The best beef system

Soccer358

I inherited my fathers farm of 60 acres. I am wondering what system I should do and how many cattle I should buy

Parishlad

Soccer358 wrote: »

I inherited my fathers farm of 60 acres. I am wondering what system I should do and how many cattle I should buy

Ok so first of all sorry for your loss!

In relation to your question, I would suggest doing a search here first for 'best beef system' and you will retrieve a lot of older threads with all sorts of advice.

There is no one answer for you but to encourage some opinions I would also suggest that you give a little more detail about the situation, e.g.:

- your own farming experience
- type of land
- have you another job to consider
- have you a family to consider
- what is the current set up on the farm, is it stocked, is it in good repair, fenced etc.

Dakota Dan

Beef cattle on 60 acres will never be anything more than a hobby, if the land is good you could rent it out.

Bass Reeves

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Beef cattle on 60 acres will never be anything more than a hobby, if the land is good you could rent it out.

So now a drystock farmer with 60 acres and cattle is a hobby farmer. This is the delusion that is around in farming. It is the same delusion behind the so called save the suckler campaign. I have 70 acres about 5-6 of little agri value however it is more than a hobby. It is returning 2-300/acre and SFP, DA, a small bit of GLAS and discussion group. Old farm house is nearly ready to rent out. I never make the money renting it.

OP it is all about return for time spend. If it is goodish land you have a real choice to run a good drystock operation. However you seem not to have been involved in the farm before. Are you living on it and how much time can you give it. What sort of shed setup have you. What machinery is available.

The other thing is fencing most lads that are making a success of drystock are using paddocks now can you set paddocks up cheaply to maximize output. If you have sheds spring is about the worst time to buy cattle at present they will be going up every weeks and it is hard to buy cattle stores or yearlings that will leave money at this time of year.

I finish all my cattle and buy in during the summer and autumn. At present I finish 50+ cattle and buy them in as weanling and stores. I will have weanlings (bucket fed) for 20-22 months and stores for 9-12 months.

Gawddawggonnit

Bass Reeves wrote: »

So now a drystock farmer with 60 acres and cattle is a hobby farmer. This is the delusion that is around in farming. It is the same delusion behind the so called save the suckler campaign. I have 70 acres about 5-6 of little agri value however it is more than a hobby. It is returning 2-300/acre and SFP, DA, a small bit of GLAS and discussion group. Old farm house is nearly ready to rent out. I never make the money renting it.

OP it is all about return for time spend. If it is goodish land you have a real choice to run a good drystock operation. However you seem not to have been involved in the farm before. Are you living on it and how much time can you give it. What sort of shed setup have you. What machinery is available.

The other thing is fencing most lads that are making a success of drystock are using paddocks now can you set paddocks up cheaply to maximize output. If you have sheds spring is about the worst time to buy cattle at present they will be going up every weeks and it is hard to buy cattle stores or yearlings that will leave money at this time of year.

I finish all my cattle and buy in during the summer and autumn. At present I finish 50+ cattle and buy them in as weanling and stores. I will have weanlings (bucket fed) for 20-22 months and stores for 9-12 months.

Damn good post.

kk.man

To be frank the best beef system is the one which makes the most margin.
You will need to know the trade and gauge animals whether stores or finished.

One other piece of advice don't buy stock because 'my plan is...' plans and looks go out the window when you see value not beauty in the sales ring.

Track9

Bass Reeves wrote: »

So now a drystock farmer with 60 acres and cattle is a hobby farmer. This is the delusion that is around in farming. It is the same delusion behind the so called save the suckler campaign. I have 70 acres about 5-6 of little agri value however it is more than a hobby. It is returning 2-300/acre and SFP, DA, a small bit of GLAS and discussion group. Old farm house is nearly ready to rent out. I never make the money renting it.

