Moving from Full time job to Farming

jfh

well Lads & lasses, a new year beckons & it's all change.
it was either move to the big smoke(dublin) with job or try my hand at the old farming again.. i'll give it a few months while lambing/calving is going on & take it from there.

know a few of ye have made the move;
any tips for the transition; particularly with working with a father who doubts your ability to tie you own shoelaces,:D
despite the fact you may have been under a lot more pressure at work. Farmers i think get stressed far easier or else it's just my experience.
the man has a lifetime experience working the land so it important to get benefit of that without having to learn it all myself & make mistakes all over again.

i'm used to the politeness of office environment, no shouting/swearing at each other(although you might feel like it).
the structure it offers, work the hours & take breaks at designated time. no going in for tay whenever it starts to rain..

was it a shock to the system?

any tips, fire away.

Farmer Pudsey

Unless the farm can support you both long term, I be looking for another job. When poverty come in the door love fly's out the window, it apply's to farming and relationships equally.

Hershall

jfh wrote: »

well Lads & lasses, a new year beckons & it's all change.
it was either move to the big smoke(dublin) with job or try my hand at the old farming again.. i'll give it a few months while lambing/calving is going on & take it from there.

know a few of ye have made the move;
any tips for the transition; particularly with working with a father who doubts your ability to tie you own shoelaces,:D
despite the fact you may have been under a lot more pressure at work. Farmers i think get stressed far easier or else it's just my experience.
the man has a lifetime experience working the land so it important to get benefit of that without having to learn it all myself & make mistakes all over again.

i'm used to the politeness of office environment, no shouting/swearing at each other(although you might feel like it).
the structure it offers, work the hours & take breaks at designated time. no going in for tay whenever it starts to rain..

was it a shock to the system?

any tips, fire away.

I worked full time up to 2008 farming full time since. Going to look for work in new year maybe part time fed up being a busy fool for the factories! !!!!!

tanko

Don't let your heart rule your head. You only realise how important the weekly wage is when it's gone. Get a full time job if at all possible and organise the farm around the job, not the other way around.

As regards mistakes, I have learnt far more from my own mistakes than all the advice I have ever received.

MidlandsM

You'll miss the weekly or monthly pay packet, thats for sure......

49801

jfh wrote: »

well Lads & lasses, a new year beckons & it's all change.
it was either move to the big smoke(dublin) with job or try my hand at the old farming again.. i'll give it a few months while lambing/calving is going on & take it from there.

know a few of ye have made the move;
any tips for the transition; particularly with working with a father who doubts your ability to tie you own shoelaces,:D
despite the fact you may have been under a lot more pressure at work. Farmers i think get stressed far easier or else it's just my experience.
the man has a lifetime experience working the land so it important to get benefit of that without having to learn it all myself & make mistakes all over again.

i'm used to the politeness of office environment, no shouting/swearing at each other(although you might feel like it).
the structure it offers, work the hours & take breaks at designated time. no going in for tay whenever it starts to rain..

was it a shock to the system?

any tips, fire away.

If this is truly the case I am very concerned that you are doomed from the outset. . Just my opinion but support from the owner of the farm is of the utmost importance

visatorro

i work full time and would never consider leaving a weekly wage. i know people can lose their jobs which is hard too. as regards your father if you think you can learn abit from him grand. but do your own research and dont be afraid to try things. i find people of a certain age bracket are immune to change. if he's not for changing forget about it

Timmaay

Agreed that unless the farm is definitely capable of supporting both your incomes, or say at least yours and you father has his pension etc, then utterly forget about it, actually out of interest do ya mind posting up the size of the farm, current enterprise etc?

But as to fathers, its a bit of an art but ya usually can get through to them, have a clear enough plan on how to change the farm to increase profitability, and introduce it to him slowly, try to get his opinion on ideas, this probably the main trick ha, let him take credit for whatever new idea you want to do ha, but then of course get his word on it, and tell him afterwards that we'll aim to achieve such a target next yr etc, and don't let him back out then.

delaval

The way to approach parents or in my case landlords is to be patient, plant a seed and they will come to you with this great idea......................exactly the way our wives and mothers have done it, let them think they're the boss

As regards leaving your job I can't offer any advice, save to say, milkers around here are getting €100 per herd per day and two herds are very doable per day

jfh

all sound advise, i understand it's very hard to give advise when your only getting a tiny snap shot of the situation.
my job is moving & as i'm tied down to helping out on the farm, i'm not in a position to relocate.
all my spare time over the last few years is on the farm, if i wanted to progress in IT, i'd have to upskill & this is time i do not have with a young family & helping out on the farm.
in all honestly, financially i'd be better off concentrating on the career & moving to dublin, but at the sacrifice of the family & farm.
hate to use the term lifestyle decision in the current environment where families are split up, working away, but it's pure & simple a better choice for all concerned.
the way i look at it, if i don't do it now, i never will

