Farming Youtubers

Tileman

Farmer Phil finding it hard to get to his 50k subscribers. He is crawling to it over the past 2 months. Still the best variety of all the you tubers and seems to have an interest in producing the videos. Plenty of others just seem to be on it for promoting flashlights and other equipment.

Odelay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117871516#Comment_117871516

I really look forward to every video from Farmer Phil. Think they are always interesting and educational. Very well produced too.

roosterman71

I'm heading to Phils in October to pick my pumpkin :-)

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117873928#Comment_117873928

Come across as nice ppl who work hard

love the knowledge his father imparts

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117874191#Comment_117874191

Phil's father did the work on the family farm here years ago.

He genuinely is a genius, one of those guys who just understands something by looking at it and a great conversationalist as well

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117871274#Comment_117871274

Good channel that - explains things well too.

Injuryprone

The only thing thats started to annoy me about Phil is the main way he rates tractors is the 'look' of them. I dunno if that says more about me or him

Sheep breeder

MC milking is a good man to explain what they are at and no gloss over and runs a fair set up with good knowledge, Farmer Phil only for the father he would be lost, with poor knowledge of farming and explaining what the business side of things and trying to talk up the Jex cattle all the time and how well they perform.

Tileman

That I would agree about Phil. He would have being better off going off working independent for two years to learn different ideas and to become more independent. He does at have much influence on the management of the farm. His girl friend is a great asset but she is crazy to be working for the family farm.

one day holiday . Can’t imagine she will have regular time off or wage reviews. She should have kept that independent.

FintanMcluskey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875549#Comment_117875549

That would be my one piece of advice to Phil

Don't be a slave to a euro

If your that busy that you can only take 1 day holiday's you need more help

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875530#Comment_117875530

Mc milking it,would be a lot more lost without mammy and daddy then farmer Phil ffs, if the two of them stepped back from that operation and weren't replaced that young lad would be in for some land, its my biggest bugbear where the likes of the above farm are held up as the gold standard for young lads to work towards but they only work due to family labour that isn't going to be their down the line

timple23

To be fair wives/partners/parents play a big part in most farms. There is serious investment gone into MC's farm, to be fair it looks like it was spent wisely on the cow and reducing workload. It is interesting looking at the amount of machinery he has compared to Ifarm. Most dairy lads around me, with the exception of slurry tanks, have been building rather than buying machinery.

Phil seems very enterprising but the place is starting to look like old Mcdonald had a farm, with all the different animals he has. Will be interesting to see his figures when he kills the cattle this winter how the different breeds perform financially.

Odelay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117878135#Comment_117878135

I think Farmer Phil is trying to diversify and generate alternative income, cutting out the middle man with the farm shop, and also doing something he has an interest in such as the different breeds of hens and the Dexter heifer. It isn't all about making money, some fun and interest has to be had too.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117875695#Comment_117875695

Aren’t most family farms similarly set up labour wise?it’s the case here and it’s the case in the most of the farms in my discusssion group

Marks parents are very hard workers, bought the majority of where they are (100ha) or so back in the 70s I think and they bought another 150 ac next door 10 years ago or so

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879500#Comment_117879500

https://youtu.be/qB5NO_g5jGU

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879500#Comment_117879500

What's the plans on these units when the parents simply have to step back due to ill-heath/old age, outside labour is becoming non-existent and if you find a good lad they will be expecting 650 plus take home a week to even think about staying on

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879624#Comment_117879624

Anyone with family labour is in the same boat

we’ll be in that situation here in a couple years

are you doing all the work yourself?

straight

I guess one has to breed their own replacement labour. My parents are still farming another block of land so I don't expect them to do much for me. Young lads are growing up fast now though. I see alot of farms during the expansion phase doubled up to support two generations as they say. I do wonder what is going to happen when the old lads stops turning up to work.

timple23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879624#Comment_117879624

To be fair most experienced good lads operating machinery would bring that home as the boss knows they would be paying more in terms of repairs and extra wear and tear. Are there many big operations that are run solely on hired help? One of Teagasc's farms is all I can think of, and that's all FRS staff, so probably not economically viable. This problem is currently happening over in Britain now with Brexit as they can't get lorry drivers, people for meat factories and other low paid work, as their wages aren't keeping up with inflation, those people are just leaving their jobs and returning home. Businesses are lobbying the government for visas to bring in overseas workers.