OP it is all about return for time spend. If it is goodish land you have a real choice to run a good drystock operation. However you seem not to have been involved in the farm before. Are you living on it and how much time can you give it. What sort of shed setup have you. What machinery is available.

The other thing is fencing most lads that are making a success of drystock are using paddocks now can you set paddocks up cheaply to maximize output. If you have sheds spring is about the worst time to buy cattle at present they will be going up every weeks and it is hard to buy cattle stores or yearlings that will leave money at this time of year.

I finish all my cattle and buy in during the summer and autumn. At present I finish 50+ cattle and buy them in as weanling and stores. I will have weanlings (bucket fed) for 20-22 months and stores for 9-12 months.

==========================
Right on the button, good advice Bass Reeves.

Panch18

Bass Reeves wrote: »

So now a drystock farmer with 60 acres and cattle is a hobby farmer. This is the delusion that is around in farming. It is the same delusion behind the so called save the suckler campaign. I have 70 acres about 5-6 of little agri value however it is more than a hobby. It is returning 2-300/acre and SFP, DA, a small bit of GLAS and discussion group. Old farm house is nearly ready to rent out. I never make the money renting it.

OP it is all about return for time spend. If it is goodish land you have a real choice to run a good drystock operation. However you seem not to have been involved in the farm before. Are you living on it and how much time can you give it. What sort of shed setup have you. What machinery is available.

The other thing is fencing most lads that are making a success of drystock are using paddocks now can you set paddocks up cheaply to maximize output. If you have sheds spring is about the worst time to buy cattle at present they will be going up every weeks and it is hard to buy cattle stores or yearlings that will leave money at this time of year.

I finish all my cattle and buy in during the summer and autumn. At present I finish 50+ cattle and buy them in as weanling and stores. I will have weanlings (bucket fed) for 20-22 months and stores for 9-12 months.

Sorry Bass but how is that anything more than hobby farming. 70 acres at 250 (average) = 17,500. that's not going to raise a family or allow you to do anything in this day and age. It is however a lovely top up on top of a weekly wage

Unless a farm can bring in a continuous available income of 40k or more then part time needs to be seriously considered

Bass Reeves

Panch18 wrote: »

Sorry Bass but how is that anything more than hobby farming. 70 acres at 250 (average) = 17,500. that's not going to raise a family or allow you to do anything in this day and age. It is however a lovely top up on top of a weekly wage

Unless a farm can bring in a continuous available income of 40k or more then part time needs to be seriously considered

Add 13 k in payments so 25-28K. When I rent the house it will add another 6-7K+ to the bottom line or a gross Not bad for 20 hours a weeks work. Know lots of people living on less. As well it is tax efficient. A f@@king hobby is golf which you spend 10-15 hours a week playing and is costing you 2-4K. It a business know of fella driving taxi's bring in less and nobody will call them a hobby taxi driver.

Muckit

Panch18 wrote: »

It is however a lovely top up on top of a weekly wage

This is the point Bass was making. A 'hobby' aka golf, gaa, soccer, going for pints etc costs money and doesn't bring any income. Nobody is claiming that beef farming under 100 acres is a viable fulltime occupation.

The crux is he is expecting and obtaining decent remuneration for hours and money invested. That is not a hobby.

visatorro

Muckit wrote: »

This is the point Bass was making. A 'hobby' aka golf, gaa, soccer, going for pints etc costs money and doesn't bring any income. Nobody is claiming that beef farming under 100 acres is a viable fulltime occupation.

The crux is he is expecting and obtaining decent remuneration for hours and money invested. That is not a hobby.

Why wouldn't it? It all depends on circumstances. Just take bass, s approx returns and add in a partners income of the same would provide a good life for someone who had a manageable mortgage and lifestyle.
Now if you were a young couple who were looking for a a house in Dublin things would be different.

