Hobby farming encouraged

ABitofsense

I'd view what I do as hobby farming. Small suckler herd & farm which I do as an interest in breeding & the enjoyment really of it. Any profit is reinvested to avoid tax and honestly doesn't bother me if it does or doesn't make. I spend way more money on playing golf & at times that can be far more stressful than farming. I've a good, well paid off farm job which helps.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118645566#Comment_118645566

Well the other scenario is of a fella who is just working his own place, living at home - Full time farmer?

Meets a girl who is a teacher. Starts going out with her - Full time farmer?

She moves in with him - Full time farmer?

They get married - Full time farmer?

Donald Trump

Is Michael O'Leary a hobby farmer?

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651123#Comment_118651123

last autumn a gang of us got talking to a gang of Waterford/Kilkenny people in the pub in Galway city. They were farmers aswel as us so lots in common. One guy said I dunno how ye farm up here, I saw nothing but stoney land on the way up. I said, if you go 10 miles ne of the city it’s pure bog, 20 miles east you get a vein of land that’s not equalled in country.

im sure every county is the same but there is a massive difference in land in Galway. That’s one reason farm organisations can’t fight for all anymore. The Connemara farmer with a few hundred acres is pushing hard for convergence, while there are farms east Of the city that are set to lose out.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653239#Comment_118653239

A lot of good farmers in east Galway thet are losing out and going to lose out badly and a lot of farmers in connemara are going to get paid 200+ha for farming one ewe per hectare poorlyover a massive amount of land,

Mooooo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118652923#Comment_118652923

When you find that teacher you might point her my direction, wouldn't mind being a part time farmer then lol

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653422#Comment_118653422

Your view of the CAP is 30 years out of date - it has moved on from bulk commodity production to supporting sustainable land management. A good thing too that needs to be accelerated if margins are to be preserved across the industry and fairness brought in to a perverse system loaded in favour of fat cats, big agribusiness etc.,

PS: Its no wonder there is growing hostility on this page and elsewhere to IFA policies when their mouth pieces here and elsewhere continually insult farmers doing their best on poor land

Danzy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653422#Comment_118653422

good land more than good farmers.

Easy to farm good land.

Slightly cheeky of me but it's a generalization as well.

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118653239#Comment_118653239

I often wondered about that vein of good land. I'm not very familiar with the area, but is it the same vein that runs from about Claremorris down to Athenry? Or is it bigger?

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118656202#Comment_118656202

My mothers people come from around Hollymount - all that vein of land is excellent well drained limestone and is basically an extension of the Burren region in a slightly altered form but with many turloughts and areas of limestone pavement etc. .

n1st

I wonder if hobby farming suits poor agriculture areas better than full-time or part-time farmers.

Trying to squeeze money out of bog and rock may not be ideal for people, land, ecosystems.

Also I don't believe the current young generation of people are interested in carrying on the part-time model for example, maybe hobby would suit better I.e. no profit.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118656202#Comment_118656202

ya that’d be it. Goes a bit further south than athenry too. Corofin Area would have exceptional land

zom

Who needs farming, industry or tourism when we have global corpos paying taxes in Ireland and we can buy whatever we want without doing anything?

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118657641#Comment_118657641

Never rely on a wealthy spouse or a trust fund. You never know when either may run out. Add multi national corporations to that.

older by the day

Lots of the suckler farmers down here are being helped by there pensions. They have as much interest in there cows and calves as the lad down the road with 350 milking cows. I know an 86 ye old man with six cows and he is giving in the bales himself. Whether hobbyist or full time who gives a sheet as long as it makes them happy

alps

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659192#Comment_118659192

And good for him. Plenty paying gym membership for the bit of exercise, but hardly any 86 yo's going to the gym..

Who2

My old man isn’t quite 86 he’s 82 but feeds the cattle a little bit and goes to the gym an odd time. It could be for the young ones though.

YellowRattle

If there were a lot more small hobby farmers it would certainly go along way to repopulate and revigorate rural areas. In a way it would go back to how it was a century ago with many a small holder.

Difference is that the owners would not be reliant on the land for income.

JoeCasey

Unless you have 5 Steps up into your tractor, are you even a farmer?

minerleague

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659715#Comment_118659715

How many of these hobby farmers would stick at it year in year out, just look at the situation with puppies every christmas, what is so wrong with farming for an income, if people paid properly for food farmers wouldn't feel the need to exploit every square inch of their land

alps

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659715#Comment_118659715

Lifestyle blocks they're known as in other countries..

Have you any idea how manicured they are?

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118659694#Comment_118659694

Those 60 somethings catch his eye every time!!!!!!!

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118660974#Comment_118660974

Depends on the farmer, Plenty of farmers like me who'll keep the hedges tidy no matter what and farm every acre, but there's a huge proportion of this country ''let grow wild'' Everyone is different. There's plenty there for wildlife

divillybit

I drove up through Arigna and the Kilronan mountain today on the Roscommon Sligo border. Quite a remote area. I saw many derelict cottages or ruins of houses, just though that people were remarkable back in the day to build there and make some sort of a living off a tough landscape without any of the basics we take for granted like running water. Saw more wind turbines than sheep.