Hi folks, I am going to see about a job tomorrow doing animal feed deliverys throughout Scotland.
I am just wondering if anyone on here does similar work and if there are any tips on finding some remote farms etc.
I am currently doing class 2 pallet multidrop, but I am really confined to one region so it’s a bit daunting having the whole of scotland to find farms on
I’ve done rural feed deliveries. Pretty simple, just ring the farm and ask before committing to tiny local minor roads.
I just used a road atlas at the time. If it’s say "buss Farm, xyz village, look on the atlas for xyz village and have a scout at the farms around it on the atlas. If it says buss farm, abc road, xyz village, chances are it’s the line in the map going from xyz village to abc village. Church Lane? - look for the spire. You get the picture 
. Head over then ring them when close.
Failing that just aim for the postal address village itself watching for nimby limits and ask some scary locals. Easier now with sat nav, straight there, or into the sea if it goes wrong. Scope out on foot before going into a farm yard , watch the cowshit and farmers have a variety of different contraptions, some home made that come close to what you know as a forklift
Tip I found the hard way when asking locals for directions is always point at the lorry and say “I’m in that”… Amazing how many people presume it belongs to someone else and you must just be in a car hidden behind it
Hopefully you will have the farmers number as many like a call 30-60 mins before you get there as they might be out on the farm and need time to get back to unload the goods. You can ask the farmer for directions!
Would be tricky the first say year while you suss everywhere out, but should be ok after that assuming it’ll mainly be repeat customers. Good way to travel the country listening to farmers moaning about everything despite the new Range Rover sitting outside the house…
You going to be driving a tipper / blower type truck??
Or another curtain sider…?
I used to used O/S land ranger maps to start with for rural drops. They have the exact farm name and locations on them…
Downside, they don’t have road restrictions etc on them…
If there is any handball be prepared for " I’ve got to go to market/done me back in /the lad’s off sick "as is normal in the farming community .Or " the last driver carried them up to the loft ". Me , cynical , never !
slowtrac:
Hi folks, I am going to see about a job tomorrow doing animal feed deliverys throughout Scotland.
I am just wondering if anyone on here does similar work and if there are any tips on finding some remote farms etc.I am currently doing class 2 pallet multidrop, but I am really confined to one region so it’s a bit daunting having the whole of scotland to find farms on
Echo most of the above advice, but don’t blindly trust your ■■■■■■■ sat-nav. Or you might end up in the ■■■■, quite literally
If i can give ANY advice, it’s get one of these (this exact edition covers Scotland) - it has the individual farms named on the map. Some have really old / historical names shown, but 99% are spot on. Saved my arse a few times when I was doing farm work.
Can be a cracking job though, spending most of your day roaming the countryside, instead of sitting in gridlock or motorway madness.
When arriving at the farm, and exit the cab, whistle loudly, this is done to let the Rabies farm guard dog packs that you are there and not surprise them to attack in Exocet missile mode .
You will get the life story of the poverty ridden farmer to the point of tears in your eyes, tears in his eyes, he could write novels for Mills and Boon .
Last year was a bad year he says, didn’t make a penny.
But the kids go to private school, and the wife and him have private plate new Range Rovers .
It’s true about his bad back if a hand ball is needed or it is market day.
Mind out for hidden and buried sharp metal objects in long grass or mud if turning, easy to pop all your tyres .
Chris1207:
slowtrac:
Hi folks, I am going to see about a job tomorrow doing animal feed deliverys throughout Scotland.
I am just wondering if anyone on here does similar work and if there are any tips on finding some remote farms etc.I am currently doing class 2 pallet multidrop, but I am really confined to one region so it’s a bit daunting having the whole of scotland to find farms on
Echo most of the above advice, but don’t blindly trust your [zb] sat-nav. Or you might end up in the [zb], quite literally
If i can give ANY advice, it’s get one of these (this exact edition covers Scotland) - it has the individual farms named on the map. Some have really old / historical names shown, but 99% are spot on. Saved my arse a few times when I was doing farm work.
Can be a cracking job though, spending most of your day roaming the countryside, instead of sitting in gridlock or motorway madness.
The Navigator maps seemed to be the thing to have when I was doing agricultural haulage round these parts, even with a sat nav, give you an overall picture of the area so you can pick your route a bit.
And if Scottish farmers are anything like East Anglain farmers they’ll know most of the other farmers in the area (probably related to them as well ), so will be able to give you directions, but will also be keen on knowing what you’re delivering to their neighbours.
As other have said with experience it will become easier, and probably far more enjoyable than sitting in traffic and struggling round towns and cities on multi drops.
Pink ordinance survey maps are the game for farms, landrangers. A company I worked for supplyed the drivers with about 60 maps each back before satnavs were the thing that only covers about 1 third of Scotland and North England
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rigsby:
If there is any handball be prepared for " I’ve got to go to market/done me back in /the lad’s off sick "as is normal in the farming community .Or " the last driver carried them up to the loft ". Me , cynical , never !
It’s amazing how many farmers in Devon have a bad back! For O/P the Farm you’ve got the address to isn’t usually the one a sat nav will stop you near. If it’s anything like me I usually ended up with the bugger that’s a pain in the arse to find / get to! As mentioned above give the farm a call 30 / 60 mins before arrival if you can, to make sure someone is around also can ask them for directions in if need be. I also downloaded the ordinance survey app and maps for my area to my iPhone as they generally have pretty much everything marked on the map and as it’s all stored on my phone I don’t need a data connection to access it which you obviously never have on farms [emoji38]
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I use Ordnance survey app and Streetmap. Google earth is handy too for checking where the access road to the farm is and whether turning is possible in the yard. If in doubt, walk up and check first, also never drive round a corner you wouldn’t be happy reversing back round!
