video of the steam engine brought it all back, course they weren’t nice and shiny like that, they were b noisy and the chaff got everywhere and I mean everywhere.

Watching the reaper was also great fun. The reaper would cut around the edge of the field in ever decreasing circles and a man and shotgun would be stood at each corner shooting the rabbits and hares that ran out.  The shooting was frantic as the circle got very small. Unfortunately the last few often got mangled by the reaper.

Passing Clouds were very posh (& expensive), Am I right in thinking they were also pink?

One of my uncles used to lift the 2 cwt of corn which he would then mill for the pigs, however he always wore a leather corset to give extra support. He also ate 2 large cooked meals and baggin  everyday to give him the calories for such hard work. He lived into his nineties and never had a bad back. Mind you the dust didn’t do his chest much good!

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1 minute ago, ditchman said:

the people who remember that stuff..........it all comes at a price....which is usaully...

  1. difficulty in controlling your bladder
  2. plucking pubic hairs out of your ears

growing older is a bitch.......

I don’t know which I am looking forward to the most, the impotence or the incontinence.

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Coomb sacks/measure seemed to be mainly a Suffolk/Norfolk thing? Different  mills and farms had there own sacks printed up with there name and logo on them.  Coomb of barley 16st, wheat 18st. My ol dad Worked in and drove for a flour then animal feeds mill all his life. He often talked of humping these sacks around all day and sometimes having to climb well woren stairs carrying them to. He weren't a big man 5'9" and 12st. Rounded shoulders and barrel chest to show for it. Strong hard men indeed! Great memories of traveling with him and helping as a kid. The excitement of going to Ipswich, Yarmouth and Rowhedge docks and getting loaded straight off the boat. Those dockers were proper hard men! I was humping 25kg sacks at 12 and 50kg at 14. But i was 6ft plus and strong as by then. I found those big ol sacks of midlins the hardest and dirtist to shift. Remember showing/telling folk what a  manual sack lift was at a farm sale once and they found it hard to believe my dad and others could/had to carry such weights on there back.

Ramsomes was a major employer in Ipswich for many years. Invented made and exported agri related stuff all over the world. Famous for there ploughs.    NB

 

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Farm in my village still has a thrashing machine come round for 2-3weeks a year to make thatching straw. It was October - November last year (2019).Machine was a Ransoms, painted in a now rather weather worn pink ish colour and driven by a Fordson Major.

I have a short video but not sure how to upload here.

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6 hours ago, ditchman said:

when i was about 10 the thrashing machine used to turn up and all the terrier men with money and a bookie used to come as well.............the reason they still used a threshing machine is 

  1. the straw used to go to Newmarket for the racehorse studs
  2. for thatching

i remember it being cold..and a bit of snow on the ground ...but i cant remember what month of the year .

 

anyone know....ive googled it but the info isnt there..............

October to March

 

Blackpowder

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12 minutes ago, Blackpowder said:

October to March

 

Blackpowder

thank you Blackpowder......................................where i was dragged up  the phrase "a month of sundays " was used regular...even at that young age i alwus wondered what it meant....

when i asked the men....they always used it or thought it came from the time of havesting cerals to the time of thrashing....looking on the internet....it is agreed that a month of sundays is accepted as 30 weeks....so if the cereals were cut an  stooked in june-july.......and thrashing took place feb....that would equate near enough to 30 weeks....

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18 hours ago, ditchman said:

thank you Blackpowder......................................where i was dragged up  the phrase "a month of sundays " was used regular...even at that young age i alwus wondered what it meant....

when i asked the men....they always used it or thought it came from the time of havesting cerals to the time of thrashing....looking on the internet....it is agreed that a month of sundays is accepted as 30 weeks....so if the cereals were cut an  stooked in june-july.......and thrashing took place feb....that would equate near enough to 30 weeks....

Our season was a little later up here, I think I was lucky to experience the last days of the binder and the rabbiting, before the combine took over from the former  and mixy wiped out the latter.   I have seen only once when wheat was threshed from the stook, whether this was for feedstuff  or financial necessity I could not say.   Ploughing took up most of the winter months, but there would be odd breaks for threshing and potato riddling.    Ground to wet to plough hedges were  switched with hedge knifes.

 

Blackpowder

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