The lad I had here this week is 16. Not from a farm but willing to learn and ask questions. I paid him Friday evening. You'd think he won the lotto.
20 a hour here for general work and 35 milking and the two lads I have are after getting brutal for actually wanting the work anymore, one lad done a evening milking, the other wasn't around at all this week both told to come whenever their available, labour will be the hill dairying expansion/current milkpool been retained dies on, the staff just aren't their, and other handier job options available
They always do at that age 😃it brings a smile to my face when they are happy with the days wages or whatever time they are being paid for.
It's great satisfaction with a lad who is keen and willing to learn 👍 as you've described
There’s a better return on investment by paying 400 an acre than there is by buying land at 20k an acre
Lad it cant be done the majority of dispersals are where lads were over reliant on land rent if your talking return on investment train to be a plumber buy a few tools couple of grand make 100 euro hour no cost
The 2 lads and.myself were discussing how you would know a.good farmer and put foward different criteria in terms of farmyard ,numbers ,gear kpi s etc.i said there's really only one -milk in the tank with the least amount spent.
Isnt that the theory of greenfields and look at how that turned out.Topless cubicle and the like.
No I’m talking return on investment on land purchase vs land rental
20000 an acre over 20 years will cost you 31500 an acre with interest- add tax to the 20000 at 46% because unfortunately going forward you won’t be able to hide the repayments so every penny you pay off minus interest allowance( that’s why the 46% is based on 20000 not the 31500) will be taxable so the 20000 an acre actually costs you 40000 an acre by the time it’s paid off
now you rent land on long term agreement at 275-300 an acre and it’s totally tax deductible- your able to have as much spare money for other things as you like
so I acre over 20 years is costing 40000
Or you can rent and make money from 7 acres of land for ever 1 you buy
now consider the goal is profit of 1000/acre farmed- by renting you actually leave yourself in a better financial situation to buy in a few years
Actually the majority of dispersed herds in the last few years were herds 60-100 who had really high ebi herds- some with bulls in Ai but in reality the cow they had wasn’t effecient
Well the trick is to rent land to grow the business so when the opportunity to purchase comes along you are able to take it on.
Also there is the capital gain on owned land, look back a few years land could be bought for 10000 an acre, now it is worth 20000.
Looking back land was always a good investment.
On a short term basis only
If your such a great man at making money you should have a huge profit every year why did u not buy landa few years ago when it was 5k to 10k surely if u dont invest in biludings you should have been able
Is the compact spring calving model a flawed model? Savage work for a couple of months and then most farms can't justify keeping on the staff for the remainder of the year. It's not very attractive from an employees point of view. Since labour has gone scarce/expensive, has anyone done the sums recently on a more spread out calving? Less pressure with calves too and no glut.
That would be correct, but per hour worked must be added
With that it's starting to look like all year milking
I’m tierd maby a tad cranky …the weather is shite …..but fook me your some pain in the hole and clearly just shite stirring here ….anyways apologies if anyone else takes offence to that 😎
I have a lad conning to me since transition year ….doing leaving cert this year don’t have him during week because he’s studying …comes weekends to give me a hand in mornings …..his brother is in transition twar this year he come on every evening after school for 2 hours ….both well paid and looked after for there age …great to work too ….pity there ain’t more like them …..lots of lads out there to do work as long as you don’t treat them like dirt ….they brought on friends of there’s last summer to strip and cover silage pits …drank all my cider and got them a takeaway after and all paid too ….they were delighted with the cider and takeaway and the money was a bonus ….told me going aaay if I ever needed them for anything again let them now ……and restock the fridge with cider !!
And your point is
Have you any proof to back up ur claim why they dispersed or is it ur opinion only.
IL be free for an evening the end of may. Cider, take away, money. You might be the first lad to be beatified while still alive.
In all seriousness, do farmers have special insurance for casual labour, 16 years olds can make mistakes that older people might have learned, or is it automatically covered
Offering year round work here, lad that does an occasional Saturday was doing 4-5 evening milking a week for most of 2023 changed jobs from army to prison service so is tied up now 6 days a week....
Midlands based here and any young lad worth his salt is making big money at building etc so little to no intrest in dairying, has noting to do with not offering year round work, it's mad to think a 17 year old doing 3 hours in the evening for 5 weekdays wouldn't jump at it, 300 odd euro a week, and only a 3 minute commute to work
So your giving kids cider that work for u isnt that against the law.
But small tweaking could do wonders.maybe it's time to calve 30 % in January and 50 % in February and 20 % in March.mightnt be the most profitable but would ease the labour
The last 48 hrs have tuff going here.our ai season is 20 days now and a mistake I made this year is starting the heifers a week earlier than the cows .as the heifers ere Hereford stock bill they all really kicked.off this week end
Employers liability, think it's based on how many hours would be worked roughly in the year, would cover those working on farm. Best to check with provider first.
We may all only be here on the short term
I get French students here every year. Had to turn away 6 this year already. Treat them like family, they have a great time travelling around ireland and they really improve their English. Bear in mind that English lessons here for a week iin Ireland costs about 1k a week. If I'm being truthful it would be a lot less hassle and cheaper if I got someone local in to milk 6 times a week so I could have a proper break but as people said it's nearly impossible to get a good lad.
On the rented land I see Stans point but maybe I'm old fashioned and prefer to buy if I can at all. I rent a good bit of land but you never know when it's your last year unfortunately.
From the outside looking in…
Is year round calving the worst thing to be at? I’m sure it’s torture to never get a break from the parlour but does it ease the pressure at breeding time as well as reducing your rate of empty heifers? Less culling if you have say, a high yield Hol cow but she needs a bit of looking after.
Had vet out there with a cow with ecoli mastitis, sick to calve. First case in a few years. Daughter is studying vet nursing and i got her out too. Vet got her to do the aggers pump, give bottle of calcium into the vein and inject into the vein. Nothing like hands on experience
Not all land costs 20k/acre a lot of land bought for half of that or less and a lot of it is decent land.
Anybody buying land at 20k/ acre or even less than that are buying within a company structure. Company structures are why most lads are paying 20k/ acre so tax rate is 15%. As well most buyers will be using retained profits to fund a substantial amount of the price
Its amazing the rush to company structures and then the average plonker gives it all away again.
Saw two dairy farmers last autumn battle it out for a 30ish acre farm. It was bounding both but there was a ROW through one of there farms to it it finished up at around 13k/ acre. There was three electric fences to be open and closed on the way in or out I was told.
I always have a bit in my case it's based on. The amount of wages paid. I usually have 2-3k in paid wages covered
No 18 years ago land joining me went for 33000 an acre it’s not worth that now