Os map would be prefered to navigator, not great for farms in scotland for some bizzare reason… ring before you get too close.
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Always ring ahead at least 30 minutes before. It means they will be ready and waiting for you and you can ask them the best route in and whether they can accommodate an artic in their farm yard.
A Phillips truckers atlas also names lots of farms so is handy.
When you get there if it looks ■■■■ and you don’t think it’s suitable to go in, then don’t. Farmers of crap little farms always say they’ve had bigger than you in before. They may have done, but still doesn’t mean it’s suitable.
Get some wellies and put them in a cat litter tray on the passenger side, then whip off your driving shoes and climb out the passenger side in your wellies.
Your spray suppression will get caked in mud. If dvsa see it it’s a problem. So when you get the opportunity clean it off.
If it’s half tonne bags you’re better off having it loaded so you can get shot of the top rows first, once that’s off you haven’t really gotta worry about it shifting.
If your curtains bulge a bit, and it’s not too bad, you’re better off taking your time and getting to the next farm to sort it than opening your curtains in a layby because there’s not a lot you’ll be able to do about it apart from making it worse.
Take a shovel. You’ll be going down country lanes. One day you’ll be fully loaded and can’t get up a steep hill when the roads wet and muddy. On such hills there’s often a grit bin and you’ll need the shovel to grit two tracks up it. Make sure you know how to operate your diff lock and how to put the weight on your drive wheels.
Take your time. You might have a run with 10 drops on it, with each farm 1 hour apart. Just worry about 1 farm at a time.
And don’t be daunted, it’s interesting work where you get to drive on interesting roads and see places. I can’t see the attraction of being a driver because you enjoy driving and then spending every day going from RDC to RDC on a boring motorway. With this work you’ve gotta use your brain a bit, and if you do, plan your routes properly, and take your time you’ll get around.
One more thing don’t go into a farm you don’t know in the dark. I’m sure your boss won’t expect you to, but if he does just refuse. It’s a recipe for disaster. Farmyards are littered with obstacles you’ll not see including low power cables.
And one final thing, if you’ve got two or more drops close to each other think yourself here’s a chance of offloading a couple or three farms at once. I was delivering pea sea around the Norfolk broads the other week and managed to offload four farms at one farm - result, but even if that’s not possible the farmer you’re with will be able to direct you to the next farm so pick his brain.
Tris:
Always ring ahead at least 30 minutes before. It means they will be ready and waiting for you and you can ask them the best route in and whether they can accommodate an artic in their farm yard.A Phillips truckers atlas also names lots of farms so is handy.
When you get there if it looks [zb] and you don’t think it’s suitable to go in, then don’t. Farmers of crap little farms always say they’ve had bigger than you in before. They may have done, but still doesn’t mean it’s suitable.
Get some wellies and put them in a cat litter tray on the passenger side, then whip off your driving shoes and climb out the passenger side in your wellies.
Your spray suppression will get caked in mud. If dvsa see it it’s a problem. So when you get the opportunity clean it off.
If it’s half tonne bags you’re better off having it loaded so you can get shot of the top rows first, once that’s off you haven’t really gotta worry about it shifting.
If your curtains bulge a bit, and it’s not too bad, you’re better off taking your time and getting to the next farm to sort it than opening your curtains in a layby because there’s not a lot you’ll be able to do about it apart from making it worse.
Take a shovel. You’ll be going down country lanes. One day you’ll be fully loaded and can’t get up a steep hill when the roads wet and muddy. On such hills there’s often a grit bin and you’ll need the shovel to grit two tracks up it. Make sure you know how to operate your diff lock and how to put the weight on your drive wheels.
Take your time. You might have a run with 10 drops on it, with each farm 1 hour apart. Just worry about 1 farm at a time.
And don’t be daunted, it’s interesting work where you get to drive on interesting roads and see places. I can’t see the attraction of being a driver because you enjoy driving and then spending every day going from RDC to RDC on a boring motorway. With this work you’ve gotta use your brain a bit, and if you do, plan your routes properly, and take your time you’ll get around.
One more thing don’t go into a farm you don’t know in the dark. I’m sure your boss won’t expect you to, but if he does just refuse. It’s a recipe for disaster. Farmyards are littered with obstacles you’ll not see including low power cables.
And one final thing, if you’ve got two or more drops close to each other think yourself here’s a chance of offloading a couple or three farms at once. I was delivering pea sea around the Norfolk broads the other week and managed to offload four farms at one farm - result, but even if that’s not possible the farmer you’re with will be able to direct you to the next farm so pick his brain.
Spot on
Good advice from Tris, and right about arriving at a farm in the dark, never do that .
Holes in the ground, the sides of the lane are easy places to get the wheels in and tip over the truck .
It may appear hard but is soft verges .
Cars tend to drive fast in the lanes and most never give way to lorries .
If the lane is a commuter rat run, I will try and pull over to not hold them up .
It’s also worth asking a farmer if you can park up in his farmyard for the night. I’ve never had a farmer say no.
Never done it in Scotland but here in the Midlands I always used to phone from the yard before loading. It was pretty common for farmers to want the stuff in a barn somewhere in the middle of nowhere miles from the farm (by road), or ask if we could hang on for another day because the tractor was bust or something. They liked it because they could plan their day too and not bugger off to market, or go and visit their favourite sheep.