advice on getting things going

ormondeboy3

Hi, Have recently had half the home farm transferred to me (26 acres of good well drained land). The home place is well serviced (barn, outhouses, feeding slab and slatted pens, 3 bay barn). Traditionally up until my father passed away we would have had 20/30 sucklers plus sheep. I have a day job about 70 miles away (private sector) and only get back at weekends/occasionally during the week. Long story short, there is a loan of €25k (payments of roughly €500 a month over 5 years on the transferred land, so I need to start sweating the asset asap.

Need some idea's with as low a time input as possible and low capital requirements. Grass finished beef an option? Organic beef? How can I best avail of changes to European payments in 2013.

There's 2 fields in it, both 12/13 acres and both with direct access to the facilities (the other half of the farm is rented out to a relative who keeps sucklers and horses)

I will be talking to the relative on the other side of the farm, neighbours and Teagasc (are these guys any good?), but wondering is there any idea's out there? I know there is no magic formula. But I'm determined to make a go of this to (1) pay off the loan on it and (2) supplement my income and (3) keep us on the land.

Jack C

I would think that if your day job is pretty secure you should look at renting out. It would be very hard to manage any livestock with not being around. Good land should make near €150/acre.

whelan1

have you got some one reliable around that could keep an eye on things

ellewood

cant get much easier/low time input than renting 28 acres at 165.00 + rent sheds/stats for winter for around 1500
job done over 6K in youre poket and still work away with job

ormondeboy3

Rental is a last resort. Have recently done the 'Green Cert' and have to 'farm' to ensure tax reliefs etc. Also want to get back to it in some shape or form. I have someone who could keep an eye on things once a day.

Username John

ormondeboy3 wrote: »

Rental is a last resort. Have recently done the 'Green Cert' and have to 'farm' to ensure tax reliefs etc. Also want to get back to it in some shape or form. I have someone who could keep an eye on things once a day.

Long term rental is out I guess in this siutation, but what about short term. Maybe some one out there can advise if this is possible, but I think it is.

I would say yer first priority is your off-farm job. We might all like to go away farming, but the reality (for me) is it doesnt pay the bills. You also need some off time, working a full time and doing farming is a good bit of work. Plus its no good if your farming eats into your off-farm job AND they get annoyed with you...

This all sounds very negative - but my advice, and it has been given here by many (Ironically, when I was started farming only 2 years ago, I half ignored it )
Start small - baby steps. Maybe look at renting some ground on a short term lease this year, sell some silage growing. See how much time you can spend on the farm, both summer and winter.
(I think when I started, I only thought about summer days, and how much i could get done on the long evenings, and then all of a sudden it was winter, and I had no time outside in the evening, and still lots to do)

Best o luck with it anyways, whatever you end up doing.

A

Birdnuts

A small hardy suckler herd might be the way to go here given my own experience:)

theaceofspies

Been through a similar situation myself. Advice would be to keep farm costs as low as possible and pay off the loan ASAP (forget about re-investment until the loan is paid off).
Give priority to the day job and don't let it subsidise the farming side. This sounds vague and is a slow process but hope it helps.

ormondeboy3

Thanks for the advice, rental of one of the fields is an option. Will talk it through with a few people.

Shauny2010

Maybe if its well drained land you could do a bit of tillage ( thats only if its been done in the area)
NO need to worry about stock etc,