Farm sharing

20silkcut

What are the pros and cons? Was thinking of doing it with a neighbouring farmer on our own farm at home 34 acres of tillage and 48 acres of grass. Is that too small scale for such an arrangement? Have a cubicle house and loose sheds , silage yard , cattle crush and open slurry pit.
He is a dairy farmer and has a certain amount of machinery a good deal of experience. He works with a contractor too so would be on the ball about spraying harvesting etc.
Anyone here of any experience of such an arrangement.
I am not in a financial position Myself to farm our entire farm and am sick to teeth of leasing the land. However I financially low maintenance myself and don't have mortgage/family etc or a whole pile of outgoings.

blue5000

The most important thing is clear communication between both partners, if one person has a problem with what the other partner has done or has said etc. it needs to be dealt with quickly.
Is the other person older than you and perhaps getting tired of milking 7 days a week?
Will both partners benefit from the partnership?

20silkcut

blue5000 wrote: »

The most important thing is clear communication between both partners, if one person has a problem with what the other partner has done or has said etc. it needs to be dealt with quickly.
Is the other person older than you and perhaps getting tired of milking 7 days a week?
Will both partners benefit from the partnership?

we are both close enough in age.

The benefits for me:

No more leasing out the land and negotiating and haggling over it with various farmers.

At the moment the grassland is cut twice a year for silage and does not get any slurry or grazing so it would be better for the land if it was farmed properly.

It would allow me to gain some valuable experience especially on the tillage side of things.

I don't have a job at the moment so it will fill the days and should keep me occupied.

Possible downsides will have to spend a good bit of time and money working for possibly little or no return but that is a gamble every farmer takes.
I know it's easier to sit back and take the easy money for selling the silage every year but I can't sit back forever and don't want to.

It's possible the partnership could turn sour or breakdown.

The benefits for the other farmer are straw and feed for his animals off the tillage.

I don't know what the situation as regards the extra land contributing towards his nitrates figure. Or if he can even put some of his animals on my farm at all.

whelan1

2 local lads are in a partnership and the first question they where asked by the advisor is how will we split up the partnership- ie if things go sour what will the split be

John_F

is it share farming or a partnership we are talking about??

http://www.teagasc.ie/advisory/share_farming/index.asp

Bizzum

20silkcut wrote: »

I am not in a financial position Myself to farm our entire farm and am sick to teeth of leasing the land. However I financially low maintenance myself and don't have mortgage/family etc or a whole pile of outgoings.

As an alternative, would it be a runner to lease less and less of your farm over a few years until you were leasing none of it, and farming it all?

20silkcut

Does anyone here know what is the situation with animals in regard to share farming ?
Is share farming only possible in a tillage situation?
Could two neighbouring farmers combine herd numbers and move their animals freely between each others farms ???

1chippy

Is that 34 and 48 your own to add to the mix or is 34 your farm and 48 his. if the 82 is the combined of both farms i doubt it would be big enough to work. what happens when you get work and cant milk on your day. Have you discussed this yet with the other person.

DMAXMAN

i have heard of an arrangement where the landowner takes in stock on a per day basis and is paid a bonus for liveweight gain over a given figure.also the landowner gets paid extra for having early turnout for stock. livestock owner gets the benefit of a good stockman looking after their stock who has an incentive to keep stock thriving to their best.

20silkcut

DMAXMAN wrote: »

i have heard of an arrangement where the landowner takes in stock on a per day basis and is paid a bonus for liveweight gain over a given figure.also the landowner gets paid extra for having early turnout for stock. livestock owner gets the benefit of a good stockman looking after their stock who has an incentive to keep stock thriving to their best.

That sounds like a bed and breakfast arrangement that can be done no problem for dry stock or sucklers. What I was wondering is could a dairy farmer graze some of my land for his dairy cows in a farm sharing arrangement? Would we have to go for a joint herd number? Are joint herd numbers common between non blood related farmers?

20silkcut

1chippy wrote: »

Is that 34 and 48 your own to add to the mix or is 34 your farm and 48 his. if the 82 is the combined of both farms i doubt it would be big enough to work. what happens when you get work and cant milk on your day. Have you discussed this yet with the other person.

No I am 82 acres he is 130 acres. No have not discussed yet. He approached me yesterday about buying my land and swapping parcels etc so my mind is racing at the minute.

Selling not an option on any level though. Farm sharing, no bother would trust him with my life. Would sign contracts for 10 years with him no bother. Would he not be better off investing and expanding his dairy herd than buying land off me??? If he had a legal guarantee of fixity of tenure or whatever.
I would rear his calves , keep the bulls and give back the heifers.

Muckit

20silkcut wrote: »

Would he not be better off investing and expanding his dairy herd than buying land off me???

I think he's trying to invest and expand by buying (your) land :rolleyes:

Good loser

Would not think your situation suits a partnership atall.

More suitable where both sides are doing the one enterprise.

Big difference between skilled dairy farmer and so-so beef man.

Don't sell. Exchange if it suits. Land near his parlour for grazing should be worth 1.5 times land away.

Doubt if cattle can be mixed in any way. He could give you heifers to rear (without payment) i.e. transfer them into your herd and take them back when 3/4 months in calf - in case of TB problem later.

20silkcut

Good loser wrote: »

Would not think your situation suits a partnership atall.

More suitable where both sides are doing the one enterprise.

Big difference between skilled dairy farmer and so-so beef man.

Don't sell. Exchange if it suits. Land near his parlour for grazing should be worth 1.5 times land away.

Doubt if cattle can be mixed in any way. He could give you heifers to rear (without payment) i.e. transfer them into your herd and take them back when 3/4 months in calf - in case of TB problem later.

would it matter what skill level the two farmers were at?
I would not be proposing a profit sharing arrangement. Both enterprises are still seperate. Just proposing to share 34 acres of my farm with him.
Sure he is taking a punt giving me his replacement heifers to rear but he is only a few houses up the road anyway. He currently has them on an out farm over a mile away.