It was a genuine question. You have a wife but no off farm income so I was just asking does she not help you with the farm. Don't worry about it if you're offended.
The better half went down yesterday and will stay most of the week. An unexpected event has put kibosh on me staying too long. Tryin to get forage rape in as well
Cool down, jayus I am only on my second Coors in Baileys Corner. You were the one that threw jealously at me.
Ya I am thick I never realised a thread with dairy farmer chitchat woukd be mainly dairy farmer wanting to pad each other on the back.
As an auld lad at the mart said to me yesterday keep telling your son "f@@k concrete, steel (machinery) and Continental cattle buy land" by the way I would not have posted that but I am.on my second pint it came about in a funny context.
Ya weights were shite, and even if they were right he was 250 back off factory price
You carried it out through organic growth, everyone gets to my age and the last thing you want is serious debt. Beef is about 30% of the investment costs. But costs is what it's all about. I not sure which I would have ended up of I had got a mixed farm in my late 20' or early 30's.
In beef you need no farm roadways except to the yard and maybe 1-2 ways out to fields, fencing can be boundary and fields only you can split permanently with reels and pigtails. No cubicles unless you are really into sucklers, no milking parlour, no underpass.
Much easier to invest within the TAMS system. Nationsl teserve was the virtual perserve of dairy and tillage farms until 2 years ago as external income limit was loaded against parttime lads children.
5 years ago I would have tended towards 100% dairy on a fulltime dairy lads farm. Now I am tending towards limiting investment
You are saying he lost 400 on sending the cows to the mart. Would he have got a fixed price from an agent or how would he do it
I don't know will she get much of a free holiday from bass reeves.
Cheaper to send her to New york for the week
Will send PM
Bit of antagonising from you yet again, I'll leave it that.
I'm farming an outside block too so my parents left me at it alone. Of course they kept a close eye on me which was no harm. What about the Polish one? Surely she gives u a hand....
Might do the same if price increases, what do u think of the rumours of the takeover J?
You make it sound like only dairy farmers have to spend money. I took over here and had 30 cows at the time along with beef and tillage. I worked far longer hours compared to milking 130 now for a fraction of the money made. When the sugar beet went and barley making €75 a ton I put everything into grass and never looked back. All buildings apart from the parlour was done from cash flow. Your comparing everything to your own system which is fine for a man your age but a young lad wanting to go full time farming will be a little more ambitious.
Unfortunately never had help from parents as farm far from home place, they advice and overlooking would have been a huge benefit when I was making mistakes left right and centre. Some lads take it for granted with help from fam
few gone with tb ..lost 2 recently to bloat and unknown …dried up 2 with feet issues and fattening them ….will milk on everything else …will milk through again (oad from early December to mid janurary .suits me
That’s my point most 60-70 dairy farmers are those who were always at that rate and didn’t expand so don’t carry the big loans you seem to be fascinated about. The big dairy farmers you love to tell everyone about who have the big loans have a hell of a lot more than 60-70 cows.
There you go again with your snide white gold comments. Do you realise this thread mainly consists of dairy farmers.
Can you address my point as to why you keep coming onto a thread that is intended for chit chat for dairy farmers to bounce things of each other, share information, share problems etc, each day you effectively keep telling everyone they are 1. Greedy and 2. stupid and then tell them how they should be running their business and how great you are. You have admitted you have never had a large dairy operation so seriously what experience / qualifications have you for your daily high horse / sneering posts.
Seriously every time I see you posts on this thread especially when things are tough for dairy farmers there is a stink of smugness of your posts.
Where's the holiday home in kerry? Sea view? The wife here is on the lookout for a place...
My dad is 80 soon. He does a few bits around the place. I text my mam at 8.30 each morning if we need him to give us a hand, maybe moving calves or taking out a few dry cows. If I forget to text I'll get a call by 8.45. In the winter he does the cubicles. Every bit helps
Ya. Ut the funny thing is we all know that they are there...... with the best set up in the country one man/woman is still only capable of milking 80 cows max on his own.
No all he needed was a small bit of cop on and put in a parlour 7-8 years ago and milk 150 cows in a bit of comfort.
Put in a 20 unit here in 2018 full cost of project was 140k after grant. Last payment is on it this December. There is another 20 years work left in it yet. Some people can't tell the wood from the trees when it comes to farm investments
Though They never mention them as that would take the shine off their own halo.
Once you go over 10 rows it's hardship. No one is going to want to relief milk for you so you're stuck at it yourself
TThe Point I was making was that a lot of the one man band farmers, that have increased cows, haven't upgraded their facilities.
They may be better off financially increasing cow numbers but farming is a marathon not a sprint. One bad spring, trying to do all the jobs yourself can fuuuck you.
Definitely should have stayed at 70 cows abd drystock, probably virtually the one land bank as well.
"Very few lads milking 60-70 cows have the big debt you love to shout about."
And that is exactly the point. Many young lads took over farms with fairly adequate facilities for 60-70 cows maybe less maybe more. However they bought into the white gold and drew down a significant amount of debt. Often a significant amount of the investment was outside TAMS funding and set the farm up where continuing investment was required using topless cubicles, open milking parlours, avoiding supplementary feeding. Adaptation slowly of the previous system might have worked out better
It was a vicious circle of serious debt without an acceptance that regulations change. Farming.....indeed most production businesses require continual adaption.
One thing I can tell you it's not jealously, there are two farming systems I definitely would not do, milk cows or have sucklers. I would not be semi retired when I was in my late fifties if I was a dairy farmer. By the way heading g down to the holiday home in Kerry in a couple of hours time until tomorrow evening
I was complaining about what he was doing, he is related to my wife. I took three cows to a mart yesterday for him after advising him to factory them. He lost about 400 over factory price IMO. I lost half a day ar5eing around the mart and got a puncture and ruined a tyre of the in his yard.
Best advice is try to manage away without a company setup without over investing in machinery. Do a few projects around the house, tarmac the farm roadway if its not done already, pay you children wages, make sure both you and your better half have adequate pensions etc. A company set up is really a last resort and only when the high tax is hitting you for 30+k. Remember you may decide to give up the day job in ten years or so.
It a combination of that and more fees for the accountant. You accountant fees will at least double and probably treble. Instead of collecting 1000-1500 off you it will be 2-4k between your personal account and your audited company accounts.
You just need to find ways to spend money within the farming system. Remember tax is a transient issue. At some stage you need to get the lolly out of the company
Will dry up here at the usual time around the 20 th of December.
Have started finishing culls the last few years, selling crossbred cows out of parlour is a waste of time
How's the incorporating working ou?. I'd say I'm a year or two away from it myself.
Was listening to a fellow recently that went from 70 to 150 cows, but never increased the parlour, an old 8 unit with jars.
I changed the subject as I knew I would end up calling him a fuuucking idiot. Heading for 8hours a day in the pit. So I spoke to him about the price of houses for young people instead
Are many guys and girls milking through the winter? Drying up early? Culling empty early?
No outside farm income for us, hefty land and infrastructure Repayments, incorporating.
Every dairy farmer seems to be pushed into company structure these days, I do wonder is it less grief for the accountants regarding audits and farmer agro to reduce ttheir tax bill..
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