I'd say the aim is to keep investing in facilities to reduce workload. MC said in one of his videos that he can feed 400ish cows in 90 mins which is fair going. They probably will have people hired in just to do the milking. As for calving I don't know. Some farmers seem to thing that if they "build it and they will come" attitude to the size of their operation. I wonder will farming lobby groups try to promote the option of suckler/beef farmers taking on part time work in the form of milking as an additional source of income, it sounds like something they would come up with.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879775#Comment_117879775

Calving on these big units is where the savage labour demand is, the sheer man hours needed to keep cows milked calves feed and cows calved and running smoothly means you need a team of at least 4 day in day out for 10-12 weeks but the kicker then is your need for labour after this is halved, wage inflation and inflation in general means unless milk price tracks it which it isnt going to, hiring in labour to replace aging family labour financially mighten be possible if at all its even available

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879680#Comment_117879680

95% of it, getting burnt out to be fair, trying to get a milker in for next year to do evening milkings and every second/third weekend, its not sustainable the craic I'm at here at all to be honest, only saving grace is all long term debt will be payed of within the next 6 years, if I still need to be doing the hours I'm at now ill rent the place out and get a job

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879970#Comment_117879970

Are you rearing your replacements?

is doing a lot of the machinery work worth the savings if you’re constantly flat out?

ive dad here doing a fair bit but still would be busy every hour of the day if we were to go back rearing our replacements again or do more machinery work

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117880659#Comment_117880659

All replacement stock are kept on farm, contractor bill would increase by 25k a year if all work was contracted out been done in-house at present, wouldn't dream of outsourcing slurry as half the parish is either down with tb our has had reactors the past few years, if I could get a reliable lad to take the evening milking out of the equation I'd manage but juggling two milkings a day and machinery work in-between plus youngstock is relentless

ruwithme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117879694#Comment_117879694

I see this alot locally. Young lads seem well interested in Farming, I'm beginning to wonder now after some years of seeing machinery bought, new tractors & the like.but daddy & mammy too in many cases are still pulling the sleigh.

When they retire or pass,it will be a shock for some to realise all the work on foot that also has to be done,machinery aside.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117871516#Comment_117871516

I stumbled upon his channel around May 2020. Thought it was good but soon grew sick of him. He kept playing the poor mouth.

"I take no income from the farm, the few youtube euros keeps me going". Would sicken you listening to that kind of shite when they have hundreds of cattle and buying new tractors nearly every second month. If the likes of them in the midlands with hundreds of acres of prime land can't make a living how do the lads out west with 20 cattle on shite land manage?

The real star of the channel is Phils auld fella. Phil by himself isn't that interesting.

Pussyhands

Similarly, liked iFarmWeFarm early on but soon grew sick of his clear greed. Just looking for free stuff the whole time.

I remember the lad he had doing the decals for the hedgecutter and he kept repeating that yer man never asked him for a shout out....well yeah...it's implied when he does the job for free ffs.

Again, I remember he said he had some lights or something on the tractor that he said were poor quality but he refused to name the company...that's because he thinks he won't get free stuff from them if he gives a bad review.

You can't trust what the man says. It's all greed. The merchandise out right away. Like ffs, who the hell is going to go buy a hat or jumper with iFarmWeFarm on it? He'll sneakily ask for free stuff by asking for where to get things aswell. "send me a message on instagram if you recommend where to get X". He's just hoping someone will say "Here's X, you can have it for free if you give me a good review"

Most people don't know how this youtube stuff works and the things going on behind the scenes. My old man watches these vids and he thinks these reviews are genuine and will go and buy based off them.

timple23

Well if you have instagram go and look at ifarm's story, he basically says if you've any clever ideas send them on, proceeds to show a flattened bucket handle with a hook bent onto it tied by baling twine to an insulator and tied to a reel of wire.

Anyone who has their head screwed on would just use an insulated gatebreaker.

GrasstoMilk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884359#Comment_117884359

Says in his video a few weeks ago cows are priority and they pay the bills yet all the money he’s spent on machinery will have no impact on the performance of the cows

reveiwing cubicle mats yesterday and has half a dozen ripped to bits and others that are hard clean but can’t justify to change them this year

has some existing cubicles rotting away at the base

considering how long the cows spend inside his money would have been far better spent pulling them out and putting in good easifix mats and cubicles instead of a newer tractor

but maybe he’s looking for someone to gift him new cubicles and mats

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884359#Comment_117884359

I don't understand his thinking...doesn't the wire need power?

Even if it doesn't, how you connect the wire to the other wire is kind of a basic thing you'd need to think of in advance.

funkey_monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884711#Comment_117884711

Easyfix is sponsoring the HoofGP (950k subscribers) - so they are actively targeting the YT demographic. Not sure whether their budget/strategy would extend to kitting out iFarm. Those cubicles would last another couple of years anyway - they might have rust but didn't appear to be on verge of collapse. Surprised the mats seen out the season - mustn't have been fully stocked in there. I would say they do get a few % off the price because of the channel in some instances - mutually beneficial.

I wish the advertising rules meant they had to declare whether they were getting any type of discount/benefit for using certain brands on their channels. It's a bit of a grey area though as what is the normal discount off the list price and what is the YT discount? The ones of instagram etc have to mark if it is an advert so I think these should be the same - whether it be Lakeland, Olight, Kramp, whoever.

Most of them with a YT channel is at it though. I find Tom Pemberton the most obvious for it. I think some of the other English ones might not be as bad, but I rarely follow them. I suppose when you add up all the hours of filming, resetting cameras, drone work, editing, and putting your farm out there for the world to see and critique then maybe make hay when the sun shines.