young beef farmer starting off

lakecounty lad

im 26years old and starting off beef farming for my uncle who is retiring from farming,i have a 20 acre farm and i am currently in the process of purchasing another 10 acres,there is very little done with the farm so i am preaty much starting off from the verry bottem,and advice on the best way to start off with a butget of 8000 euro would be greatly appreciated!

simx

lakecounty lad wrote: »

im 26years old and starting off beef farming for my uncle who is retiring from farming,i have a 20 acre farm and i am currently in the process of purchasing another 10 acres,there is very little done with the farm so i am preaty much starting off from the verry bottem,and advice on the best way to start off with a butget of 8000 euro would be greatly appreciated!

Are you looking to buy cattle with the 8k or what is the plan?

lakecounty lad

simx wrote: »

Are you looking to buy cattle with the 8k or what is the plan?

The plan is eventually get a good quality limousine suckler herd,mabe 15cows,but that's only somthing to aim for,I'd say I will just buy the angus heifers from a dairy farmer for a few years until I build up a few pound in a farm account,I plan to by 10 heifer calves and rear them with the 8k budget

tomieen jones

Build your stock don't be tempted to buy machinery you can manage without it for time being

TITANIUM.

What ever you did to get the money to buy the 10 acres. Stick to it.
That is unless your only doing it as a hobby.

smokey-fitz

lakecounty lad wrote: »

The plan is eventually get a good quality limousine suckler herd,mabe 15cows,but that's only somthing to aim for,I'd say I will just buy the angus heifers from a dairy farmer for a few years until I build up a few pound in a farm account,I plan to by 10 heifer calves and rear them with the 8k budget

It could be a long time before you see a return out of them. Would you look into 4 or 5 incalf heffers or 2nd calvers maybe? At least then you could keep them on the 20 or 30ac most the year with little extra cost and they would do the rearing for you. It would be a start to your 15 cows and you would have the weanlings to sell at the end of the year to get cashflow moving.

Future Farmer

lakecounty lad wrote: »

im 26years old and starting off beef farming for my uncle who is retiring from farming,i have a 20 acre farm and i am currently in the process of purchasing another 10 acres,there is very little done with the farm so i am preaty much starting off from the verry bottem,and advice on the best way to start off with a butget of 8000 euro would be greatly appreciated!

Capital and facilities are your problem.

Would you think about sheep?

Contract rear dairy calves?

davidk1394

I started off at age 15 buying daury calves angus freisans and charlois.. I have about 40 beef animals... I did suckling for a while but it doesn't pay at all even though I had a low cost set up... buying in calves and rearing them to slaughter is still making me a few pound with little iinvestment only on grass seed fertiliser and fencing gear

Farmer Pudsey

Is there any housing on the farm and if so what type.

AP2014

lakecounty lad wrote: »

im 26years old and starting off beef farming for my uncle who is retiring from farming,i have a 20 acre farm and i am currently in the process of purchasing another 10 acres,there is very little done with the farm so i am preaty much starting off from the verry bottem,and advice on the best way to start off with a butget of 8000 euro would be greatly appreciated!

Buy 9/10 yearling bullocks in March and sell in November. If you buy some nice chx you should do well. At that game last few years and making some money.

I have no machinery and keep costs to the bare minimum. Vet fee for testing and a bottle of pouron is about all I spend on them. Maybe you could sell some silage of the 10 acres you are buying and build up some cash to invest in more cattle.

Willfarman

I definitely wouldn't bother with sucklers. Summer grazing yearlings is a good system. Or even a flock of ewes if you had a interst in them.

farm14

AP2014 wrote: »

Buy 9/10 yearling bullocks in March and sell in November. If you buy some nice chx you should do well. At that game last few years and making some money.

I have no machinery and keep costs to the bare minimum. Vet fee for testing and a bottle of pouron is about all I spend on them. Maybe you could sell some silage of the 10 acres you are buying and build up some cash to invest in more cattle.

Silage to sell? That couldn't pay. Cost €20/+ to make a bale of silage.

AP2014

farm14 wrote: »

Silage to sell? That couldn't pay. Cost €20/+ to make a bale of silage.

Sell it off the field for €12 a bale. The buyer pays the contractor. Should only cost ya fert price and that depends on how crazy you want to go.

Farrell

AP2014 wrote: »

Buy 9/10 yearling bullocks in March and sell in November. If you buy some nice chx you should do well. At that game last few years and making some money.

I have no machinery and keep costs to the bare minimum. Vet fee for testing and a bottle of pouron is about all I spend on them. Maybe you could sell some silage of the 10 acres you are buying and build up some cash to invest in more cattle.

Did you ever consider organic farming?

AP2014

Farrell wrote: »

Did you ever consider organic farming?

Never, I'm part time and wouldn't have the machinery or sheds for wintering so have to go with summer grazing at the moment.

farm14

Farrell wrote: »

Did you ever consider organic farming?

Organic farming is profitable. Only thing i can see happening with it though is a reduced beef price. Majority will do organic beef & price will drop a good bit. Glenisk supposed to be crying out for winter milk producers.

Farrell

AP2014 wrote: »

Never, I'm part time and wouldn't have the machinery or sheds for wintering so have to go with summer grazing at the moment.

Could you not do summer grazing as Organic?
Reason I say is, you don't fertilise, give meal, dose (except pour-on), which is organic measures & potential to make even more money!

welton john

Farrell wrote: »

Could you not do summer grazing as Organic?
Reason I say is, you don't fertilise, give meal, dose (except pour-on), which is organic measures & potential to make even more money!

He could do organic jerseys, wouldn't have to spend a penny then

AP2014

Farrell wrote: »

Could you not do summer grazing as Organic?
Reason I say is, you don't fertilise, give meal, dose (except pour-on), which is organic measures & potential to make even more money!

Unfortunately I do fertilize but not in crazy amounts. Are you allowed use pour on for organic beef? I didn't think so.

Not sure on price of buying them as yearlings or market place to buy them. Also not sure of market to sell them either, not convinced there would be more money in it either. I know there is currently a great market in what I am doing so don't plan on changing a winning system yet.

I think you are confusing not giving meal with organic. Not giving me meal in non organic farming is called making money the last few years!

Feckthis

welton john wrote: »

He could do organic jerseys, wouldn't have to spend a penny then

What kind of cow would suit an organic system best?

50HX

if you limited facilities and looking to gather a few quid over a few years you could look at B&B for dairy replacements say from april to october (depends on land quality).

your cost would be small enough - as in you wouldn't be buying stock

stay away from machinery anyway