Advise on what steps to take?

shy_boy

I have been working with my dad on tillage for several years now mainly Barley, im 22 years of age nw and have been to college but im tinking farming is they only way i could live id hate a (9 to 5) job,, or only and biggest problem is we do not have enough land to be making a good profit, we have 100 acres and we rent another 25ac, but i have always been interested in getting into Dairy (Im fasinated with it), we are lucky enough as to we have no major bank repayments at the mo (touch wood), and the 100ac is in 1 block and would suit, the only thing is would it be worth or while with all the investment that would have to take place?? what do you guys reckon??Is it worth while even trying getting into milking with the quota gone 2015
any response or advise be much apprciated

simx

shy_boy wrote: »

I have been working with my dad on tillage for several years now mainly Barley, im 22 years of age nw and have been to college but im tinking farming is they only way i could live id hate a (9 to 5) job,, or only and biggest problem is we do not have enough land to be making a good profit, we have 100 acres and we rent another 25ac, but i have always been interested in getting into Dairy (Im fasinated with it), we are lucky enough as to we have no major bank repayments at the mo (touch wood), and the 100ac is in 1 block and would suit, the only thing is would it be worth or while with all the investment that would have to take place?? what do you guys reckon??Is it worth while even trying getting into milking with the quota gone 2015
any response or advise be much apprciated

it would mean a big investment,maybe wait untill 2015 before you make any rash decisions,you would probably be able to milk a nice number of cows and if its in tillage it must be fairly resonable land,nice block of land for the job alright

shy_boy

How much of an investment would you think?

simx

shy_boy wrote: »

How much of an investment would you think?

depend on what you have already,how big your going to get into it,sounds like a big investment,reseeding,fencing,water troughs,milking parlour,slurry storage etc the list goes on

shy_boy

yeah it would be very big investment. Whats your view on the banks on lending would someone ever stand a chance of getting a loan these days??we have a slatted unit(which we couldnt use)some old small sheds here and there(pig unit, calve hse and hen house). Would need all of the above ?

simx

shy_boy wrote: »

yeah it would be very big investment. Whats your view on the banks on lending would someone ever stand a chance of getting a loan these days??we have a slatted unit(which we couldnt use)some old small sheds here and there(pig unit, calve hse and hen house). Would need all of the above ?

slatted unit,milking parlour,meal bim or a shed to back trailer of meal into,calving house,calf house with high roof preferably,maybe another house to accomodate a couple of lame/sick animals thats all i ca n think of at moment but its enough

bmccaff

I would spend the next 2-3 years working on local Dairy Farms gaining experience alongside working at Tillage.
You will still be plenty young in 4-5 years and hopefully young farmers will have better start-up incentives by then as it is impossible to predict what will happen when quota is obolished and everyone starts milking.

Also I would travel to New zealand on the Tillage off-season and even Netherlands/Denmark farms to see how robot set-ups work.
They will be much cheaper in 4-5 years and a block of 100 acres will suit this kind of system.
Me or my father never found standing in a pit 7 days/365 a year " fasinating" which is why we quit several years back and never regretted it. Was the only part of the job I hated. Would like to go down the robot route but will wait until 2015 and see how thing pan out.

In the meantime if your heart is set on dairying study up on different business plans/ system /layouts for your farm, gain experience (this will be most important and stand to you in future), maybe even get into rearing 20-30 dairy heifers each year and at least then you will have the start of a herd built up if you decide to go ahead. Good Luck

6480

is there any suitable farm with yard and parlour that u could rent locally

iverjohnston

You could look for dairy work with the Farm Relief Services, if you have many dairy farms around, you could see a lot ofdifferent set-ups. iver in Cavan

freedominacup

shy_boy wrote: »

How much of an investment would you think?

You need to get some real dairy experience before you think about investing anything. With that said buying a few dairy heifer calves in the coming spring if you have some spare cash will probably be a good each way bet. If you do go ahead and start dairying you'll have some stock if you don't there's a fairly good chance the market for dairy heifers will be good in 2015.

The average farmer who got milk in the first 2 years of the new entrants scheme spent around €165,000 and that was just for 180,000 litres. I would assume most of them over invested in parlours and handling facilities to allow for the expansion they expected to achieve.

rayzorsharpest

U should apply for new entrant quota, get on to ur teagasc advisor. U should consider purchasing some FR heifer calves & u should join ur local Dairy discussion group. Yes, i wld agree with the above get some experiece first.