Thinking of getting into farming, any advice?

Green&Red

I’d be the opposite, why wouldn’t you go for it, you’ve a great attitude which is half the battle and the experience of you father in law to fall back on.

I would issue one word of caution. Taking over a farm is hard work on relationships. You’re taking over someone else’s life work, they are emotionally invested in it more than anything you’ll have ever seen before.
There is a transition period where it goes from him making the decisions to you. It can cause a lot of rows. I’ve a very easy going dad and it still causes rows between us. Case in point for me this week where I wanted to sell hoggets to the factory, he thinks they are too nice to be slaughtered and should be sold to someone who will breed them. That’s profit v’s tradition in action.

At some stage you’ll have a big blow out, can your relationship handle it? No matter how sound ur father in law might be ur not blood and it will be his farm til the day he closes his eyes. Good communication is key but you need to be prepared for the fights

The best of luck

Defunkd

I like farming. It is a vocation though (or a life sentence, for those who think of it that way) and at times i'd love to have a 9-5, with regular payments and be able to down tools and wash my hands of it until monday morning.
There's a lot of time consuming, little jobs that you're not aware of yet and in your mind you might be juggling too many balls before you've even picked up the one, if you get my point. Not trying to discourage you but let's be realistic.

I've planted high value trees in areas that supposedly won't support them and they are thriving. I won't see any economic benefit from them but the future grandkids - when they have kids of their own, hopefully - will.
Another idea for you could be to grow some of the high value salads to sell directly to the restaurants along with your beef. A friend does that from a lean-to and he only gives a few minutes a day to it. I don't know the profit margin but he's doing it with nearly 7 years, so it must be beneficial to both parties.

Spend more time working on the farm and ask questions. Ask 'why...?' a lot and listen to what you're told. If you like it, go for it.

Burning Tires

Muckit wrote: »

Everytime l see this thread title l keep thinking to myself the simple answer is ..... 'Don't!'

Horrid negative though!!

And if you still do.... buy a boat first.