What if any changes are you going to make to you're current system with costs going out of control.

when is the best time to sow clover? Was thinking of putting in the spreader with fertilizer

Do be honest that won't work. It's a waste of clover esp with it at €10 a kg. To have a good chance of germination you need to stitch it in. Know plenty of lads who claim clover won't work but they tried to sow it with that method and sure there's no way to be accurate or get it down to soil level.

If you were spreading lime could you mix clover in with the lime.

Green diesel doesn't have 56c a litre excise. As of March 2021, it was 11.8c per litre. I don't know if it went up since. The 2c comes off that. The carbon tax remains (gotta keep the green people happy (and hungry))

Listened to that lad.

He was off his melt.

Though off topic, his Amish approach is very successful in Agriculture in America where they are buying land nonstop.

I agree with him in that it is skewed against the farming industry.

2017 to 2020 I was ramping up numbers of sheep, pondering what to do with the loss making sucklers, and generally trying to get this run down place back in shape having come back into it in 2014.

Workload went mad (I have a summer occupation as well) and winters became utter misery with bad house/yard setup, poor fencing and grass management etc.

After being at home all 2020 and most of 21 due to Covid (No tourism) all I had out of it was bigger co-op bills, more work needing doing, more stock and no money with herself getting right sour over it all.

I had decided to go organic before the current sh1tshow and had changed out the Limo/Shorts for Dexters.

I culled the ewes ruthlessly last Autumn and will cull again this year.

No fertilizer going out bar dung and a bit of imported slurry this year, and I've barely any ration fed to sheep yet.

Those two alone will halve my coop bill and assuming I get in, the payment will be for jam.

I really wanted to build up the operation, but it's pis5ung against the wind with input costs, workload, and modern life.

I'm 48 and the housing/slurry management investment alone I'd need I couldn't ever pay back without breaking my hole until I'm 80.

My children are small and if they ever want to go farming, they'll know how and have the land, but not grow up resenting it because I'm never there.

I'm planting a couple of ridges of garden this year for the first time in decades because I have the few minutes to spare.

When I was doing an MBA a few years ago the first thing they taught us was "Turnover is for vanity, and profit is for sanity"

I'm looking at it from the beef side of things. Fertiliser applications are few and low. This stands us in a better position if we can sort some self sufficiency around the grain issue. 8-9 fertiliser applications is just chronic, it's the crack cocaine of farming

The 3 F's are now the major pressures. Feeding beef cattle on grazed grass has the lowest of the requirement, when not over stocked. It's about finding that sweet spot in every farming system.

Fuel and fertiliser is going to have a big pressure on these indoor systems. Just look at the chronic situation with the pig industry across Europe. It's the price of inputs that has pinched their margin. European dairy and beef will be under pressure.

Never waste a good crisis

This time is about the change the view on food production and security in europe. Being aware of international factors and a willingness to make changes inside your own farm gate is key to riding this situation with a strong business

Heard it too - some craic Was on long work drive so it certainly passed the time. 😂😂

There is a case to answer there, but it's for another day and a different thread.

I don't think cutting back on numbers is the answer. Imo playing havoc with the tax returns and I do believe prime stock will be dear in June and July because lads are spreading less fertilizer and cutting feeding. I'm very tightly stocked and I've never spread 7 rounds of fertilizer in my life, the most I did was two. I'm not advocating anyone to be a slave to any poor paying system but just because we have a crisis doesn't mean we cut stock. I told a wise well to do farmer a few years back that I might not purchase as many cattle going forward. He said the game you are in you got to take the good with the bad you can't change your system or you would be on a hidding to nothing. It's all very well for lads with big acres to let stock run around it but the smaller man doesn't have the luxury of a ranch.

The dairy farmers costs are mental though. I spend more on detergent and electricity than my neighbor spends on fert. I have both and I know the milk is better. I know he has less numbers but he can go out and work a fulltime job as well. Milk have a lot to pay for

I hate hearing farmers on live line. Joe seems to take the piss out of them always and farmers always end up coming out looking poorly. Live line is 95% tabloid trash

I’m going to wait and see. I’ve 3 cows out of the 13 that may go this year but I want to see how the two heifers In calf with the shorthorn turn out first.

my inputs will be low.

only spreading 2 tonne of fert on silage ground in the hope of getting similar returns to last year and it buys me time to see.

ive One 2yo bullock for the freezer that I will share with two brothers and a bit for my mam and I’ve one heifer for next year that they have to pay for it’s feed. Household costs will be huge so it will help all three of us.

It's worrying what's going on and how dependent we were on the big supermarkets, food was cheap and we took it for granted for years and wasted a lot, So as a family we are trying to cut down on waste. My parents were born in the early 30s and have passed on and lived through some hard times but lived through some good times too, grew there own veg, filled the freezer every year loved there work on the farm and they needed no sleeping tablets going to bed.

Drastic measures here I started to use cash again. Revolut is parked up. Cash is king again.