Night workers?

[Tink]

Why oh why is it the farmers feel the need to work during the night?

It's driving me insane! I can't sleep and even through my earplugs I hear the humming of the machines.

There are farming fields right behind our home, we live in a residential area, and at around 9:00 or 10:00 PM the farmers come to life and start working the fields all through the night. At first I thought, oh well no need to complain if it's only a one time incident but now once a week the noise starts.

It's double strange because we just received our monthly newsmagazine from the Mairie which publicized the new regulations for the summer with regard to noise.
No grass cutting between 12 and 3 and after 8:00PM, not on holidays etc. So why is it that the farmers are allowed to keep me out of my sleep?

Is this something that is only happening in my neighborhood(Dinan area) or everywhere?

--
Tink (22)

[Coco]

LAST EDITED ON 17-Aug-04 AT 09:28 AM (BST)

You live in the country Tink!!!! This almost sounds like those people in the UK that moved to the countryside from London a few years ago and then complained about the cows mooing!

It's happened a few times round here recently too but it's been a case of the farmers having to get the hay cut before all this torrential rain we've had! And when we were down in the Tarn a few years ago with temperatures in excess of 38 degrees every day the farmers were working in the morning, then laying low all afternoon and evening and then starting up again at about 10 or 11pm and to be quite honest I can't say I blame them!

I hardly think that rules regarding keeping lawns looking tidy can be applied to farmers who are earning their livelihood!

Coco

[Phoenix]

And it isn`t just in France this happens , when we lived in the countryside in Sussex , night time harvesting was quite common , and they were making the best use of contractors ( very expensive ) as mentioned previously.

Now living in a city for a year or two , and are woken on a regular basis by drunken yobs aiming footballs at our windows and cars , and chucking bottles and cans at each other and shouting obscene language , you just can`t win but I know which I prefer.

Regards,

Jude

[Lepoulailler]

They'll have been getting the 'ble' in (wheat).  Once they've started, they're up all hours trying to get it finished before the weather ruins their harvest.  Most farmers hire their combines by the day, and rely on the goodwill of other farmers to help them out.  They work incredibly hard at this time of year (my neighbour hires his combine out to other farmers and when I hear him coming in at all hours all I think is 'poor thing, he must be shattered').

I hope you're not going to grumble when they put manure on the fields shortly afterwards to replace some of the goodness the crop has taken from the soil.  That's what living in the countryside is all about.

[Lepoulailler]

And imagine...

I found it stressful enough cutting my hay crop this year, and then watching the storm clouds rolling in for day after day of rain. 

What if your cereal crop was one of your major forms of income for the year, or would feed your cattle for the entire winter, and the weather was on the turn.  Would you work those extra hours to make sure it was safe?....