is entering dairying still an option

Would you have much help at home?

Good parlours come up pretty regularly, there was a nice 10 unit delaval on twitter before Xmas for 5k

There was a lovely looking parlour 5 years old, a meal feed system with new bin, bulk tank sold by auction a few months back for a lot less than 20k all in.

Chap could sign on dotted line for a tractor for 100k now and there wouldn’t be a word about it!

What have you got to lose so? It's about the practicalities now? How much of the 100k do you need to borrow? Have you approached lenders and can you get the money? Have you approached a processor? Have you approached bord bia about getting quality assured for dairy? When do you intend starting? Buy calved cows day 1 or rear some heifers while converting the buildings?

It's farming you want to do and you might as well milk cows if you think that will be more secure, I'd wish you the best and if you do make the switch I hope it will go well for you.

My one fear for you after you posting that is that you may be inflexible in certain situations. I always considered work as a way of earning a living. Farming was the same to me and it created wealth for me.

You said you do not like the idea if working all week and farming Saturday and Sunday. You are facing working 40-45 of the Saturday and Sundays for the next 20+years. Ya you can get relief milking but you are still tied to the place.

It's the one thing that would have stopped me ever considering going milking cows. While costs have risen exploded this year it's a 12-18 month issue. I also think prices may reflect these costs or even more than them. It's the ability to manage the.money side of the business that causes problems

Having said that I think dairying is profitable. 70% of dairy farmers I see have decent setups. The ones I see with the least stress are the 60-100 cow men that have these setups going for years.

I think that some lads bought into expansion, expansion expansion without realising the workload and cost. Many in there 20's went roofless cubicles, lagoons etc to maximize cow numbers and now find they are continually investing to upgrade.

As well they are finding pressure points hitting them, whether it's calf value, going to have to retain calves longer, rising costs,labour, environmental pressures ( upgrading roads, roofing cubicles areas, slurry storage, limits on fertlizer) etc. Mainly they missunderstood the business and the continual investment in the type of project they took on .

OP I see you have little budgeted for farm roadway or for water installation. While the road is there the surface may need upgrading for cows walking it every day. A proper water system could cost 15 k, however you are stocked at 165kgsN/ HA so I expect that at present a good basic system is in place.

You still haven't said how much of the 100 k you need to borrow. The total will cost you 160-180/ cow over 15 years. You have to be careful with any additional borrowings. While you have no borrowing at present and this is an advantage, you may not understand the discipline of managing loans.

But what makes you think you wouldn't hate milking cows if you have no experience as such? You've made reference to not wanting to work weekends on more than one occasion in this thread. I don't think the borrowings mentioned would be a patch on it tbh.

Late March is normally time for the perpetual “should I give up farming” thread!

Usual phases of the year; spring, "I've too many cows!" to autumn, " could prob carry another share of cows!"

Some of the comments are mad. Expecting to make 60k a year in an off farm job with no qualifications? jezz what planet are ye on. The average wage is around the 40k outside of Dublin and most positions need a qualification or at least you'd be competing for the job with someone who has. 60k in Dublin is equivalent to 40k elsewhere and doesn't leave much room for savings. And you won't be standing around idle either.

If the OP wants to go milking far play to him, and even if he doesn't make a fortune he'll still be his own boss, it's a great lifestyle when you compare it to some of the jobs out there. Cut your cloth to measure, even if you have to start smaller than you think, at least you'll be in the game and be able to expand in the future be it from renting a bit more ground or getting someone to contract rear the replacements.

Sure you asked for thoughts and opinions? I get the impression you have your mind made up and I wish you the best with it. What do your friends, neighbours and relatives think of your plans?

I didn't read the whole thread but I'll give my two cents here anyway. I took over the place here 5 or 6 years ago. Started off with 65 cows and milking about 75 now. Gave up my job of 20 years to go dairy farming. I think I nearly did it as a favour to my parents more than anything else.

The place here was fairly well set up but I've invested at least another 120k in sheds/infrastructure. Probably spent another 100k in machinery and the stock cost 100k. I've all debt paid off now and did most of it from cashflow.

It's hard relentless work but rewarding too. You could nearly compare it to having children 😀. I like the breeding side of it myself and the fact that I'm running my own business. My biggest problem is the workload can be a bit much at times but moreso the fact that I'm a bit too tied to the place. It's hard to get away anywhere for anymore than a day or two at a time.

My wife is not interested in farming or the lifestyle which doesn't help either.

Happy enough at it overall and have the children out and about with me loads and they like it. Great place to raise a family.

My accountant has me at 1k euro profit per cow but the reality is it's all been going back into it over the past 5 years. From now on I intend saving some of the profits.

As of now, Those restrictions will end in 2024 won't they?