'Good Farmer' or 'Good land'

Muckit

Just throwing this out.......

If you were driving the road and seen a field growing a great crop of whatever, be it cereal or grass, would you put it down to the quality of the land or the quality of the farmer? :rolleyes:

Is it possible to make a silk purse of a sows ear?

germanicus

Muckit wrote: »

Is it possible to make a silk purse of a sows ear?

No but its possible to make a sows ear out of a silk purse!

PMU

farmer every time.a good crop is a sign of good management

irishh_bob

its a lot easier to be a good farmer on good land , farmers can be improoved upon , land can too but not to the same degree

stanflt

if you drive from the east to the west of ireland or visa versa the question will answer itself-luscious green fields beside yellow or rushfilled fields-good farmer has drained the land etc etc ie put abit of effort in and is reaping the rewards-you cant be agood farmer by accident

johngalway

I agree with stanflt, good land grows good rushes Farmer has to manage things.

Juniorhurler

Great question. I know two farms beside each other near here. One grows rushes and bad black whiteheads the other grows lush grass and export grade weanlings.

deejer

you would also know by looking if it is good land or not. Considering where I am from I appreciate the effort some people have to put in to make their land productive. With some land there is only so much you can do - no matter how good a farmer you are.

On the other side of the coin it makes my blood boil when I see some fella after taking the finest land in the country and covering it with rushes, or worse trees!

jeff greene

Without doubt its good farmer, hedges, fences, drains, weeds, etc all need maintaining regardless of land quality. Look at some farmyards and compare them to the nice, clean and tidy yards of the good farmers, same goes for their livestock and even their own car or jeep.


Having good land doesn’t mean much if you haven’t the work ethic and dedication to make it work

Tipp Man

good land every time

The only way to tell if it's a good farmer or not is to look at his profits and business plan

Maintainence of the land, ditches etc, having good cattle, good crops, shiny tractors etc anybody can do if they are bothered. Not everybody can make proper money - most don't

deejer

Just because you can eat your dinner off the floor of some fellas cubicle house that doesnt make him a good farmer. Obviously a certain amount of maintanence is important but some places take it a bit far.

There is also a cost/standard of land balance that has to be maintained. You just cant justify the amount of money it can sometimes take to make land look impressive to the fella driving past in his car.

jeff greene

You can have the best land in the country but is doesn’t mean a damn if the farmer can’t manage it, as said already there are many examples of it and the appearance of the farm means alot and shows on the farmer ability to manage, I was at an excellent farm walk in Killmallock, McNamara is his name I think but his farm is exemplary and his figures are good too. Farmers have to maintain the land as well as make a living off it

pakalasa

I depends what you mean by a 'good farmer'. In my book, a good farmer is one that can get the maximum return from what he has, be it good or bad land. At the end of the day, it's the profit per acre that counts not the output per acre.

Is it possible to turn bad land into good? - Surely if the drainage is right, it's fertilised and limed, over time it should get better and better. The amount of top-soil should increase too. I've often driven through the Burren in Co. Clare. Every now and then you'd see a perfectly green farm surrounded on all sides by nothing but rocky fields.

blue5000

Some old fella was asked what's the difference between a good farmer and a bad farmer?

'About a fortnight, I would think' was his answer.:)

funny man

A good farmer will have good ground!

No matter what part of the country you drive through you will know a good farmer by the care and attention s/he gives to his/her land as this is his/her biggest asset and farmers who look after their land usually drive the last out of it but put back in by investing in keeping it right.

keep going

farmer all the time,a good farmer will make land anywhere, bad farmer will make good land bad

bbam

jeff greene wrote: »

Without doubt its good farmer, hedges, fences, drains, weeds, etc all need maintaining regardless of land quality. Look at some farmyards and compare them to the nice, clean and tidy yards of the good farmers, same goes for their livestock and even their own car or jeep.


Having good land doesn’t mean much if you haven’t the work ethic and dedication to make it work

Indeed but there is a balance too, my BIL bought a run down farm with a hefty price tag... Drained, ditched, reseeded, slated sheds, €60K on a nice green tractor.. Stocked with reasonable high end sucklers..

Now he's deep into the bank and moaning that repayments are way out of control and he can't get into the black no matter what...

I asked him about costs to maintain a cow for the year and he hadn't a clue, nor did he want to work it out, said he was afraid to :rolleyes:

My point is just because you take a piece of land and bring it to life, neat ditches and all that looks good doesn't make you a good farmer.. We all know what it takes to grow good grass...

