spare time what to do?

shy_boy

ok guys here it goes, i have been thinking alot lately about what i can do to get my dads farm up and buzzing:D so im going to bounce a few ideas off you guys:) if thats ok, we sow 125 acres of tillage every year but we also have 8 acres of grass land and were plannig on sowing another 3acres of grass and maybe more mainly because its to wet for tillage

We also have a few old buildings in the farm yard that havent been used for anything since the 90s, I have never worked with cattle or any farm animals before but have been doing alot of reading up on it lately but i know experience is key, i know a bit from down through the years and my dad had livestock before i was born.

Basically I am looking for ideas of how i can use all this to my advantage, any ideas or comments or help in anyway be much apprciated

f140

shy_boy wrote: »

ok guys here it goes, i have been thinking alot lately about what i can do to get my dads farm up and buzzing:D so im going to bounce a few ideas off you guys:) if thats ok, we sow 125 acres of tillage every year but we also have 8 acres of grass land and were plannig on sowing another 3acres of grass and maybe more mainly because its to wet for tillage

We also have a few old buildings in the farm yard that havent been used for anything since the 90s, I have never worked with cattle or any farm animals before but have been doing alot of reading up on it lately but i know experience is key, i know a bit from down through the years and my dad had livestock before i was born.

Basically I am looking for ideas of how i can use all this to my advantage, any ideas or comments or help in anyway be much apprciated

since your in tilleage do you have your own baler? why not just cut bales off it twce or three times a year and sell them then to farmers in the winter?

TheBody

Have you considered diesel laundering? :pac:

shy_boy

we dont have a baler we usaully get a contractor to bale and this year it caught fire:eek: he was lucky to get the tractor off of it and bale if ye get me

shy_boy

f140 wrote: »

since your in tilleage do you have your own baler? why not just cut bales off it twce or three times a year and sell them then to farmers in the winter?

TheBody wrote: »

Have you considered diesel laundering? :pac:

diesel laundering?

Fat Cant

If I was you sow it all in spring barley . If you don't have try get a plough sower sprayer and cheap baler .
Go get yourself a job and do the farming part time, there is feck all out of farming

shy_boy

Fat Cant wrote: »

If I was you sow it all in spring barley . If you don't have try get a plough sower sprayer and cheap baler .
Go get yourself a job and do the farming part time, there is feck all out of farming

we have plough, time harrow, sprayer and spreader thats about it

epfff

Calf rearing
basic sheds for early days
few small paddocks to graze them for summer sell before winter
you will not make your millians but

Username John

shy_boy wrote: »

ok guys here it goes, i have been thinking alot lately about what i can do to get my dads farm up and buzzing:D so im going to bounce a few ideas off you guys:) if thats ok, we sow 125 acres of tillage every year but we also have 8 acres of grass land and were plannig on sowing another 3acres of grass and maybe more mainly because its to wet for tillage

We also have a few old buildings in the farm yard that havent been used for anything since the 90s, I have never worked with cattle or any farm animals before but have been doing alot of reading up on it lately but i know experience is key, i know a bit from down through the years and my dad had livestock before i was born.

Basically I am looking for ideas of how i can use all this to my advantage, any ideas or comments or help in anyway be much apprciated

So, tillage is out.
Are making bales and selling them an option as the previous poster suggested?

I am guessing as you want to do something yourself, letting it for grazing isn't an option?

Next you are into the animals - it's very small acreage for animals IMO

What sort of old buildings? Do you have handling facilities - a good yard & crush for cattle?
The 8 and 3 acres, what kinda fencing do they have?

What kinda fencing do the 125 acres have? I won't help you with answers here, as I don't have cattle myself - but with access to large acreage a lot of which would be idle most of the winter I imagine? Is there an outwintering option here you could benefit from?

Sheep are also an option, but you would want good fencing. Again - is there an option here to benefit from the tillage acreage you have I wonder?

