Life after dairying

mf240

Just for the benifit of suckler lads getting into dairying and for those in dairying who are getting to the stage that they are not able, or dont want to do it for much longer.

Maybe those of ye that got out of dairying in the past could tell us how ye find it. as regards income, personal time any regrets ect.

Just to give another side to things.

Mulumpy

Nice to see a different spin on this topic. I hold down a full time job as well as milking 60 cows. Only took over from my late father two years ago but being honest i prefer my job hands down. Contract a lot of work out but its still a struggle to have any sort of time for my young family. Its fantastic having a second income takes a lot of pressure off. Would get out of cows in morning if I could afford to but ive no interest in cattle and don't see leasing the farm as an option.

yellow50HX

my dad got out of cows about 10 years ago he was in his late 50's but was findign it a struggle, i was around a bit and could get soem of the evening milkings done but wasnt able to do a whole lot when i was on shift work. the yard and sheds needed an upgrade and at the time he wasnt able to justify the outlay and i wsant goignto be able to commit to milking full time either. When he did sell them and went to dry stock he did find it very hard, he had milked since he was knee high to churn so it was a huge change in his life, he took up a part time job to keep his mind ocupied and to get some cash going again. there are times when he misses it but he much perfers having more time now, he worked long enough.

its a huge lifestyle change that i think a lot of people underestimate even lads who have sucklers and are used to having to watch cows at calving time. my advice to lads thinking of goign milkign who are not from a dairy backround would be to approach a local dairy farmer and ask to work with them for a while to understand the work required. Fella like the idea of the regular milk cheque but there is a lot of scarfrices to be made for it.

jfh

Mulumpy wrote: »

Nice to see a different spin on this topic. I hold down a full time job as well as milking 60 cows. Only took over from my late father two years ago but being honest i prefer my job hands down. Contract a lot of work out but its still a struggle to have any sort of time for my young family. Its fantastic having a second income takes a lot of pressure off. Would get out of cows in morning if I could afford to but ive no interest in cattle and don't see leasing the farm as an option.

fair play to you, that's tough going, i'd imagine it would want to be a fairly flexible job? i find working straight hours monday to friday difficult with sucklers doing something wrong, never take time off for matches or going out. i've a few kids too, very time consuming

Mulumpy

jfh wrote: »

fair play to you, that's tough going, i'd imagine it would want to be a fairly flexible job? i find working straight hours monday to friday difficult with sucklers doing something wrong, never take time off for matches or going out. i've a few kids too, very time consuming

Yep but they make whole thing worth while

jfh

mf240 wrote: »

Just for the benifit of suckler lads getting into dairying and for those in dairying who are getting to the stage that they are not able, or dont want to do it for much longer.

Maybe those of ye that got out of dairying in the past could tell us how ye find it. as regards income, personal time any regrets ect.

Just to give another side to things.

good idea for a thread, we got out of dairying 14 years ago & we still argue about getting out. :rolleyes:
as another poster referred to here, there's more interest in Dairy cow & you do build up a "bond" with a cow & will know her personality, her linage.
it's just not the same from beef.
we had a decent dairy herd & would have a good reputation for quality cows, did a bit of showing.it looked a great set up from the outside but in all honestly we always struggled financially, wouldn't know any figures as i was too young. saying that we have a good base for beef now build on the back of the dairy.

dairying has come on leap & bounds in the last 15 years & we'd be way behind if we started again, one would want to work for a top class dairy farmer before going out on their own.
it's only after working outside of the farm, that i appreciate the business side of it. there's a few guys (woman) on here that know they're stuff & can tell you they're costings to a tee.
Personally i don't think, you'd change to dairy for money as it's a lifestyle, there's a lot easier ways of making money.

grazeaway

my father in law got out of milking a few years ago and despite his intial reservations he does seem to be enjoying life a lot more now. He is still farming and working everyday but now he can enjoy his days off and can plan for going away and has his evenings too. He used to start around 5 every morning and used to be in be at 8 or 9. He used to get in a relif milker in later years but was inisiting on being in the parlour too.

Getting out of dairy was also a huge thing for my dad too when he did it but they were knocking on 60 when they got out and didnt owe any loans on the farm, in both cases if they decided to stay going they would have needed to invest big chunk of money to upgrade facilites and equipment and for soemone thier age without the commitment of the next generation to be fulltime in teh cows it wouldnt have make sense.

