Suitable Career For the part time farmer

Toplink

Bit of an off the wall topic for ye.

I am in my mid 30s with a wife and a few kids. I have a good job in the financial services industry but it consumes 50 hours plus a week. My parents are still young and healthy thankfully so I wont be taking over the farm for anther 5 years or so. My wife has a steady civil servant role albeit a low paying one.

I will be operating as a low percentage partner over the next few years and availing of top ups etc. Looking down the line when I do take over I know financially that full time suckler farming wont pay all the bills so I will have to back it up from somewhere. I also realize that if I want to continue calving down 40 cows plus a year it isnt feasible in my current career. A career which I am not overly excited about anyway and it I get the next 5 years out of it I reckon i'll be happy.

So I have 5 years to plan ahead. I want to farm and ideally stick to sucklers. What sort of a job or business would suit a partime suckler farmer?

A mate of mine does a few BER assessments whilst farming away but the wifes people have plenty of cash so there is no mortgage on that house

Teaching is the obvious one I suppose but not sure i'll go that route at this stage.

Timmaay

Why stick to sucklers, why not drystock? But anyways the whole BER assessment thing was a total white elephant, the only people who benefited were the lads doing the training courses, it's a real closed shop also, so unless you know an architect or engineer who will give you work I definitely wouldn't bother. But plenty of other self employed trades which would suit part time farming, however you gotta fine one that number 1 interests you above just earning money.

Teaching isn't nearly as good as it use to be either, you'd have 4 years of college, then afew years of very temporary jobs (if you can even find them).

None of this is hugely positive ha, but nay one definite start is to plan how you can make them 40 acres work as best for you, and the general consensus here seems to be maximise any government payments and pick a simple low input beef system. Otherwise rent it to a local dairy farmer and take a nice big tax free lump sum every year ha.

Username John

Toplink wrote: »

Bit of an off the wall topic for ye.

I am in my mid 30s with a wife and a few kids. I have a good job in the financial services industry but it consumes 50 hours plus a week. My parents are still young and healthy thankfully so I wont be taking over the farm for anther 5 years or so. My wife has a steady civil servant role albeit a low paying one.

I will be operating as a low percentage partner over the next few years and availing of top ups etc. Looking down the line when I do take over I know financially that full time suckler farming wont pay all the bills so I will have to back it up from somewhere. I also realize that if I want to continue calving down 40 cows plus a year it isnt feasible in my current career. A career which I am not overly excited about anyway and it I get the next 5 years out of it I reckon i'll be happy.

So I have 5 years to plan ahead. I want to farm and ideally stick to sucklers. What sort of a job or business would suit a partime suckler farmer?

A mate of mine does a few BER assessments whilst farming away but the wifes people have plenty of cash so there is no mortgage on that house

Teaching is the obvious one I suppose but not sure i'll go that route at this stage.

I think we are all a bit guilty of this in a way Toplink...

I dunno if asking us lot for suggestions to replace "A career which I am not overly excited about anyway" is the right way to go

I guess the question is, what are you excited about?

But, to provide something useful I was surprised to hear that people pay other people to grass measure - it makes perfect sense to do so, I just never thought about it before I guess.

It got me thinking, is there such a thing as a grass specialist? If so - how does one go about becoming one?

Measuring growth is the thing that put it in my mind. But what about the other elements - nutrition / value of the grass, soil sampling, return of fertilisers into actual grass?

Maybe this is already done, or maybe there isn't that much to it and I am only showing my ignorance... :P

Just what entered my head after reading the grass measuring bit that's all...

blue5000

How about milking cows for someone else? I hear a few noobies are pissed off already:(

Toplink

blue5000 wrote: »

I hear a few noobies are pissed off already:(

Did they anticipate that they would milk themselves?

Toplink

Username John wrote: »

I think we are all a bit guilty of this in a way Toplink...

I dunno if asking us lot for suggestions to replace "A career which I am not overly excited about anyway" is the right way to go

I guess the question is, what are you excited about?

But, to provide something useful I was surprised to hear that people pay other people to grass measure - it makes perfect sense to do so, I just never thought about it before I guess.

It got me thinking, is there such a thing as a grass specialist? If so - how does one go about becoming one?

Measuring growth is the thing that put it in my mind. But what about the other elements - nutrition / value of the grass, soil sampling, return of fertilisers into actual grass?

Maybe this is already done, or maybe there isn't that much to it and I am only showing my ignorance... :P

Just what entered my head after reading the grass measuring bit that's all...

Your right, twas a lazy post in fariness... but I'd never have found out about this grass measuring lark if I hadnt posted it

Where do i sign up?

Toplink

Timmaay wrote: »

Why stick to sucklers, why not drystock?

