So how was your 2017

Reggie.

So with 2017 nearly at an end the question is..... How was it for you? Did you achieve all you set out to do or was it left on the back burner?

For me health wise, I'm still fighting to get recovered from the crash but pushing on thankfully.

Farm wise I never increased land by renting but happy I have my system down to a T and also got all my few acres oversown this autumn so hoping to have plenty of grass next year. Still rearing the same amount of cattle and happy with that.

Business wise I'm very surprised with how tgat went. All machines completely replaced and took on extra roles in the contracting. Never thought that I would have a new fleet this time last year. Also my income has tripled compared to last year so must be doing something right.

On the home front. New addition to the family (that's my quota filled ) all my hedges planted around the house and and playground installed for the wee ones for next summer. Jobs that I was putting off for too long.

Overall very happy with how things are progressing so let's plough on

** (no pun intended)

Reggie.

Maybe the mods might change the title to 2017 instead of 2016. Bloody phone

Lady Haywire

Um.....sweetie.....it's 2017 :P

Reggie.

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Um.....sweetie.....it's 2017 :P

Beat ya to it missus

Buford T. Justice XIX

Sorted now, folks, so carry on.

Reggie.

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Sorted now, folks, so carry on.

Hugs and kisses buford

wrangler

Reggie. wrote: »

Hugs and kisses buford

Great year, lamb price up, €10 sub on the ewes, cull ewes averaged way above normal and prices at my clearance sale was the stuff of dreams.
Bidding is flying on the land at the moment, just need another dairy farmer in to push it a bit harder.
Talk of losing my entitlements is the only cloud on the horizon

kollegeknight

Great thread Reggie.

Good news - building a new house and it’s looking good- hopefully in by March 2018.
OH due child no 2 in April.
Small lady is just a treat to have in our life.
Holiday in lanzarote and off to OZ next week.
Boss was very good with my timetabling and she has sent me to a few meetings that have really envigourated things for me.
The farm is getting there for me.

Not so good news- juggling work, farm, the small lady and the mother is stressful at times.oh wouldn’t be great at saying no to shifts.

No sign of farm transfer- brother is dragging his heals a bit and is driving the mother Barney.

The mother is still tough after the father dying.
Renting a tiny house that is hard to deal with.

House is over budget by 30k.

A lot to be done to get the farm compliant but brother is kicking off about costs.

The good has definitely exceeded the bad.

Plan for next year- reduce suckler cow numbers to 8.-no point dying by karoshi when I’ve a young family and not making the money in the mart.
Tidy up the place.
Move to the new house.
Start making time for myself- hopefully start running again and loose some weight.
Push for farm transfer again.

blue5000

All in all not so bad, have cow numbers back up to 50, bought a cheapie reversible plough in spring, but weather at harvest was a disaster. Managed to buy no fertiliser this year as I had 2/3 rds of a silage pit left over last winter.

Had a bit of a setback when a cull cow showed up with lesions but just had a clear tb test last week, so all ok on that front.

All's well inside our door too.

davidk1394

Good year. Graduated from college, booking my tickets for Australia. Had a good year with the crop of lambs. Had a great year in terms of machinery work. Upgraded a few machines I wasn't expecting to due to the increase in work. Joined macra and had a few enjoyable get aways.

mahoney_j

Farming
Great year for dairying ,cows no’s up ,milk solids sold up and milk price up only negative is big jump in tax bill cause of that !!!
Good market now for my fr breeding bulls ,still havnt got one into ai but nearly there
New land lease in on long term lease takes pressure off for nitrates and silage
More ground fenced (properly)water system upgraded and some roadways improved
Only real downside was loosing a cracking cow to tb in June which locked herd til late November when I got clear again

Outside of farming dads health going downhill rapid (Parkinson’s /dementia ).hatd juggle farm ,help mother out with him and be there for my own wife and daughter ,that’s something that will have to improve for 2018

ganmo

A strange year.
Farming with the ould lad has gone backwards
Professionally rudderless

whelan2

Had a good 2017, finished paying off a few loans, took alot of pressure off. Was able to get a few jobs done that had been on the long finger. Also am putting a bit of money aside if I need it. Increased solids, milk sent to creamery . Eldest lad is a great help on the farm, hopefully that will continue. He gets up at 6 and feeds his calves, does the cubicles for me and then goes to school, would be lost without him. Thankfully he loves the farm and has a great interest in it.

Mooooo

TB really put a damper on things here. Testing second week of Jan to go clear hopefully, loss of 22 animals in the summer hit output hard, and as it worked out only one of them was empty, so still have the empty cows here as well. On a better note sorted out labour for 2 to 3 days a week so plan is to try hold on to him now.

emaherx

2017 A year I will not forget.

3rd child arrived ( our first little girl)
Dad passed away, he was only sick for 3 months but it felt much longer. Don't think he ever realised how sick he was as he was still planning for next year right up until the end.

Farm stocking rate is the lowest its ever been, we have just coasted through last 6 months. Just getting to grips with the record keeping (which Dad always did), I have moved everything to the modern age and all is done online now for the first time. On the plus side the cattle I've held onto are the most comfortable cattle in the country . Farm is in good shape but I think I will remain with the smaller heard size till I find my feet.

kk.man

Great year really hit the factory price for my bullocks spot on. Sheep did good but could do better there next year. Great grass year for livestock farming. Made great hay in July opened a bale of it today. Bought a few bits of quality second hand machinery.
Next year going to up numbers of cattle but might have to check nitrates first.

kevthegaff

Off the Benson s since January, I loved them was on 30 a day considering I only started smoking 5 yrs ago.. farming was uneventful which is a good thing. Got married also!

