New entrant to dairy farming

sean619

Hi all, looking for some advice.
I’m a young farmer and have recently inherited my grandfathers farm. I have about 95 acres of good ground split between an out farm of 20 acres a few miles away from the farm a decent block of land around the farm and about 10 rented acres close to the farm. My grandfather was a dairy farmer for years but sold up back in 2004/05 or so and went with a calf to beef system (more entertainment for his retired self than anything). Ive taken over now and am set on returning to dairy. The end goal is a robotic system but at the moment the farm is not supporting itself. There is a need for reseeding and repairs on the farm but we haven’t a bad base to start from. Wondering would it be worth my time putting a bit of money into the old 6 unit parlour and the current sheds for the time being and start my herd with maybe 30/40 head of cows to grow my herd from? I have no other debts but the work that needs to be done between sheds new water system and repairs to the parlour I’m thinking would be about €25k/€30k before I even buy stock. Do more experienced farmers here think that this number of cows will let me keep the lights on while I continue to spend my time bringing the farm back up to scratch? I will be doing the majority of the work myself and have all the machinary for it including a 5tonne digger so there’ll be no hiring costs.
any help or insight greatly appreciated.
I do have a lot of experience milking and with dairy cows so I’m not completly clueless. It’s just so lads think it can work.

jaymla627

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058360901/new-entrant-to-dairy-farming

Whats your current system, stock available for lifestock sales, are you working off-farm, have you much of a biss payment, very hard to give any advice without knowing the above

K.G.

One simple question.do you like work?if you re happy working drive on but if you think in terms of work/life balance forget about it

Donald Trump

What are your alternatives? And how do you feel about those?

older by the day

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058360901/new-entrant-to-dairy-farming

I know there is a lot of negativity around farming these days. But if you want to go dairy farming, you should know that it is a vocation. If you don't have help, and you are milking 30 to 40 cows, you won't have much cash to spend on relief milking. You may well end up resenting it.

Personally I'm getting shiit sick of it, between old fellas around the place farming needing help, and 14 hour days. I would level my buildings before i would let one of my children go milking

Siamsa Sessions

"They could anything be done", as a builder said to me last year, "But the thing is to try do the right thing." You might be able to make a go of milking but at what financial and mental cost?

Have you a wife/husband/family? Start with how your project will affect them.

I'll be a new dairy entrant in Jan/Feb next year when heifers start to calf down. I looked into cows in 2021 and it wasn't the right time for me and the young family then. But I did make plenty notes and turned them into a simple website as part of a project at the off-farm job: https://sites.google.com/view/dairyconversion/home

One of the 'useful links' is the dairy chit-chat thread here on boards:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058095701/dairy-chitchat-4-an-udder-new-thread

If you want to get some small sense of the day-to-day issues of being a dairy farmer, then that's the thread for you.

weatherbyfoxer

Was very near converting to milk here last year on a similar sized platform to yours but nitrates,regulations and concrete costs put me off..on that acreage you will run around 60 middle band cows and replacements..

have you slurry storage?..a 6 unit parlour will be come some pain once you increase cows and no one will want to relief milk for you should you ever take a day off,would definitely go 10 or 12 especially if you might have to work off farm too.what about calf accommodation?..can you hold at least a month's worth of calves once the calf movement rules change or worse still get locked up with tb,how big is your grazing platform? Is your farm dry or wet so will you need extra silage for buffer feeding

Was costing the biggest part for €200k here to convert to milk 60 cows but that was a new 12 unit parlour,75ft tank,cubicles,upgrade roadways,water and pay for stock along with the sale of existing stock.It was getting me in at very high standard and meeting every new and comming regulation at the time

Getting in and doing a bit of improving every year is a disaster in my opinion as you will never know when you will be done investing just to stay legal if you do go ahead get in at a decent level from the start would be my advice

K.G.

If you have no sfp it would be amassive help

893bet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122413109#Comment_122413109

why?

K.G.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122413122#Comment_122413122

Getting a dairy farm compliant now after 20 years out could be costly.many yards will not be compliant 1 December this year