18 acres. Opinions

Dusty87

Theres 18 acres we let every year. To the same farmer. This year the way things are we gave it to him for 800e. Is that ok? I presume so as it was him who suggested that price. Usually its around a grand.
I was thinking would you make more from putting cattle on it. or even hay or silage?? TBH its not the money as the uncle is ould but if i were to work it with the cattle would you break even or lose money?? Not dairy obviously but for the factory.

tismesoitis

Dusty87 wrote: »

Theres 18 acres we let every year. To the same farmer. This year the way things are we gave it to him for 800e. Is that ok? I presume so as it was him who suggested that price. Usually its around a grand.
I was thinking would you make more from putting cattle on it. or even hay or silage?? TBH its not the money as the uncle is ould but if i were to work it with the cattle would you break even or lose money?? Not dairy obviously but for the factory.

that guy is taking the wee wee. any land no matter how bad it is should be making at least the €100 per acre mark

samhail

did you say that the farmer that you are letting to is your uncle ?

Jack C

Thats €45 an acre. You wouldnt get the side of a mountain for that. Your tenant will probably argue that he wouldnt get €800 back out of it and he may be right but the fact is he's paying less tha half the going rate.

Dusty87

No No, its the uncles field. Lad we let too is a local farmer and friendish of the uncle. He has being letting it for years. Ah i know its not a lot but the land would be just sitting there (well not if i had my way:)). But the price this year just got me and the uncle thinkin, is it worth it? Would we be better oof cutting hay ourselves or rearing a few cattle. I would be doing most of the work and i know it wont make much money on the 18 acres but could you make more than 800?
Or even tell me the best things to with it.
Itll keep me busy and if we make a few bob that would be nicer.

Dusty87

Jack C wrote: »

Thats €45 an acre. You wouldnt get the side of a mountain for that. Your tenant will probably argue that he wouldnt get €800 back out of it and he may be right but the fact is he's paying less tha half the going rate.

My uncle who owns the land isnt a farmer and so it would be just sitting there. The two of us look after the granucles farm for him as he not able. Just a few cattle and a meadow. So we were thinkin to start working this too. Is everyone getting 100 an acre still? As i said the man has rented it for years and would probably just be sitting there otherwise.

blue5000

150 round here for rent

Jack C

There should be pleanty of takers. Here in the midlands you'd be knocked down last spring if 18 acres came up for letting. I have a feeling your problem is that your tenant is there so long he thinks no one else will come in on him and can pay what he likes. (Bull McCabe syndrome).

denis086

i wont tell you what were paying for our rented ground but its over €150 an acre . but weve had it taken for decades and we maintain it well and treat it like our own. A fella took part of it for a few years and didnt put anything into the soil and you can still see the difference in crops and they were the better fields before he took them. We only finished up paying what we did for it because wed be fairly screwed without it and the other farmer came in and bid on it but they didnt want him getting again.
But in relation to your ground id say if you had a few machines and you were able to make silage or even hay and you put out manure on it and had a good clean crop on it you would have no problems selling the bales off it. But if your paying contractors the profit quickly goes out of them and you would be better off letting it.
Keeping a few cattle would be a good idea for cleaning up around the headlands or if there rough patches that cant be cut and its better we make out not to continuously take cut of silage off the same ground if it can be avoided so they would give the grass a break

dar31

assuming your man has the maps for the land as well, you should be getting a min of 100 - 130. last year there was a glut of people looking for land maps as they lost entitlements due to waste ground.
id contact an auctioneer next year and see what they think they could get for it, and if the current renter is a friend of the uncles and you dont want to be to hard on him, give him a discounted price on what the auctioneer says.
18 ac is a reasonably parcel to rent so there should be no problem setting it.
at the moment your been done... e125*18ac= e2250 a long way off e800.
the money might as well be in your pocket, instead of the other lads.

Dusty87

So you reckon we would be better of to keep renting it out, instead of putting cattle on it??
Il say that to the uncle if thats the case. At the mo its just an idea

mondeoman1708

I presume you have no entitlement on it, it would get you €90 or so per ha if you farmed it yourself and you are in disadvantaged area. You could keep it yourself and enjoy keeping the few cattle as a hobby, won't make a lot of money out of cattle, could loose money.
Your tenant is getting cheap land, unless it is really really bad land.

John_F

before questioning if you can farm it have you the equipment to farm it i.e. fertiliser spreader, tractor and maybe loader or bale handler, if you have then surely you can make more than 800 euro, what qualtiy is the land and if there are maps with it is the next question you need to ask, since the nitrates crap every lad needs maps.

i know of people paying 40 an acre no maps for after grass from 2nd cut from now till october / november, 1/4 of the time you are letting it for i presume

Dusty87

John_F wrote: »

before questioning if you can farm it have you the equipment to farm it i.e. fertiliser spreader, tractor and maybe loader or bale handler, if you have then surely you can make more than 800 euro, what qualtiy is the land and if there are maps with it is the next question you need to ask, since the nitrates crap every lad needs maps.

i know of people paying 40 an acre no maps for after grass from 2nd cut from now till october / november, 1/4 of the time you are letting it for i presume

Yes, have access to machines. Land is good, he has been growing crops on it every year, so we would have to sow it all if we get cattle.
Im not sure what 'maps' is but il ask him

John_F

maps as in has he got the parcel numbers for his are aid, i.e. is he down as farming that land. But you said growinng crops there so unlikely

Casinoking

If it's in tillage and the guy growing the crop isn't drawing the entitlements then it's not worth the colour of €150/acre. The price he's paying would be sensible enough. Don't forget that if you want to farm it yourself it'll cost you around €200 - €250/acre to reseed it before you make a penny

Dusty87

See im not a farmer so i dont understand that,

If it's in tillage and the guy growing the crop isn't drawing the entitlements

What you mean by entitlements??

djmc

If the land is good you could try growing maize next year and making round bales of it and selling them.
entltlements are what allows you to draw grants from the eu on your land through single farm payment.

mondeoman1708

Dusty87 wrote: »

Yes, have access to machines. Land is good, he has been growing crops on it every year, so we would have to sow it all if we get cattle.
Im not sure what 'maps' is but il ask him

'Maps' means you submit maps of the land to the Dept of Agriculture, they say 'this is a fantastic farmer' and they decide to pay you disadvantaged area money ( also called area-based compensation or headage) in Disadvantaged Areas, also if you have entitlement on the land they pay you that as well. ( what do you think, next question - what is entitlement? I often think this is such a mad system, try explaining it to the man on the street!!)