Limestone Cowboy

Got the farm transferred over to my name at the start of the year. Traded up the tractor a few years, got a fine lump of money off the national reserve after a bit of hassle. Ended up with way too many stock for the winter because I got caught with tb. A neighbour told me today we have had 6 dry days since July and the whole place is ploughed. Pretty much sums it up.

X6.430macman

2017- fairly sh1te and uneventful which is probably a good thing... Off to America Next year for 8months which I'm really looking forward to

sea12

Got the planning permission for the new house on the farm which should make life a bit easier at home once it's complete.
Changed jobs in work .. Still not sure if that was the right decision
Changed the sheep system to make it more manageable for work and family and that is working out well.
Bought a new trailer which was on the long fiver for a while
Got the Glas and yfs money this year which also helps do overall a good year

Attie

kevthegaff wrote: »

Off the Benson s since January, I loved them was on 30 a day considering I only started smoking 5 yrs ago.. farming was uneventful which is a good thing. Got married also!

Getting rid of the Benny Henry's great move.

carrollsno1

What a year its been for me, definitly the most eventful year of my life. I started the year almost burnt out after 2 hard calvings one after the other and had started pushing myself outside the farm as well (sports, gym, macra). Met a girl at the start of the year, real spark between us and got on like a house on fire despite the long hours of the spring i still managed to make some time for her. But between all my off farm activities as well as calving, spring 2017 nearly finished me i was definitly burnt out at this stage i had lost over a stone in a month or so but i kept pushing myself as hard as i could there were nights after visiting that young one i dont know how i didnt fall asleep at the wheel on those windy roads. Was smoking around 25 fags a day at that stage too which didnt help one bit either. Had my mind made up at christmas i was coming over here anyway, the only thing could stop me was the devil himself, so i had to finish it with the young one despite the fact she said shed wait, but i knew in the back of my mind i wouldnt be back in a long time. Then once calving finished i pushed myself even harder off farm and lost over another stone in a few weeks (hypocritical i know but i could count how many times ive used butter on one hand since then). I was feeling great altough fairly worn out at the same time.

Then i landed over here and started work the 1st of July. We started calving in August my 4th calving in 2 years and the biggest the rest were herds under 400. Despite this it was the easiest calving ive ever done and like most of us out here i layed on condition over calving, hard to believe but it happens most irish lads when they come over. Slowly falling off now again thank god. I had also quit the smokes when i landed, would have still had the odd one of a night out alright but about 6 weeks ago i went back on them as a good friend back home had a bit of a set back( there ok now) and i got a bit stressed about it.

Hoping to quit in the new year for good, and im also training for a half marathon, bossman gave me a bit of inspiration (or else he was dropping hints) to start running a while ago and im in the good books even more so now that im aiming for that.
I also found out i put the Irish back in the good books on this farm again too, which is great because ive seen myself how bad some of them behave off farm over here.

Regards the home farm my stock numbers grew a bit, had a bad conception rate for my heifers going to recycle one this year. The rest will have to be sold but due to a f#ck of a situation thats at home if i sell them ill find it very hard to get my money for them so they might even be given a second shot at AI in 2018 despite it going against all i believe in. And despite the situation there at the minute, the topic of my own succession was brought up, which i was shocked at.

So all in all an eventful year, tough at times but everything worked out alrighy in the end. The main thing is to keep focusing on the positives and ignore the negatives.
Also thanks for being there through it all whenever i needed an opinion on anything

Who2

Not a bad year overall. The old pair both got fairly ill at different stages but both came out better the other side. Cleared all farm loans and bought more machinery than I thought I ever would and surprised myself by being able to pay for it up front, done a lot on farm improvements and increased stock no.s.. had another child ( or herself did anyways) and work went well. First year in years I had no problem collecting money.

Dozer1

2017 was a stalled year here, got stuck in a nightmare around planning for a new house on the farm, agent was a complete pr*ck so have had to get a new crowd we'll be set back another year before we can think of building. Livestock sales were generally average, a couple went really well others no so good. At a stage where I need to build a new shed at home and offload an outside bit of ground as it doesn't fit with work and family.

still on the ash dieback circle( what a f*cking farse) months on and finally I'm getting there.

Inside the door, all is getting better, baby no 2 really stretched us mentally, my wife found it quite hard, some dark days but we're getting there.

As others have said life is short don't waste it farming/working 18 hour days.

hope 2018 is better, setting no goals just deal with what comes our way.

Kevhog1988

Great year. Finally working in the role i studied for at college (quantity surveyor)rather than being the jack of all trades i was in the last job. Massive help that its at home too. Seem to be getting on well and they are giving me responsibility which i like.

Met a girl and things are going great also.

PeterCasey

Death in the family after two years of hospitals when you see the person suffering you wish it would end for them but when it does eventually happen its final part of your life gone. Work was good didn't have the same problems as last year with staff at silage onwards upwards have one left for Santa.