what do you use a contractor for?

whelan2

Following on from the Greenfield topic, what do you use a contractor for, or do you use one at all? We use a few different contractors here, one for roundbales, mowing and wrapping. One for doing the pit silage, they do everything fom mowing, raking, picking up to covering the pit.They also spread our dung. Different contractor , ploughs , sprays and breaksdown. We normally sow the grass seed ourselves unless using stitcher. Got a lad with umbilical slurry spreader last week, but we normally spread the slurry ourselves. Our machinery is not new but it does the job.

simx

Get contractor in to do any baling, maybe drawing them the odd time, any reseeding jobs, hedgecutting, dung spreading, everything else is done by myself

stanflt

simx wrote: »

Get contractor in to do any baling, maybe drawing them the odd time, any reseeding jobs, hedgecutting, dung spreading, everything else is done by myself

I get contractor to rake and pick up the silage- be it with wagon or baler- all seed bed preparation - maize harvesting- some spraying- and all long distance slurry spreading- hedge cutting

C0N0R

Trying to reduce the reliance on contractors here but in the past we have got them for;

One for pit silage all aspects
One for round bales incl help drawing and stacking
One for slurry, tanking and piping and mixing
One for fert on silage ground and then rolling
One for muck spreading
One for reseeding all parts apart from fert and seed and rolling maybe
One for hedge cutting
One for drainage work
One for mulching rushes
And one for tedding this year.

Quite a reliance on contractors alright. Just over three cents a litre last year, machinery running was half a cent.

Milked out

All we do here is feed silage, spread fert, agitate and pump slurry and level and roll when reseeding along with any fencing after that contractor does everything

Greengrass1

Ehhhhhhh..........
Reseeding???

C0N0R

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Ehhhhhhh..........
Reseeding???

If you don't mind me asking what's your total machinery costs per litre? Running and purchasing??

Reggie.

We get contractors for muck spreading, slurry, baling and wrapping, pit silage and hedge cutting.

Slowly closing the reliance on contractors with my own little fleet of machines

Greengrass1

C0N0R wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking what's your total machinery costs per litre? Running and purchasing??

This is 2013s one haven't finished 2014s yet.
It will be more with new tractor
Machinery running was 1.97c/l
Repairs and maintainance 0.17c/l
Contractor 0.06c/l
There was no money owed on machinery 2013 most is very fresh so repairs is not much.

It definitely did not pay to buy all these machines but dad was doing a lot of contracting in Wicklow so its built up from there

Timmaay

Only machinery work done here is fert, winter feeding, topping and spraying. My dad does all of the above except spraying and feeding the winter milkers, I'm lucky to have him still able and willing to do them. Almost all slurry, all dung, silage and reseeding done by the contractor.

Actually the most machinery work I do is self drive a digger for a week or so every few months on the farm doing repair jobs or new Lane ways etc, enjoyable job and I'd have to be around to show the driver what to do anyways.

orm0nd

pit and bale silage,.. we usually mow it ourselves, and my son mows on hire as well

reseeding and digger hire ,

occasionally we hire in second vacuum tank for the draw to out farm

arctic8dave

Everything bar feeding silage and half fert spreading done by contractor. Two contractor's 1 for silage 1 for everything else

Guy who does most work is very reliable and always on when wanted. Personally don't like machinery & part time dairying here so enough to be done besides driving tractor.

arctic8dave

Everything bar feeding silage and half fert spreading done by contractor. Two contractor's 1 for silage 1 for everything else

Guy who does most work is very reliable and always on when wanted. Personally don't like machinery & part time dairying here so enough to be done besides driving tractor.

frazzledhome

All feeding, fert, mowing, tedding pitting of silage, spraying, fencing, 90% of cattle haulage done ourselves.

