Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

every young lad needs to get out of home and go travel

Or work at something else for a while ….your only young once and life moves pretty quick ….travelling and doing something other than farming for a bit has so many advantages for a young person …so many life skills to learn …you’ll become street smart to things and it’s good to mix with people from different cultures and way of life …I gave 10 years working off farm and no way would I swap it …it gave so many experiences and opportunities ….at 18/29/20 any young person would be stone mad to come straight home and go farming

Did you start your job at 25 or go to college after school and get a degree and find a good job. Slightly different from a 25 year old walking off a farm. No point in doing an apprenticeship unless he wants to work in that field. If it’s a good farm even without the 20 acres my advice would be have it out with the father that you need it in your name within 2 years or walk away from it. If he has no siblings it’s easier. Also if there are siblings there chances are he will never get that 20 acres.

did leaving cert …went to gurteen and all I wanted to do was farm ….farm wasn’t big enough …dad too young to hand it over or allow me any sort decent wage so I got job in local coop and bit after that went to local bog multinational in town ….dad was very straight with me and gave me lots of input into managing farm and decision making …I was disappointed but deep down I knew he was right …10 years later dad was ready to hand over and I packed the job in …..those 10 years allowed me experience some valuable life skills that carried to farming as well as travel …having money to do things and mixing with so many different people …at 19/20 if I went farming I wouldn’t of got that

In situation been discussed here if that person can’t see a clear path it’s time to make there own one

Fair sense on entitlement from the younger posters.

I’m at retirement age. Daughter doesn’t want to know about farming even though she’s more than capable.
My thoughts on passing on a substantial asset…either pony up or I’ll dispose of it as I see fit.
Simple.

I know your aboard so maybe a little different but if a farm was passed down to you in a timely fashion I think you should pass it in in a similar way.

First common sense comment on that subject there Dawg. When we were young lads there was very little wealth around. We were hungry to build it up. It wasn't about money in the pocket for a good time. It was about building up the business. The current generation getting it too soft. No appreciation.

Friends with a leaving cert lad working on a farm this summer hes pulling more of a wage every week than i am at 13€/hour and finished at 5 , its not the money is the issue its more the control and tie and everything else in between.. id walk into a lot of jobs at 40/45k and finish on a 39 hour week no weekends no hardship different when its your own and you can see the work your doing being appreciated or making the farm better…

Literally that its decent money but out of all my friends im probably earning the least while doing the most work and most tied every weekend different being completely tied when your 27/28 and things in your own name now is a time i feel id like to be saving up big time and build or just travel and have the craic while i can a bit without taking the piss altogether… milk sales of near 400k this year, farm going well its an appreciation thing as much as anything if we had to take on a foreigner on a 40 hour week in the morning itd be over 30k salary.. but again the money isnt the real issue here

Red flags in ways alright just thinking i could work for another 10 years on the 30k and be no further on still working to the ways he wants to work or what do you mean your going on holidays what do you mean you want to finish at 5.30 , different mindsets , I could pump 50k into the farm there now myself but dont see the point when I still wont be making decisions on what to do, purely power and control

Did your father have the wobbler when in her company at the mediation our after when he got you on your own, you hold a lot more cards than you realise, if you leave in the morning their both f**ked, they sound like they wont get anyone to work their, so they'll have to lease the place out, our go all beef and lose the dairy cow income...

Have you anything in your name attached to the farm be it cows/machinery etc, i was left to my own devices here so all livestock, machinery, sheds put up, where of my own back and financing so I had some assets, but crippling short term debt...

For your own mental health id get out of their, and the next time your father has a go, you need to tell him to get f**ked, run the farm up his hole and good luck, hes a bully simple as, and they only understand actions like the above, you won't talk him around etc

That's fine

As long as the older generation don't expect free labour on the promise of getting the land in the future.

The op is dead right to look for certainty in what is happening. Have the difficult conversations now and that includes a proper row.

As I have said before no issue supporting older generation and making sure they have a very comfortable retirement but there has to be crystal clear plans and once agreed no going back on it

Was youngish when the farm i was handed over the farm. I had gone to college and was working in IT. Great experience and I wouldn't regret it for one second.

Farm was excellent land on a scale that there was a living to be made from, but father was in his early 70s and what was a great farm in the 80s-90s was run down, and there were just a few cattle for summer grazing .

He wasn't anxious for me to get into dairying but it was the only option in the early 00's for a full time farmer to make a living. So I dived in head first buried nearly 900k into the place and built my own house.

But wheels came off after a couple of years when siblings looked on at this thriving business, no consideration of the repayments that had to be made and when my mother decided to renegotiate her agreement. She was on 25k cash, this was in the early 00's plus pension plus a big of nursing work.( Father got screwed on the pension because she was working). So I wanted just to buy her out, so a outside block was sold off, money handed over. Deal done.

A few years later father passed away, siblings got in her ear and within 7 days of the funeral she wanted the original farm yard back, (i had built a new one beside the old one, but was using old yard for the usual, calves, straw, machinery, storage, etc.) I was young, working very hard, meeting my commitments but enough was enough. I said no, and we never spoke again. It's sad that came to that but I have no regreats.

Anyway, despite all the crap, when youre young, willing to work and developing a dairy farm it is a great way of life BUT,I will say you have to keep an eye on reality and what's going on around you aswell. What fo I mean..

Look down the road 20 or 30yrs to where you'll see yourself and keep an eye on reality aswell. There are massive changes in farming underway and coming. 40 years ago on a farm you had loads of people around at hay and silage. In and out of the coop meeting people, you never went at a job on your own, when you were in a field at tractor work, there'd be another couple of tractors working away aswell. All of that is gone and will only get worse. Even the vet here would say he hardly meets a farmer from one end of the day to the next. Call made, sick animal in shed, work away. I grew up on a road with 13 full time farmers, now im the last, Its even getting hard to get a electrican, or mechanic or milking parlour guy to come to a farm now. The next 20 or 30 years will be scary.

Farming doesn't have the lifestyle, earning ability or social standing that it once had. This will only get worse.

My point, farming is in our blood and some people just have to farm. But I would say, the road is long, 20, 30 40 years full time farming is a long time. When you're young develop an option. Get a trade or some non farm experience/qualification. You're still there to help your father and grandfather. You'll be independent. Extra money can be used to develop the farm. Any genuine older generation would love to see help coming around, improvements being made, or stock numbers going up. And in time when is 100% right for them and you then you can go farming full time. It's a long road.

everyone should read that a few times ….belter of a post which I and lots more here can totally relate to

By the sounds of it your parents must have had a very large farm to start splitting up and you getting a farm to milk cows you did all right lad

Last few bits of silage for year hopefully all in a bale by dinner time tomorrow