Dead Tractors, Taps and a Word About Ragwort

Yes the tractor died!  The starter motor gave up.  While the horses are grazing on the steepest hill in Suffolk!!!!  It is next to impossible to push a wheel barrow full of poo up the hill. So for the last 2 days we have been pulling the trailer with Jo's Subaru.  Which has caused a lot of hilarity. You know when you go to a wildlife park and the chimps remove your windscreen wipers?  No need to do that. Drive round our fields and Charlie will do the job of chimps!
Being a big teenage boy, and obsessed with the tractor, when he saw a car in his field, he was in heaven!  He has licked the bonnet, examined the mirrors, rubbed his big cobby bum all over the car, and tried to remove the windscreen wipers. For the last two days "Charlie....No!" has rung out all over the field. 

Also the tap in the tack room has been broken for a while (we have been using a wrench). Having found a man to replace the tap, we asked the landlord where we turn the water off. Outside underground...Of Course. Lift the cover, what do we see......Nothing but sand and ants.  Biting Ants.  Sadly they had to go. And then we started to dig....and dig....and dig....and dig. Eventually after a major excavation we found the tap.  Seriously we were laying on the ground to reach it. It was at the depth of my arm which is about 3 foot long!!

Happily we now have a working tap thanks to Simon, and a working tractor thanks to my other half, Mark the Mechanic and Horse Whisperer.

A quick word about Ragwort. Its everywhere at the moment.  You will see it swaying around by motorways, in a great ugly yellow swathe. It used to be illegal to allow it to grow, but no-one seems to care anymore.  It is poisonous to horses and cows, and will cause liver damage over time. It tastes bitter, so horses will not eat it.....unless they are starving.  But, thats no excuse not to pull it up.  Once it is dying it is more palatable. And once it is flowering, the seeds spread.  It breeds like rabbits. I have also noticed, it grows in family clumps, and in a straight line (sad I know!). It also has to be pulled up from the root, or it will multiply.  There is an easy answer.  Ragforks can be bought in saddlers and online. They are easy to use, and get the root. Don't wait until it flowers. Learn to spot it early, carry the Ragfork, and pick it up daily while poo-picking.  If it becomes part of a daily routine, its easily managed.
Lecture over!

How deep????

Would you like me to remove this Sir?

Bonnet Wash Sir?

Early stage of the evil yellow weed.