When your da had livestock, what did he have? His knowledge should factor in your decision as well maybe?

20silkcut

Buy a few cheap fresian Bull calves and rear them. I done it this year. Never reared a calf in my life and have a herd of hardy weanlings now, you don't feel the time going. Ask a neighbouring farmer if an animal looks sick they can tell you what it is or if to call the vet. I don't have anything special shed or facility wise same as yourself derelict for near 30 years.

I bought 14 of them for 3700 quid (very high prices last spring).

Been spending an average of 500 a month on them since.
Had to buy feeding troughs, water troughs, water fittings, fencing, ring feeder, I had nothing to start with.

They will break you but if you are getting sfp etc that should keep you afloat if you sacrifice the finer things in life.
I amassed total expenses of 8 grand this year on a total of 17calves (bought a further 3)excluding purchase price. It is crazy, madness in fact but don't let that put you off. It is immensely satisfying to see calves thriving . I plan on buying 30 more calves this spring. Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular. Everyone you ask will tell you to stay away from it.

ootbitb

20silkcut wrote: »

Buy a few cheap fresian Bull calves and rear them. I done it this year. Never reared a calf in my life and have a herd of hardy weanlings now, you don't feel the time going. Ask a neighbouring farmer if an animal looks sick they can tell you what it is or if to call the vet. I don't have anything special shed or facility wise same as yourself derelict for near 30 years.

I bought 14 of them for 3700 quid (very high prices last spring).

Been spending an average of 500 a month on them since.
Had to buy feeding troughs, water troughs, water fittings, fencing, ring feeder, I had nothing to start with.

They will break you but if you are getting sfp etc that should keep you afloat if you sacrifice the finer things in life.
I amassed total expenses of 8 grand this year on a total of 17 calves excluding purchase price. It is crazy, madness in fact but don't let that put you off. It is immensely satisfying to see calves thriving . I plan on buying 30 more calves this spring. Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular. Everyone you ask will tell you to stay away from it.

I would be surprised if OP rears calves after reading the above.:D

20silkcut

ootbitb wrote: »

I would be surprised if OP rears calves after reading the above.:D

I am in the happy position where both department inspectors and the taxman have a certain amount of pity for me.

Username John

20silkcut wrote: »

They will break you but...

Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular.

20silkcut wrote: »

I am in the happy position where both department inspectors and the taxman have a certain amount of pity for me.

Hi 20Silkcut,
Two good posts

yellow50HX

well if the sheds have a concrete floor and are anyway good for cattle then you can easily modify them. Having tillage is not a obstacle. Stubble land is ideal for out wintering once there is a bit of shelter for the cattle. If you not used to raising cattle then rearing calves is a good start, but you need to plan want you plan to do with them. buying as calves and selling as yearlings is a option. You will need handling facilities for cattle you can start with a second hand mobile crush if needed.
Here's an idea, with very little capital needed (meal trough, water trough, gates and fencing) i'm assuming you have a tractor for feeding silage bales. buy spring calves and give them replacement milk until they are weaned, then out on grass +a little meal. If you have winter barley and harvest early enough sow in rape/kale straight after harvesting and strip graze this over winter. If your sheds are next to tillage fields you could straw bed the sheds but leave access to the stubble so that the cattle could come and go as they want (and for handling) and for drinking water then feed with bales out on the stubble. With that amount of tillage the cattle will not do a huge amount of damage, and you can spread the dung back out in the spring time. Also you could put in fodder beet as a break crop and get the cattle to strip graze it, as this would help the yields of the corn.