Someone making a living from farming, now that's a good farmer.

pakalasa

Similar to what BBAM said, but I know of 2 farmers.

Farmer A
The best of everything, not a rush in sight, all ditches cut heatly, lovely gates with nice stone walls on all entrances. Always has a top of the range tractor, be it Fendt or JD. He drives a 4x4 that cost over €100k, wife has a fancy sports car too. Always baffled as to where he got the money.

Farmer B
Farms the same type of land. Farm wouldnt be what you'd call 'spin and span'. I've even hear heard people complaining about the state of things. I dont, because I know how hard he works. And unlike Farmer A he does nearly all the work himself. Keeping the place tidy goes down the list of priorities, when there are cows calving etc.

Well the bank has now moved in on one of these farms and it's rumoured it will be up for sale soon. Shocked when I heard it but not at all surprised, the more I think about it....As they say, nobody ever went bust making a profit.
True story, by the way.

johngalway

A lot of people in this country live/d on credit and by not paying their bills. One shop went out of business here years ago. The owed bills became very public very embarrassing news for a few people and led to other merchants not being so tight lipped about their owed bills. Solved a lot of the "How the hell does X afford to have a new Y every year?".

Casinoking

pakalasa wrote: »

Similar to what BBAM said, but I know of 2 farmers.

Farmer A
The best of everything, not a rush in sight, all ditches cut heatly, lovely gates with nice stone walls on all entrances. Always has a top of the range tractor, be it Fendt or JD. He drives a 4x4 that cost over €100k, wife has a fancy sports car too. Always baffled as to where he got the money.

Farmer B
Farms the same type of land. Farm wouldnt be what you'd call 'spin and span'. I've even hear heard people complaining about the state of things. I dont, because I know how hard he works. And unlike Farmer A he does nearly all the work himself. Keeping the place tidy goes down the list of priorities, when there are cows calving etc.

Well the bank has now moved in on one of these farms and it's rumoured it will be up for sale soon. Shocked when I heard it but not at all surprised, the more I think about it....As they say, nobody ever went bust making a profit.
True story, by the way.

Not an argument that I would really support either. I was delivering silage for my brother-in-law last week and found myself in the most shocking farmyard I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a lot of them. I had to drive over a dung heap to get in, he bulldozed the 23 bales off the trailer with the remains of a Massey digger driving over several in the process, and I had to drive through about 3 feet of pure scutter to get back out. He had a fine big slatted unit alright, and the feed passage was full of the best of feeding - sawdust, mouldy hay and more than a hint of hen manure. Haven't seen anything like it for years. Hundreds of cattle in the yard, a fair few of them wandering around free range. Is he working hard? Yes. Is he making a profit? I would certainly imagine so. Is he a good farmer? Not in my book.

jeff greene

bbam wrote: »

Indeed but there is a balance too, my BIL bought a run down farm with a hefty price tag... Drained, ditched, reseeded, slated sheds, €60K on a nice green tractor.. Stocked with reasonable high end sucklers..

Now he's deep into the bank and moaning that repayments are way out of control and he can't get into the black no matter what...

I asked him about costs to maintain a cow for the year and he hadn't a clue, nor did he want to work it out, said he was afraid to :rolleyes:

My point is just because you take a piece of land and bring it to life, neat ditches and all that looks good doesn't make you a good farmer.. We all know what it takes to grow good grass...

Someone making a living from farming, now that's a good farmer.

A goal for every farmer should be to leave the farm to your successor in as good or better state than you got it, that obviously includes finances. Turning a profit at the expense of maintenance is only possible for so long until the place is run down. The topic here was good land or good farmer, in my opinion it good farmer all day long

just do it

pakalasa wrote: »

Similar to what BBAM said, but I know of 2 farmers.

Farmer A
The best of everything, not a rush in sight, all ditches cut heatly, lovely gates with nice stone walls on all entrances. Always has a top of the range tractor, be it Fendt or JD. He drives a 4x4 that cost over €100k, wife has a fancy sports car too. Always baffled as to where he got the money.

Farmer B
Farms the same type of land. Farm wouldnt be what you'd call 'spin and span'. I've even hear heard people complaining about the state of things. I dont, because I know how hard he works. And unlike Farmer A he does nearly all the work himself. Keeping the place tidy goes down the list of priorities, when there are cows calving etc.

Well the bank has now moved in on one of these farms and it's rumoured it will be up for sale soon. Shocked when I heard it but not at all surprised, the more I think about it....As they say, nobody ever went bust making a profit.
True story, by the way.

I take it it will be Farm A up for sale?:D