Irish Beef

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Panch18 wrote: »

Sorry Bass but how is that anything more than hobby farming.  70 acres at 250 (average) = 17,500.  that's not going to raise a family or allow you to do anything in this day and age.  It is however a lovely top up on top of a weekly wage

Unless a farm can bring in a continuous available income of 40k or more then part time needs to be seriously considered

Add 13 k in payments so 25-28K. When I rent the house it will add another 6-7K+ to the bottom line or a gross  Not bad for 20 hours a weeks work. Know lots of people living on less. As well it is tax efficient. A f@@king hobby is golf which you spend 10-15 hours a week playing and is costing you 2-4K. It a business know  of fella driving taxi's bring in less and nobody will call them a hobby taxi driver.

A hobby taxi driver, that's a good one. Well said Bass.

Bass Reeves

visatorro wrote: »

Why wouldn't it? It all depends on circumstances. Just take bass, s approx returns and add in a partners income of the same would provide a good life for someone who had a manageable mortgage and lifestyle.
Now if you were a young couple who were looking for a a house in Dublin things would be different.

Problem with a lot of full time farmers they are trying to extract every penny possible to subsist. If I was fulltime at it I think I could extract another 4-6K add in a bit of small time contracting and as you say spouse with another income you caould have a decent lifestyle. Little or no child minding costs, small mortgage becasue of either house on farm or no site cost, any yoke of a car for the farm, decent car for working spose and you could peddle away. You could even do a small bit of tangling or be a factory agent.

Too many large farmers assocaite there own costs with smaller outfits. Lots of part time farmers go too far into machinery and add too much work to the system. Two years ago I started doing up old farm house last year it came to choice between finishing it and replacing the tractor. A small bit of the future house income will cover the bit of work the 4WD did.

wrangler

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Problem with a lot of full time farmers they are trying to extract every penny possible to subsist. If I was fulltime at it I think I could extract another 4-6K add in a bit of small time contracting and as you say spouse with another income you caould have a decent lifestyle. Little or no child minding costs, small mortgage becasue of either house on farm or no site cost, any yoke of a car for the farm, decent car for working spose and you could peddle away. You could even do a small bit of tangling or be a factory agent.

Too many large farmers assocaite there own costs with smaller outfits. Lots of part time farmers go too far into machinery and add too much work to the system. Two years ago I started doing up old farm house last year it came to choice between finishing it and replacing the tractor. A small bit of the future house income will cover the bit of work the 4WD did.

Totally different if you're only part time, wouldn't have the same pressure as full time. We always have a float here since the motorway went through and it give the confidence to do or buy what's needed or even not needed.
From my experience of both sides, it's not really fair to compare

Panch18

wrangler wrote: »

Totally different if you're only part time, wouldn't have the same pressure as full time. We always have a float here since the motorway went through and it give the confidence to do or buy what's needed or even not needed.
From my experience of both sides, it's not really fair to compare

this is it exactly. You can't compare the 2 when the part time lads have the job to fall back on - a safety net like that is incomparable to a fella with only a living from beef

wrangler

Panch18 wrote: »

this is it exactly. You can't compare the 2 when the part time lads have the job to fall back on - a safety net like that is incomparable to a fella with only a living from beef

Guys are usually putting more money in to the farm than they admit to as well,

squinn2912

I'm with Bass here I don't think it's appropriate to call anyone a hobby farmer. The term implies that they're in it for the laugh. It's almost belittling even if that isn't the intention. I'm quite serious about running but it is a hobby. I enjoy farming but it isn't. It's a way of life, a cultural thing and I like the thought of belonging to that group. That being said it is fair to say that there's a difference between the guys who are full time and those who have an additional income and I'm in the latter bracket.

Willfarman

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/18086812 Would ya risk it for a biscuit?

mayota

Willfarman wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/18086812 Would ya risk it for a biscuit?

Ara shur the place is beginning to dry up now.

Cattlepen

wrangler wrote: »

Guys are usually putting more money in to the farm than they admit to as well,

This is so true wrangler.