keep going

yellow50HX wrote: »

well if the sheds have a concrete floor and are anyway good for cattle then you can easily modify them. Having tillage is not a obstacle. Stubble land is ideal for out wintering once there is a bit of shelter for the cattle. If you not used to raising cattle then rearing calves is a good start, but you need to plan want you plan to do with them. buying as calves and selling as yearlings is a option. You will need handling facilities for cattle you can start with a second hand mobile crush if needed.
Here's an idea, with very little capital needed (meal trough, water trough, gates and fencing) i'm assuming you have a tractor for feeding silage bales. buy spring calves and give them replacement milk until they are weaned, then out on grass +a little meal. If you have winter barley and harvest early enough sow in rape/kale straight after harvesting and strip graze this over winter. If your sheds are next to tillage fields you could straw bed the sheds but leave access to the stubble so that the cattle could come and go as they want (and for handling) and for drinking water then feed with bales out on the stubble. With that amount of tillage the cattle will not do a huge amount of damage, and you can spread the dung back out in the spring time. Also you could put in fodder beet as a break crop and get the cattle to strip graze it, as this would help the yields of the corn.

this along the rightlines except where i would differ is only use the houses for rearing the calves and out winter the weanlings as if memory serves me right you could out-winter nearly 100 weanlings abiding by dept rules on that much land.sell at 18 months and you will make very efficent use ofd your grass and one relatively cheap winter.the key to out wintering is to keep the winter short by grass management.2 things to be carefull of -dont push stocking rates too high,it can quickly push your costs up and when buying calves try and buy either all early ones or all late ones dont end up with mixed bunchs

Muckit

20silkcut wrote: »

Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular.

I never heard this saying before, but I like it

reilig

20silkcut wrote: »

Buy a few cheap fresian Bull calves and rear them. I done it this year. Never reared a calf in my life and have a herd of hardy weanlings now, you don't feel the time going. Ask a neighbouring farmer if an animal looks sick they can tell you what it is or if to call the vet. I don't have anything special shed or facility wise same as yourself derelict for near 30 years.

I bought 14 of them for 3700 quid (very high prices last spring).

Been spending an average of 500 a month on them since.
Had to buy feeding troughs, water troughs, water fittings, fencing, ring feeder, I had nothing to start with.

They will break you but if you are getting sfp etc that should keep you afloat if you sacrifice the finer things in life.
I amassed total expenses of 8 grand this year on a total of 17calves (bought a further 3)excluding purchase price. It is crazy, madness in fact but don't let that put you off. It is immensely satisfying to see calves thriving . I plan on buying 30 more calves this spring. Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular. Everyone you ask will tell you to stay away from it.

An expensive hobby 20silkcut. Would it not be more financially wise to put the money into a term savings account where there was little chance of a portion of it dieing or it devalueing by 50% ?? Or does farming give you such a buzz that can only be gotten from illegal narcotics?

shy_boy

reilig wrote: »

An expensive hobby 20silkcut. Would it not be more financially wise to put the money into a term savings account where there was little chance of a portion of it dieing or it devalueing by 50% ?? Or does farming give you such a buzz that can only be gotten from illegal narcotics?

not pratically but ye i am very interested Im looking forward to living instead of existing i.e try some different, challenge, and i also have to think about my future i.e what am i going to do with the farm when passed down i tink i need to get it in the best place possible but you never know in the farming Industry

What do you reckon rellig where do i start

roadtripman

shy_boy wrote: »

not pratically but ye i am very interested Im looking forward to living instead of existing i.e try some different, challenge, and i also have to think about my future i.e what am i going to do with the farm when passed down i tink i need to get it in the best place possible but you never know in the farming Industry

What do you reckon rellig where do i start

I have a similar type of farm to you, what I would do is put the 12 acres into forestry(no investment required) and use the premium to improve the profit of your tillage business, if you only spent it on lime and extra p&k you would see a return very quickly, or a machine to replace a contractors bill etc

JohnBoy

reilig wrote: »

An expensive hobby 20silkcut. Would it not be more financially wise to put the money into a term savings account where there was little chance of a portion of it dieing or it devalueing by 50% ?? Or does farming give you such a buzz that can only be gotten from illegal narcotics?

it's generally financially wise to do many things other than farming if you're coming from nothing in any business venture then you need to invest in the first few years so it's inevitable I think.