I'd say some lads feel trapped in dairy as they have loans that need to be repaid and relaisticly only dairy has enough cash flow to make the repayments.

grazeaway

jfh wrote: »

good idea for a thread, we got out of dairying 14 years ago & we still argue about getting out. :rolleyes:
as another poster referred to here, there's more interest in Dairy cow & you do build up a "bond" with a cow & will know her personality, her linage.
it's just not the same from beef.
we had a decent dairy herd & would have a good reputation for quality cows, did a bit of showing.it looked a great set up from the outside but in all honestly we always struggled financially, wouldn't know any figures as i was too young. saying that we have a good base for beef now build on the back of the dairy.

dairying has come on leap & bounds in the last 15 years & we'd be way behind if we started again, one would want to work for a top class dairy farmer before going out on their own.
it's only after working outside of the farm, that i appreciate the business side of it. there's a few guys (woman) on here that know they're stuff & can tell you they're costings to a tee.
Personally i don't think, you'd change to dairy for money as it's a lifestyle, there's a lot easier ways of making money.

yeah thats soemthing dairy farmers know all about, the cows are part of thw family and you would know every one and thier sisters and mothers too.

like you say dairy has moved on a lot in the last 20 years and i'd say getting back into it now even for people that were in it would be a steep learning curve.

i'd defo agree with you on people going to work on good dairy farm before commiting to it. There is a hell of a lot more to it then letting the cows onto grass for a few hours then throwing on the clusters twice a day. Liek a few lads on here would say "milking the cows is the easy part"

whelan1

we have both sucklers and milkers.... the sucklers are my dads and the milkers are mine, i absolutely hate sucklers, just spent this morning getting them hoofpared and dosed. They are very unpredictable when calved and dont think anyone elderly should think they are an easy way of life after been milking

jfh

whelan1 wrote: »

They are very unpredictable when calved and dont think anyone elderly should think they are an easy way of life after been milking

well said, this is something that's forgotton about,

moy83

whelan1 wrote: »

we have both sucklers and milkers.... the sucklers are my dads and the milkers are mine, i absolutely hate sucklers, just spent this morning getting them hoofpared and dosed. They are very unpredictable when calved and dont think anyone elderly should think they are an easy way of life after been milking

Spot on there whelan , the father got out of milking about 7 years ago now and went halfarsed into suckling . He hates it and swears there is as much work out of sucklers as there was with the dairy .

kevthegaff

lad here contracting was giving out the other day what a handy number a lad down the road has milking 110 cows with an outfarm too, what planet is he on?

tommylimerick

got out of dairying about 3 years ago
the farm needed a lot of money to bring it up to scratch
and the council were visiting me every couple of months
sold the cows and machinery
have doubled that money in the stock market
was always very interested in the stock market before that
I am just past 35 now I can do volunteer work or some days on the farm too

grazeaway

whelan1 wrote: »

we have both sucklers and milkers.... the sucklers are my dads and the milkers are mine, i absolutely hate sucklers, just spent this morning getting them hoofpared and dosed. They are very unpredictable when calved and dont think anyone elderly should think they are an easy way of life after been milking

i find no difference between the milking and suckler cows with unpredictablity, have had close escapes with both, good rule or thumb is always be wary around any cow and her calf.

whelan1

then you have the calf who wont drink, cow losses a calf trying to foster a calf on to her...............torture

jfh

tommylimerick wrote: »

got out of dairying about 3 years ago
the farm needed a lot of money to bring it up to scratch
and the council were visiting me every couple of months
sold the cows and machinery
have doubled that money in the stock market
was always very interested in the stock market before that
I am just past 35 now I can do volunteer work or some days on the farm too

if you have doubled the money in the stock market in the last 3 years, you were in the wrong job farming

grazeaway

whelan1 wrote: »

then you have the calf who wont drink, cow losses a calf trying to foster a calf on to her...............torture

yeah, sure if was easy every one would be doing it...ha ha ha

have found if you can get a calf that looks like her own she'll take to it easier. soem of our cows have too much milk for one calf so we buy extras, we have fostered 5 this year all black limos or angus, we put the cow into the lockign barrier and let teh calves drink her it usually takes a few days but they are ok once they bond to the other calf the mother will take to them.

what we have noticed is its a hell of a lot harder to do it when the fostered calf is a different breed. Bought 6FR's and 2BB's last year and only one cow took to her new calf, same cows as this year and no bother.

Timmaay

jfh wrote: »

Personal I don't think, you'd change to dairy for money as it's a lifestyle, there's a lot easier ways of making money.

