2024 is coming, how ye fixed

tractorporn

This year is going to be a year of massive change for me. Change that has been blocked for the last four years since the farm was signed over. My father went into hospital 6 weeks ago and won't be home for another month or two.

We are hoping to build this year and have a deposit sown on a modular concrete house to speed up the build. On the farm I have arranged a dispersal sale in Ballymahon for the cows in the new year and have started buying calves already, sheep were sold as in lamb before Christmas. 30 acres of an outfarm is gonna be leased this year and things get too tight I've another outfarm that can be leased too. No plans for any spending above the completely necessary.

I changed jobs this year to a good state job but only on a contract so will push hard to get permanent this year and possibly a move closer to home as I'm commuting 3 hours a day at the min. Like most on here I'll be glad to see the back of 2023.

Jb1989

Sorry for your loss lad

_Brian

We won’t change much. Usual story, same stock numbers, strive to do it better and cheaper.

looking to start a renovation of wife’s home place. The house is in rag order. Have a lad set up to do roof and hoping to get €70k grant from council. We will run some stock on the bit of land we kept with it.

looking at holidays at moment.

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121544866#Comment_121544866

Sorry for your loss. I always say to people that might be giving out about the parents that the day will come when you wish they were here to still to give out

look after yourself.

Grueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121544866#Comment_121544866

Look after yourself weatherbyfoxer. I know how you feel.

Pinsnbushings

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121544866#Comment_121544866

Sorry for your loss, thank god I haven't lost a parent yet but my grandmother died Christmas Eve a few years back..I know it's a tough time for all the family..take care an look after yourself

Finty Lemon

Looking forward to 2024 after a year that got away. Quite happy in general after switching to calf-beef from sucklers a few years ago, seemed like a huge deal at the time but personally I wouldn't go back now. Those worries seem petty now compared to some of the things mentioned here.

We have a deal done with the same couple of dairy lads, they've used beef AI of better quality so it will be interesting to see the difference (if any) in calves. AA and some Limos and Aubrac on the way. Plan is to have all in the yard by 10th March - we will see. They had looked into using the crypto vaccine but not available in time- one for 2025. Dabbling with the though of red clover on a bit of ground that needs reseeding- report mixed from farms feeding RC silage to weanlings and you'd wonder about having 5 to 6 acres of an oddball crop - will it complicate things etc. Jury still out.

Main management target for the year is to get better at grazing at the right times and to the right residence time in paddocks. I think we are missing out on 25-30kg gain over the main grass season by making 'they'll be happy enough until the weekend' type decisions. An extra move in the week would be worth it.

Biggest decision for the year will be whether to start into renovating an old standalone house on the farm as a rental prospect. Good grants available and it has an asset value but you would be heading in the opposite direction to every other accidental landlord in the country. Rough quotes are all north of 260k. The grant could make it break-even over a 15-yr period and a house for one of the lads when its done. Worried about the cash implications though!

Finally, a hope for 2024 is that farmers of all sectors, and systems within sector, can come together with a more sensible and unified message when dealing with each other, the public, interest groups and legislators. The fracturing of farmer representation into narrower factions has been very damaging- also the recent move to anti-science stances will not serve rural concerns well over time. The anti-Ag organisations must be delighted at the discord and self-inflicted caricatures that Agri-lobbies now present. If we spend all our time and energy arguing over which type of cow and how much to feed her, and fighting over the price of land, we are easy pickings. Deal in facts and redirect the energy in a more productive direction.

dzer2

Sorry for your loss weatherby

White Clover

Very sorry to read of your loss @weatherbyfoxer

memorystick

It’s been a terrible year but on the farm and in the school. Do many funerals this past year. My plan is to lose a good bit of weight and get fit. Improve the farm and control costs better. I got a penalty for being overstocked. I’m thinking of setting 17 acres for first cut silage and let the farmer pay for the manure. How much is worth?

epfff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121550004#Comment_121550004

Over stocked penalty? Nitrates was it?

memorystick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121551421#Comment_121551421

Yes. Going to keep fewer and less pressure.

epfff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121551639#Comment_121551639

Hmmm

I'm wondering should I make same new year's resolution.

older by the day

I'm sorry to hear about all the people here who have lost loved ones in 2023. It's seems that it was a bad year for deaths. I'm truly sorry.

I don't really make plans, it's just trying to stay up with life, I have a lot of elderly relatives and the kids to help and it's seems that to be there for them is my make objective.

In my little wet patch, it's the weather that makes or breaks my year. I hope for an early spring, a dry summer and a fine October. And media and politicians to fuuuck off and give farmers a break. That's all LOL

thinkabouit

Planis too try buy or rent property & go farming!!

I Have had enough working for the man & want to start my own farming business.

Farmers are the most important group of people we have & need.

Looking at anything from 1 - 5 acres to find my way, will most likely start with market garden vegetables & some form of poultry.

All management decision’s will be guided by a clear holistic goal.

Any suggestions welcome

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121552785#Comment_121552785

Early spring, dry summer and a fine October……. That’s my dream too.

mr.stonewall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121552950#Comment_121552950

That's perfection in my swamp

carrollsno1

Glad to see the back of 2023 lost my mother to cancer back in March. Hoping to be just about nearly qualified by the end of 2024 so hopefully next years thread will see me posting about booking a flight out of the country onto the next chapter, long overdue. Have a wedding abroad in the fall of the year twill be the first proper holiday ill have had since returning home and looking forward to that. Gonna continue the Animal Based/Carnivore lifestyle fell off the wagon a bit over the festivities but should be back on track this week, will also try look more into the workings of the human body in laymans terms i.e. Gary Brecka and Andrew Huberman. Havent ran since July was up to doing 10km on my own of a Friday evening but injuries caught up on me so hopefully start from the start again this month. Put in a tough few months in the run up to Christmas with work 3-4hrs commute a lot of days think im going to be 1hr-1hr15 each way away from site until i go to my next college block. Usually work 7-5 mon-thurs and 7-1330 Friday thinking of going back to 7-4 mon-thurs and stay the same Friday going by my calculations its €40 less/week but ill have a lot more time to train in the evenings. Could go back to the later finish if im feeling up to it aftera few weeks again anyways. "Off the fags" three years this January would love to be able to do without them of a night out by the end of this year awful **** things altogether they are.

DJ98

Took over the farm year here 5 years ago and while I have made significant improvement they have all only been small so hoping in the coming year to carry out my first building project of such and expand the existing sheep shed and roof the handling yard which was supposed to be done 3 years ago when the yard originally went in.

Bass Reeves

Just discovered this thread in the last ten minutes. Sorry for your about your father @weatherbyfoxer from your father's age it was a bit too soon.

62 in first quarter of 2024 myself. Eldest lad is going into partnership with me. He has the Green Cert done. We will probably try to double the land base ober the next year and a bit.

Change the system slightly to carrying cattle 3-4 months longer on average. He was 30 last October so will have to sign over the existing farm to him in 2028 same time as I will start collecting the OAP.

Aggressive expansion there is life in the old dog yet

kk.man

Forward cattle (mid summer) pure shite in 2024 but yearling to beef and stragglers were v good. Resending more and more to do. Ewe lamb to hogget mixed but going to change that. Looking forward to aggressive 2024 ....I might hit Kerry big time and another slatted shed.... sorry to hear the family losses on this forum...all the best in 24.