Timmaay

jfh wrote: »

all sound advise, i understand it's very hard to give advise when your only getting a tiny snap shot of the situation.
my job is moving & as i'm tied down to helping out on the farm, i'm not in a position to relocate.
all my spare time over the last few years is on the farm, if i wanted to progress in IT, i'd have to upskill & this is time i do not have with a young family & helping out on the farm.
in all honestly, financially i'd be better off concentrating on the career & moving to dublin, but at the sacrifice of the family & farm.
hate to use the term lifestyle decision in the current environment where families are split up, working away, but it's pure & simple a better choice for all concerned.
the way i look at it, if i don't do it now, i never will

What area of IT, can you look at any sort of business yourself? I do abit of webdesign on the side, nothing big yet, but I can fit it nicely around fulltime dairying, yourown hours and all that.

jfh

delaval wrote: »

The way to approach parents or in my case landlords is to be patient, plant a seed and they will come to you with this great idea......................exactly the way our wives and mothers have done it, let them think they're the boss

As regards leaving your job I can't offer any advice, save to say, milkers around here are getting €100 per herd per day and two herds are very doable per day

i like this, it's something i can do now that i'm older & more tactful

jfh

Timmaay wrote: »

Agreed that unless the farm is definitely capable of supporting both your incomes, or say at least yours and you father has his pension etc, then utterly forget about it, actually out of interest do ya mind posting up the size of the farm, current enterprise etc?

But as to fathers, its a bit of an art but ya usually can get through to them, have a clear enough plan on how to change the farm to increase profitability, and introduce it to him slowly, try to get his opinion on ideas, this probably the main trick ha, let him take credit for whatever new idea you want to do ha, but then of course get his word on it, and tell him afterwards that we'll aim to achieve such a target next yr etc, and don't let him back out then.

yeah Timmaay, the farm is well capable of supporting one family as long as the missus has a good job!
120 acres, probably 25 of which needs to be reseeded badly, maybe 10 drained also. we built 2 slatted houses of the back of the dairy, which we got out of 15 years ago. we keep sucklers & drystock, although the sheep leave more money.

jfh

Timmaay wrote: »

What area of IT, can you look at any sort of business yourself? I do abit of webdesign on the side, nothing big yet, but I can fit it nicely around fulltime dairying, yourown hours and all that.

fair play to you, no i was programming but left that a few years ago, now it's more database based

Timmaay

jfh wrote: »

yeah Timmaay, the farm is well capable of supporting one family as long as the missus has a good job!
120 acres, probably 25 of which needs to be reseeded badly, maybe 10 drained also. we built 2 slatted houses of the back of the dairy, which we got out of 15 years ago. we keep sucklers & drystock, although the sheep leave more money.

Dare I ask, get back into dairying?? If that 120acres is on the 1 block then its definitely a runner!

jfh

Timmaay wrote: »

Dare I ask, get back into dairying?? If that 120acres is on the 1 block then its definitely a runner!

we had a decent herd back in the 70/80's got cleaned out twice & had too much borrowings.
i did look at that 3 years ago but t'was knocked on the head, i didn't pursue it. dairying has moved on a lot since we were at it, anyway I've a feeling there'll be plenty of 2nd hand machines around in 2 years time. might be long term move, i've to win to bossman over first. i do think there's room for improvement in sheep.
i'd like to give the farming a go while my father is still able to give advice,

the general consensus here is to keep the job & if the job was not moving, i'd be going no-where. no impetus to change.

epfff

jfh wrote: »

we had a decent herd back in the 70/80's got cleaned out twice & had too much borrowings.
i did look at that 3 years ago but t'was knocked on the head, i didn't pursue it. dairying has moved on a lot since we were at it, anyway I've a feeling there'll be plenty of 2nd hand machines around in 2 years time. might be long term move, i've to win to bossman over first. i do think there's room for improvement in sheep.
i'd like to give the farming a go while my father is still able to give advice,

the general consensus here is to keep the job & if the job was not moving, i'd be going no-where. no impetus to change.

I have 120+ acres here well stocked 14 bays of slats no borrowings On the farm and count myself as sharp of farmer as what's around running sheep suckers + extra bulls to slaughter would find it very hard to pull weeks wages from it if anything happens to sfp
Do your maths carefully
I'm doing them here most nights and can't see my way to leaving job I hate hate

jfh

cheers, epfff for the reply, it's a sad state, when one can't make a living from 120 acres with no debts. bulls to beef seems to be a tough one to make anything out of.
jobs are scarce enough over here in the west & i understand the difficulty in moving from a job you hate. i'm lucky in that i actually like my job.

for the night that's in it, lets hope 2014 is the year of the suckler!

Farmer Pudsey

I agree moving after a job is not a goer however there may be other opportunities out there. The big thing is not to take too long off it looks bad to an employers. Look for a job ASAP remember any job with a farm give a good income it is just nice to have a bit of money every week.