Contractor raking and wagon
Hedges and digger contractor
Milker contracted out
Raking and baling 50% of bale haulage by him 50 ourselves
Slurry 50% ourselves
Stitching by contract

Bullocks

Only thing the contractor gets here is a few bales and the wrapping .
The old boy loves machinery , even has 2 dozers for his own bit of reclaiming
I was tidying up a ditch over Christmas with chainsaw and I brought back the digger to tidy up all the tops and a few stones . Back comes himself nd says I'm dogging it with big stones so he gets ths dozer and is still shoving bits of the ditch away to make the place " tidier ".
Tis an addiction with some people . I wouldnt like to put a CPL on our machinery but we are at sucklers so we are losing money normally anyhow

RightTurnClyde

Contractor:
Rake,wagon,pit
Bale&wrap
Hedge cutting
Lime spreading
Dung spreading


Me:
Fert
Mowing
Tedding
Spraying
Fencing
Reseeding
Agitate&spread slurry

Ruxin

Contractor does almost everything here now the only thing we do ourselves is feeding cows and spreading a small bit of fertilizer in the summer at the moment they are here spreading slurry and fertilizer. We used to do all this ourselves but it was taking to much time and effort much less hassle getting someone in to do it.

ganmo

We get contractors to
Bale and wrap
Spread dung(might change this)
Spread lime
Some fencing
Shearing

F.D

We get a contractor to do

any of the Long haul slurry spreading
Pit silage 1st cut
Bale and wrap 2nd cut
hedgecutting
plough and till
reseeding

I spread all fertilizer
used to spray off paddocks (not sure if this will change with new regs)
Mow and tedd 2nd cut for bale contractor
draw in bales ( no contractor offering this service around me)
spread my own slurry around the land nearest the pit,
spread our own dung
use our own post driver for fencing

trixi2011

We get contractors to do almost everything on farm have a telehandler rented for the winter period to bed and clean out bedded sheds its also used by the contractor to fill his diet feeder. The figures have been done and it doesn't pay for us to buy in any machinery. contractor costs are close to 100,000

keep going

I try to avoid roadwork so all wagon and long draw slurry by contracter,after that some ploughing power harrowinglime spreadingbalewrap and dung done by contractormall mowing,raking,fertilizer,buckraking,and shifting bales done by meplus slurry at home.neighbour and myself pool a few bits of geatr that we have but most of it is agey now

huey1975

Our contractor does almost all the haulage to the factory, all of the fertilizer spreading, all agitation and slurry spreading, all spraying , all mowing, tedding and baling, draws in about 85% of the bales, all hedge cutting , spreads lime. The old man does a bit of topping during the summer and hopefully he will get a bit of use out of the chain harrow that I bought in November. The old man also feeds the cattle in the winter as he doesn't trust me to drive the tractor as I am only 39!!!

Dawggone

Just the forage chopper unit and bale wrap unit.

Everything else is in hand..

whelan2

huey1975 wrote: »

The old man also feeds the cattle in the winter as he doesn't trust me to drive the tractor as I am only 39!!!

wait til you're 40 , its all change then

solwhit12

1 contractor for pit ,1 for bales he does any digging as well.all slurry ,fert,drawing bales and everything else I do myself.

Bullocks

huey1975 wrote: »

Our contractor does almost all the haulage to the factory, all of the fertilizer spreading, all agitation and slurry spreading, all spraying , all mowing, tedding and baling, draws in about 85% of the bales, all hedge cutting , spreads lime. The old man does a bit of topping during the summer and hopefully he will get a bit of use out of the chain harrow that I bought in November. The old man also feeds the cattle in the winter as he doesn't trust me to drive the tractor as I am only 39!!!

Haha , I have a fair few blocks of silage cut out now but if the boss is around when I'm doing it he still reminds me not to close the grab fully if I'm pushing in a block in case I damage the blade :rolleyes:

yellow50HX

Contractor
Ploughing
Sowing beet and corn
Slurry
Dung
Baling
Drawing
Wrapping + stacking
Hedge cutting
Cattle transport

Me
Mowing
Topping
Rolling
Harrowing
Fertilzer spreading
Spraying
Rotovating
Feeding
Cleaning out sheds

KatW4

Hi hope you don't mind me posting. I've moved in with my bf on his farm so it's all a bit new to me.

They get contractors for
bale and wrapping and for spreading dung. Think they do pretty much everything else themselves.

They go out as contractors for spreading slurry and spraying!

Reggie.

KatW4 wrote: »

Hi hope you don't mind me posting. I've moved in with my bf on his farm so it's all a bit new to me.

They get contractors for
bale and wrapping and for spreading dung. Think they do pretty much everything else themselves.

They go out as contractors for spreading slurry and spraying!

