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All articles about Workshop skills

Farm workshop tips and advice on common tasks such as cutting and welding, tackling rust on farm machinery and using grinders safely. See also top farm inventions and workshop-built kit from other farmers, including our video of a homemade silage station.

Advice and tips

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Top tips for upping the quality of workshop projects

Every year, the Farm Inventions Competition unearths a horde of impressive workshop builds that provide ingenious answers to some of agriculture’s recurring conundrums. Traditionally, farmers and contractors have sketched out…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Managing welding fumes on farms – all you need to know

Farm businesses must now understand and mitigate the health and safety risks associated with fumes produced during welding and other metalwork tasks to protect the long-term health and wellbeing of…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Workshop heaters: The options and the rules

Winter is a prime time for repairs, maintenance, modifying or making pieces of equipment that will make life easier when fieldwork picks up again. But the thought of spending long,…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

John Deere tractors: Common problems and how to fix them

Tractors have a habit of breaking down at the most inconvenient moment. Independent mechanic Lee Morley takes a look at John Deere models, offers a few tips to reduce the…

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Case studies

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Winning Inventions Comp entry up for grabs in farm sale

After 53 years, several million small square bales and dozens of farm inventions, Cotswolds contractor and farm-scale engineer Frank Henderson is calling time on his career – and his bespoke…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Ag engineers branch out into high-spec custom work

Be it a nifty tool fashioned out of scrap metal or a high-tech implement made from top-flight components, the innovation and quality of workmanship in UK agricultural engineering is second…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Wiltshire contractor builds one-of-a-kind bale chaser

A majority of the machinery knocked together in a farm workshop has a certain rustic charm that comes from putting it in the field before applying the finishing touches. Not…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Video: Grower builds cover crop broadcaster for £3,000

A farm-built broadcaster costing less than £3,000 has given James Hopkinson the opportunity introduce cover cropping as part of a "regenerative" approach to the arable enterprises he manages. The tractor-mounted…

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Community

WORKSHOP SKILLS

FW Inventions Comp 2022: Ollie Mackintosh's inter-row drill

Ollie Mackintosh’s inter-row seeder has been awarded highly commended in our Inventions Competition. Having built a successful 6m inter-row seeder for sowing grass under maize (featured in the 2016 Farm…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

FW Inventions Comp 2022: Handy home-made fencing kit

This year's Inventions Competition saw some clever ideas to help with time-management, costs and longevity of fencing. Here are some of our favourites. See also: Workshop tips: A guide to oxy…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

FW Inventions Comp 2022: Workshop gadgets

Our Farmers Weekly Inventions Competition is all about getting into the workshop and using your skills to turn your ideas into reality. We've had some ingenious workshop gadget inventions in…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

FW Inventions Comp 2022: Livestock and grass focused kit

There were lots of clever inventions to make livestock jobs easier entered into our Inventions Competition. Here's a round-up of some of the highlights.  See also: How to build the perfect…

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Insights

TRACTORS

What to look for when buying and fitting a tractor dashcam

Drive a tractor on the road for any length of time and you are bound to see some form of reckless manoeuvre from an impatient motorist. Most of the time,…

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News

WORKSHOP SKILLS

£2,550 up for grabs in FW's annual Farm Inventions Comp

It’s time for another season of Farmers Weekly’s long-running Farm Inventions Competition. With a back catalogue containing thousands of ingenious ideas, there’s nowhere better to read about workshop builds that have…

MACHINERY

Farmer and 8-year-old son build clever bird-scaring robot

A clever bird-scaring robot capable of roving oilseed rape fields autonomously to keep them pigeon-free has been developed by Cambridgeshire farmer Will Mumford. See also: Grower keeps OSR free from flea…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Home-made turntable prevents pipe tangles

A Northern Irish farmer has come up with an ingenious way of avoiding the stress of dealing with awkward rolls of water or drainage pipe. Donal O’Donovan had been looking…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Cash prizes on offer in FW’s 2021 Inventions Competition

It’s time for another season of Farmers Weekly’s long-running Farm Inventions Competition. With a back catalogue containing thousands of ingenious ideas, there’s nowhere better to read about workshop builds that have…

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Test and reviews

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Video: On test – 20 workshop tools recommended by farmers

Off the back of the low-cost tool, gadget and knickknack review we carried out last year, scores of readers got in touch with nifty suggestions of their own. Oliver Mark…

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Video

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Winning Inventions Comp entry up for grabs in farm sale

After 53 years, several million small square bales and dozens of farm inventions, Cotswolds contractor and farm-scale engineer Frank Henderson is calling time on his career – and his bespoke…

CULTIVATION AND DRILLING

Video: Grower builds cover crop broadcaster for £3,000

A farm-built broadcaster costing less than £3,000 has given James Hopkinson the opportunity introduce cover cropping as part of a "regenerative" approach to the arable enterprises he manages. The tractor-mounted…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Video: Time-saving feeding and bedding kit inventions

Clever feeding and bedding kit is helping livestock farmers shave hours off their daily routine. We've picked out some of the best ones from the many entries to our 2020…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Video: Conversion turns Discovery into off-road milk float

Charles Kinston’s off-road milk float took third place in the simple category of the Farmers Weekly Inventions Competition. Mr Kinston, a dairy farmer from Burton on Trent, is doing his…

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