I think this depends on the circumstances, the farmer with say 100 cows, low borrowings (ie inherited the farm etc etc), and who is quite efficient with their time can make a decision enough living that is on par with many other good jobs.

grazeaway wrote: »

There is a hell of a lot more to it then letting the cows onto grass for a few hours then throwing on the clusters twice a day. Liek a few lads on here would say "milking the cows is the easy part"

Out of interest are there any study on the hours worked on average by a typical dairyfarmer, and a typical beef farmer, both with simular sized farms etc? I suppose I've been on a dairyfarm all my life, and dont really know what the hours on a beef farm are like, however the one or two fulltime beef lads I do know certainly seem to spend plenty of time on the farm also, things like lambing season most certainly are not easy in the slightest.

Sam Kade

grazeaway wrote: »

yeah, sure if was easy every one would be doing it...ha ha ha

have found if you can get a calf that looks like her own she'll take to it easier. soem of our cows have too much milk for one calf so we buy extras, we have fostered 5 this year all black limos or angus, we put the cow into the lockign barrier and let teh calves drink her it usually takes a few days but they are ok once they bond to the other calf the mother will take to them.

what we have noticed is its a hell of a lot harder to do it when the fostered calf is a different breed. Bought 6FR's and 2BB's last year and only one cow took to her new calf, same cows as this year and no bother.

The trick with fostering calves is to skin the cows dead calf and put it on the foster calf :eek:

delaval

Really good thread. My friend who is in dry stock said to me once that the only reason there is money in dairy is 'because ye don't have time to spend it'

redzerologhlen

Sam Kade wrote: »

The trick with fostering calves is to skin the cows dead calf and put it on the foster calf :eek:

Have done it a few times and it works well albeit a disgusting job. Dont know how you would manage when your double sucking though

aidanki

redzerologhlen wrote: »

Have done it a few times and it works well albeit a disgusting job. Dont know how you would manage when your double sucking though

heard a man that is dead now say, rub vick (the stuff you rub to your own nose when you have a head cold and blocked nose) to the cows nose and to the calf and she won't be able to tell the difference

Farmer Pudsey

delaval wrote: »

Really good thread. My friend who is in dry stock said to me once that the only reason there is money in dairy is 'because ye don't have time to spend it'

The same could be said about fulltime dry stock farmers or part time farmers or for that matter any farmer. The biggest change in life after dairying is the change in cashflow and profitability.

Historically this was countered by dairy farmers leasing there milk quota. However if you look at it a good dairy farmer can achieve a trunover of 2K/acre from dairying and a margin of 500+ before SFP. Most drystock operations operate at less than that maybe with the exception of cattle dealing and large finishing operations. A dairy farmers on 70 acres can achieve a decent income from 60 cows the same cannot be said of drystock

munkus

Sam Kade wrote: »

The trick with fostering calves is to skin the cows dead calf and put it on the foster calf :eek:

Had to do this twice in the spring, it works.

yellow50HX

Sam Kade wrote: »

The trick with fostering calves is to skin the cows dead calf and put it on the foster calf :eek:

get the after birth and tie it to the new calf most fostering we do it with extra calfs as opposed to replacing dead ones

RobertKK

I have both dairy and suckler. Far more work with dairy farming than suckler farming.
ok adopting a calf onto a cow takes patience and care - need to make sure the calf is adequately fed in the beginning before everything settles down but when it does, it is a doddle.
But to me it no different than training in a heifer after she calves, you might get one that is no problem, you might get one who loves kicking and it takes time for everything to settle down.
But you have to be there to milk the cows 7 days a week, you don't have to be there 7 days a week for sucklers.

whelan1

so in answer to the opening post when ye do stop dairying what do ye intend doing?

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

so in answer to the opening post when ye do stop dairying what do ye intend doing?

Not dairying, but when I stop farming I intend to be dead!

grazeaway

whelan1 wrote: »

so in answer to the opening post when ye do stop dairying what do ye intend doing?

when i stop farming i hope i have kids to pass it on to and that will be able to farm it while enjoy my retirment

Timmaay

I hope that if I do plan on stopping (which could happen ha, if I did lose interest in farming, I would not stick it out, only one life and all that!), anyways hopefully someone will be very willing to step in and rent the farm off me, and keep operating it as a dairyfarm in the future, I thankfully have afew other career options open to me and could walk back into a job in the morning if needed be. I certainly wouldn't see myself trying to juggle being a part time beef farmer with a full time job, most certainly not with the full size of a farm that we currently have.

Going forward...

reilig wrote: »

Not dairying, but when I stop farming I intend to be dead!

Pretty much. In the mean time, farming doesn't have to be a prison. You can make what you want of life as a farmer too.

bob charles

Going forward... wrote: »

You can make what you want of life as a farmer too.

can you though, with the way full farming is going I dont see much time for anything else