We're spending money on improvements all the time and once we're in a position to actually start buying livestock we should have both a bit of capital built up, and have the facilities in such a state that we can actually focus our attention on the cattle, not the infrastructure.

bbam

yellow50HX wrote: »

If you not used to raising cattle then rearing calves is a good start

if OP isn't used to cattle then a group of sucks is a sure way to send money to the knackery!
Plenty of seasoned experienced farmers can't raise sucks without huge losses, its not just bring them home, throw them milk, and then your quids in!!
I would have thought a few small weanlings would be the way to start building experience of stockmanship.. Maybe buy reared/weaned sucks in the spring to run on grass..

DMAXMAN

for my tuppenc worth i would buy a few fancy little bullocks/heifers in the spring and summer graze them. i know a man doing this on a small scale and makes a nice few bob from it. i think it works best with real fancy little cattle.

poor farmer

20silkcut wrote: »

Buy a few cheap fresian Bull calves and rear them. I done it this year. Never reared a calf in my life and have a herd of hardy weanlings now, you don't feel the time going. Ask a neighbouring farmer if an animal looks sick they can tell you what it is or if to call the vet. I don't have anything special shed or facility wise same as yourself derelict for near 30 years.

I bought 14 of them for 3700 quid (very high prices last spring).

Been spending an average of 500 a month on them since.
Had to buy feeding troughs, water troughs, water fittings, fencing, ring feeder, I had nothing to start with.

They will break you but if you are getting sfp etc that should keep you afloat if you sacrifice the finer things in life.
I amassed total expenses of 8 grand this year on a total of 17calves (bought a further 3)excluding purchase price. It is crazy, madness in fact but don't let that put you off. It is immensely satisfying to see calves thriving . I plan on buying 30 more calves this spring. Like farming the cost of living is rising but living still remains popular. Everyone you ask will tell you to stay away from it.

bbam wrote: »

if OP isn't used to cattle then a group of sucks is a sure way to send money to the knackery!
Plenty of seasoned experienced farmers can't raise sucks without huge losses, its not just bring them home, throw them milk, and then your quids in!!
I would have thought a few small weanlings would be the way to start building experience of stockmanship.. Maybe buy reared/weaned sucks in the spring to run on grass..

So Mr silk cut your calves are now standing you €470 each average,are the worth that
I see good march born fr bulls in the marts making €250-350
bbam is giving good advice ,plain weans arent hard bought at the moment.

ootbitb

maybe silk cut is being a little tongue in cheek there or maybe he a millionaire n just don't care..


always found it hard to sell bucket fed calves before their birthday

solas111

DMAXMAN wrote: »

for my tuppenc worth i would buy a few fancy little bullocks/heifers in the spring and summer graze them. i know a man doing this on a small scale and makes a nice few bob from it. i think it works best with real fancy little cattle.

I have zero knowledge of farming but am thinking about a project that would put small patches of mostly poor and presently unused land to some sort of productive use. Someone mentioned the possibility of stocking the land with small breeds of cattle that would be more suitable and better matched to the land than the larger animals found on good land. Any (constructive) ideas?

bbam

solas111 wrote: »

I have zero knowledge of farming but am thinking about a project that would put small patches of mostly poor and presently unused land to some sort of productive use. Someone mentioned the possibility of stocking the land with small breeds of cattle that would be more suitable and better matched to the land than the larger animals found on good land. Any (constructive) ideas?

Your description of the land is typical of my area . The problem I find is that the poorer, usually wetter areas have much shorter grazing seasons and quality grass growth is much less, this reduces the weight gain possible without concentrate supplementation. It works but its harder and less profitable.