Welcome aboard missus

KatW4

Thanks Reggie! I've been lurking for quite a while and finally decided it was time to post

Reggie.

KatW4 wrote: »

Thanks Reggie! I've been lurking for quite a while and finally decided it was time to post

Another farmerette to add to our ranks...excellent

larthehar

Contractor
Combining
hedge cutting
spraying
discing
direct drilling
agitating
Barley sowing
dung spreading (load myself)
baling

Myself and the boss
Everything else adding to 2k hrs a yr!

frazzledhome

KatW4 wrote: »

Thanks Reggie! I've been lurking for quite a while and finally decided it was time to post

Post a pic till we get a look at ya:)

It's tradition after first post

KatW4

Another Whelan as well eh no one wants to see a pic h!

Reggie.

KatW4 wrote: »

Another Whelan as well eh no one wants to see a pic h!

Oh Lord you ain't as contrary as her are ya



*runs off to hide*

whelan2

Reggie. wrote: »

Oh Lord you ain't as contrary as her are ya



*runs off to hide*

ahem.:rolleyes: welcome katW4.

White Clover

Contractor. Work divided between 4 locals / neighbours
agitating
raking
baling
wrapping
ploughing
power harrowing + setting
hedge cutting
lime spread by quarry

me
slurry spreading
fertiliser spreading
mowing
Tedding
drawing bales
spraying
rolling
land levelling
feeding
Track machine work
fencing

KatW4

Thanks whelan2!

Count Mondego

trixi2011 wrote: »

We get contractors to do almost everything on farm have a telehandler rented for the winter period to bed and clean out bedded sheds its also used by the contractor to fill his diet feeder. The figures have been done and it doesn't pay for us to buy in any machinery. contractor costs are close to 100,000

Jesus Trixi, what province are you farming?

KatyMac

Use same contractor for mowing, baling, bringing the bales near to the house for stacking, hedge cutting and weed/rush spraying. Have another man who could thread a needle with his digger for drainage and putting down stakes for fencing and he is going to help me 'create' my new shed on as little money as we can manage!

Miname

feed our own silage and spread our own fertiliser and an odd load of slurry . after that its contractors for everything. i dont like machinery and couldnt justify the spend thats required in it.

micraX

Contractor
Ground lime spreading
Saw blade hedge cutting (we don't have a saw head)
Some potato grading when busy at other things
Some combining when busy at other things
Sell the straw off the field so sometimes contractors bale it sometimes we do depends who's buying it
Some digger work (track machine, have a backhoe)
Everything else is done with own machinery

blue5000

Contractor for
silage
hedge cutting
spraying
dung spreading
tilling and most sowing
combining
rolling grain
digger work

Self
slurry
fertiliser
ploughing
some tilling:pac:
feeding

keep going

trixi2011 wrote: »

We get contractors to do almost everything on farm have a telehandler rented for the winter period to bed and clean out bedded sheds its also used by the contractor to fill his diet feeder. The figures have been done and it doesn't pay for us to buy in any machinery. contractor costs are close to 100,000

the economics of contractors really be come clear as soon as you move to the situation when you are paying labour anyway

oxjkqg

Contractor for:
discing and powerharrowing
Hedgecutting
Raingunning

Ourselves for:
Mow rake bale wrap stack
Slurry
Fert
Have wheel digger to do all digger work
Spraying
Subsoiling

If there wasnt 2 of us and not putting a price on my labour a contractor would be the most economical any day. The machinery fetish just does it for a lot of people, 50 shades of hay

Kovu

Contractor for- Hedgecutting, baling & wrapping, slurry spreading & agitation.

Ourselves for everything else (topping, licking, mowing, tedding, etc etc), give or take two or three neighbours pitching in some work for work.

MickeyShtyles

Contractor only gets a small bit drainage work every couple of years. Everything else is done by ourselves.

Nice chunk of machinery here.

ganmo

Kovu wrote: »

Contractor for- Hedgecutting, baling & wrapping, slurry spreading & agitation.

Ourselves for everything else (topping, licking, mowing, tedding, etc etc), give or take two or three neighbours pitching in some work for work.

Nuts forgot the hedges...but that's kinda bartered for so...

whelan2

ganmo wrote: »

Nuts forgot the hedges...but that's kinda bartered for so...

ye, i forgot about drainage, hedgecutting and fencing contractor