Good point. I have no interest in perusing the current career beyond the next 5 years. Its getting more cut throat year upon year and too much travelling involved also... I want out once the home farm becomes available. So switching to drystock would cut the profits in my opinion. I know a lot of lads are giving out lumps about suckler farming but I prepare the accounts with my parents and I there is still money being made in there.

Then again in 5 years time it could be a completely different story.

Username John

I don't know where you are based, or what it is you really do - but is there anything related to your current job that you could change to?

People will pay the most for experience, so if you could use the experience you have albeit doing something slightly different, it might be the best option.

Also - when did you last change jobs? Would this help do you think?

onyerbikepat

Any job where you are sitting down in front of a computer all day.:D
Great to get out in the evenings then and do a bit of manual work.

Just in relation to your own job. I think most people get a bit fed up with their job after a few years or so. Kind of a seven year itch, if you like. The thing really is to stick it out for a while, maybe change company. You'll find that you get a new zest for it again. I know I did.

Username John

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Any job where you are sitting down in front of a computer all day.:D
Great to get out in the evenings then and do a bit of manual work.

Just in relation to your own job. I think most people get a bit fed up with their job after a few years or so. Kind of a seven year itch, if you like. The thing really is to stick it out for a while, maybe change company. You'll find that you get a new zest for it again. I know I did.

+1

frazzledhome

blue5000 wrote: »

How about milking cows for someone else? I hear a few noobies are pissed off already:(

Really, already that was quick

frazzledhome

This has potential to be a really interesting thread. I love guys who've been in the corporate world considering farming, good on ya. We've a guy in our DG who left a very high paid high level job to dairy farm full time. He is by far the most profitable in the group. His discipline is almost monastic.

What are your skills that you'd like to use most? I'd start there I think.

Toplink

frazzledhome wrote: »

This has potential to be a really interesting thread. I love guys who've been in the corporate world considering farming, good on ya. We've a guy in our DG who left a very high paid high level job to dairy farm full time. He is by far the most profitable in the group. His discipline is almost monastic.

What are your skills that you'd like to use most? I'd start there I think.

Working in the corporate sector certainly does give you great discipline. There is zero waste in these places, everything gets measures and deadlines have to get met and if their extended your losing money. You think you have a good work ethic coming from a farming background but you meet some animals especially in the US who do 70/80 hour weeks, every week. Crazy stuff.

Projects that get run in the local office can be quite interesting however when they invested in cheap labour in some of the developing eastern nations it got soul destroying eventually. Maybe a change of scenery would help but its only really delaying the inevitable.

Reckon running your own online business is the only answer to the flexibility of part time farming.

I have 5 years to get this right

whelan2

Username John wrote: »

I think we are all a bit guilty of this in a way Toplink...

I dunno if asking us lot for suggestions to replace "A career which I am not overly excited about anyway" is the right way to go

I guess the question is, what are you excited about?

But, to provide something useful I was surprised to hear that people pay other people to grass measure - it makes perfect sense to do so, I just never thought about it before I guess.

It got me thinking, is there such a thing as a grass specialist? If so - how does one go about becoming one?

Measuring growth is the thing that put it in my mind. But what about the other elements - nutrition / value of the grass, soil sampling, return of fertilisers into actual grass?

Maybe this is already done, or maybe there isn't that much to it and I am only showing my ignorance... :P

Just what entered my head after reading the grass measuring bit that's all...

the guy doing mine speciallised in grass in ucd when doing ag science, he also offered soil sampling, grass testing and a few other farm management packages, i was just really interested in the grass end of it

Timmaay

onyerbikepat wrote: »

Any job where you are sitting down in front of a computer all day.:D
Great to get out in the evenings then and do a bit of manual work.

Just in relation to your own job. I think most people get a bit fed up with their job after a few years or so. Kind of a seven year itch, if you like. The thing really is to stick it out for a while, maybe change company. You'll find that you get a new zest for it again. I know I did.

7yrs, hmmm more like 4 years before I jump ship ha. Hmmm coming to think of that I'm close on 4 years farming ha... I suppose I'll give here another 2 or so ha, full time Milker/labourer then possibly.

Farmer Pudsey

A lot depends on what level of income you expect from this job OP. If 4-600/week is adequate there are plenty of opportunities, like a postman or general maintenance person. Salesmen are also a good choice as often they have the flexibility of starting late or early. However if you are looking at a job with a serious income 40K+ then you are looking at multinational's, Banking/insurance and public service jobs unless you start your own business.

For ever suckler cow you should be able to run 2 drystock so while margin may be lower overall profitability may be higher. Add to that drystock need less watching and they are more feasible if you have goodish land and work.

yellow50HX

Always fancied being a "gentleman farmer" myself but I don't think tweed is a great look on me:D:D

Username John

whelan2 wrote: »

the guy doing mine speciallised in grass in ucd when doing ag science, he also offered soil sampling, grass testing and a few other farm management packages, i was just really interested in the grass end of it

Well, I guess know how / where to learn the theory now
And that's what I was thinking about (the soil sampling, grass testing side of things)

C0N0R

Username John wrote: »

Well, I guess know how / where to learn the theory now
And that's what I was thinking about (the soil sampling, grass testing side of things)

To be fair any monkey can take a soil sample, start there!

Reggie.

Join the army

Miname

As pudsey said it depends on what you want to earn. It's very hard to drop a decent paying job. Farming will soak up money like nothing else out there and lads that are full time especially at beef don't get that many luxuries.maybe try and do all the work that needs doing now while you have your existing job to help finance the farm and maybe look to have it set up as well as possible when you do get the chance to farm full time. I think it's a fair undertaking to retrain now at your age then accept low wages for a good few years and maybe still not like it.im self employed with a couple of lads and while it's great being able to skip off for a few hours for the mart or testing or such I often envy the lads with a cheque in the bank every week while I'm out at night knocking on doors begging for money off lads you know have no intention of paying.

Dawggone

Toplink wrote: »

Bit of an off the wall topic for ye.

I am in my mid 30s with a wife and a few kids. I have a good job in the financial services industry but it consumes 50 hours plus a week. My parents are still young and healthy thankfully so I wont be taking over the farm for anther 5 years or so. My wife has a steady civil servant role albeit a low paying one.

I will be operating as a low percentage partner over the next few years and availing of top ups etc. Looking down the line when I do take over I know financially that full time suckler farming wont pay all the bills so I will have to back it up from somewhere. I also realize that if I want to continue calving down 40 cows plus a year it isnt feasible in my current career. A career which I am not overly excited about anyway and it I get the next 5 years out of it I reckon i'll be happy.

So I have 5 years to plan ahead. I want to farm and ideally stick to sucklers. What sort of a job or business would suit a partime suckler farmer?

A mate of mine does a few BER assessments whilst farming away but the wifes people have plenty of cash so there is no mortgage on that house

Teaching is the obvious one I suppose but not sure i'll go that route at this stage.

Are you talking 10's or 100's of acres?
What quality of land?

Username John

C0N0R wrote: »

To be fair any monkey can take a soil sample, start there!

Twas more the science / theory behind it, how what's in the ground relates to grass grown, relationships between the elements. That kinda thing...

it's something I'd like to know more about, but 'twas more a suggestion for the OP. It might not be a job at all, or it be something, was just a suggestion is all...

Farmer Pudsey

C0N0R wrote: »

To be fair any monkey can take a soil sample, start there!

Not really taking soil samples is an art its self especially if you are heavily stocked. No point in sticking the sampler in every dung pad

Toplink

Dawggone wrote: »

Are you talking 10's or 100's of acres?
What quality of land?

150
Light enough limestome land.

Dawggone

Toplink wrote: »

150
Light enough limestome land.

That's a damn good start.
Where do yo you see yourself ending up?
I started up with a helluva lot less.



It's NOT farming simulator. You do want to run a successful business? (coming from fin servs I'm presuming this).

Have you a finite goal?

queueeye

What about auctioneering? Not a huge leap for someone in the financial services sector and can be run from home office.

jimmy G M

How about doing accountancy / book keeping for some farmers / local businesses, a la lakill. Maybe throw in some health & safety consultancy to run along side it? Gonna be a growth area. What are your existing qualifications?

Toplink

Dawggone wrote: »

Have you a finite goal?

Drive around in a 4x4, with a copy of the racing post beside me and a cup of costa coffee on the dash...


1. Sort out grass management. There is no paddock system as such at present and this needs investment... water, fencing etc.

2. Reduce calving intervals.

3. We are going to go for the new suckler scheme so tied in until 2019 or so. Will probably use Tams2 to build extra capacity. I'll qualify for 60% funding.

4. Maximise every grant possible. Its a lot easier than trying to make money out of cattle.

5. Review the suckler game in 2019.

Suckler

Toplink wrote: »

Working in the corporate sector certainly does give you great discipline. There is zero waste in these places, everything gets measures and deadlines have to get met and if their extended your losing money. You think you have a good work ethic coming from a farming background but you meet some animals especially in the US who do 70/80 hour weeks, every week. Crazy stuff.

Time keeping and billing is the main driver now - every six minute block in the day has to be registered and billed accordingly to know exactly where time and money is being spent. You can't just log blocks of the same thing to account for a whole hour either.

Toplink

Suckler wrote: »

Time keeping and billing is the main driver now - every six minute block in the day has to be registered and billed accordingly to know exactly where time and money is being spent. You can't just log blocks of the same thing to account for a whole hour either.

Its excessive alright. The time lost updating these tools that capture time spent is never spoken about.