Depending on what you mean about smaller breeds. I'd guess Angus would be the smallest of the commercial breeds and from what I can see there is really only profit in rearing them to slaughter.
If your thinking Dexter/Kerry or similar....well you may as well just keep a few donkeys as there is no commercial gain in keeping them, someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that but I don't think there is a business in rearing and slaughtering Dexter or Kerry cattle.

1chippy

On 12 acres i would be more inclined to run a small flock of ewes. and thats from someone who hates sheep.

tabby aspreme

Would you think of sowing rape after some of the barley and putting store lambs on it ,they do very well on rape and land that has sheep grazing rape would grow good corn the following year

maxxuumman

Why not build a big F**k off parlour, and milk 100's of cows. Lots a people doing it. Must be loads a money in it.

shy_boy

maxxuumman wrote: »

Why not build a big F**k off parlour, and milk 100's of cows. Lots a people doing it. Must be loads a money in it.

i sence sarcism :rolleyes:

20silkcut

poor farmer wrote: »

So Mr silk cut your calves are now standing you €470 each average,are the worth that
I see good march born fr bulls in the marts making €250-350
bbam is giving good advice ,plain weans arent hard bought at the moment.

I have 10 acres of strong grass in front of 16 calves at the moment. When they have that ate they have 8 acres of after grass cut in September then they have 20 acres of land grazed bare by horses until end of September and 7 acres that they last grazed in mid September themselves. When they get through all that I have 80 round bales of 2011 silage for them. I am hoping that will get them safely through till spring and if they are still only worth 250-350 at that stage then **** it I will eat my hat. I am hoping that they will be at least worth the price of two suck calves each and I can go back and start all over again.

I am not being tongue in cheek that is my honest experience this year. Yes I have been absolutely roasted alive financially but I managed to keep the show on the road until the cheque from Europe came in October I am nothing without the SFP most definitely not a millionaire the complete opposite in fact.
I do it because I love it/ to show cause/ because it is top quality land that will one day show it's true potential.

bob charles

20silkcut wrote: »

I do it because I love it/ to show cause/ because it is top quality land that will one day show it's true potential.

Ah, not another person addicted to this funny old job :rolleyes:

bob charles

maxxuumman wrote: »

Why not build a big F**k off parlour, and milk 100's of cows. Lots a people doing it. Must be loads a money in it.

sounds like honest insider knowledge to me

ootbitb

20silkcut wrote: »

I have 10 acres of strong grass in front of 16 calves at the moment. When they have that ate they have 8 acres of after grass cut in September then they have 20 acres of land grazed bare by horses until end of September and 7 acres that they last grazed in mid September themselves. When they get through all that I have 80 round bales of 2011 silage for them. I am hoping that will get them safely through till spring and if they are still only worth 250-350 at that stage then **** it I will eat my hat. I am hoping that they will be at least worth the price of two suck calves each and I can go back and start all over again.

I am not being tongue in cheek that is my honest experience this year. Yes I have been absolutely roasted alive financially but I managed to keep the show on the road until the cheque from Europe came in October I am nothing without the SFP most definitely not a millionaire the complete opposite in fact.
I do it because I love it/ to show cause/ because it is top quality land that will one day show it's true potential.

In my estimation your 80 bales along with some concentrates will feed 16 sucks about 200 days.

You should be able to sell a good few bales. Hope it was wrapped well though.:)

20silkcut

ootbitb wrote: »

In my estimation your 80 bales along with some concentrates will feed 16 sucks about 200 days.

You should be able to sell a good few bales. Hope it was wrapped well though.:)

They are weanlings now though about 250kg maybe 1 or two touching 300 kg. Would be hoping to not be opening a bale until about Christmas maybe after.
Bales not too bad a few have tufts of grass growing out of them would reckon I definitely have 60 of that 80 usable will find out soon enough. Might buy in a few bales of hay at some stage.

keep going

bob charles wrote: »

sounds like honest insider knowledge to me

i dont know where we will be in 5 years time but lets hook up and see who got this one right:rolleyes: